Labani Jangi

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She has been walking in the heat for hours on the highway with her two children and will most probably keep walking for days. While we discuss at length the ‘new normal’ beyond this lockdown and how anxiety and stress are building up all around due to our confinement, here is a mother who keeps walking and smiling! Her kids – one on her shoulder, another in her arms – are tired. She is tired too, but she does not stop walking, nor forgets to smile – as if the weight she is carrying is not a burden but a joy. Is she not amazing?

Note: The woman and her two children were spotted among the migrant labourers walking on the Mumbai-Nashik Highway. But with the crowd building up, and also moving fast, the television reporter who caught this scene was unable to speak to them. The artist, Labani Jangi, saw this image in a report by Sohit Mishra on Des Ki Baat, Ravish Kumar Ke Saath (NDTV India), on May 6, 2020. The text from Labani was told to and translated by Smita Khator.

You can’t lockdown this mother of all smiles

'ಈ ಹಸನ್ಮುಖಿ ತಾಯಿಯನ್ನು ನೀವು ಲಾಕ್‌ಡೌನ್ ಮಾಡಲು ಸಾಧ್ಯವಿಲ್ಲ'

या आईचं हास्य तुम्ही टाळेबंद नाही करू शकणार

લોકડાઉનમાં બંધાય નહિ એવું અદકેરું માનું સ્મિત

হাঁহিমুখে আগবঢ়া এই মাতৃৰ খোজ থমকি নৰয়

புன்னகைகளின் இந்த தாயை உங்களால் முடக்க முடியாது

ସବୁ ହସର ଏହି ଜନନୀଙ୍କୁ ଆପଣ ଲକ୍‌ଡାଉନ୍‌ କରି ପାରିବେନି

आप इस हंसमुख मां को तालाबंद नहीं कर सकते

آپ اس ہنس مکھ ماں کو تالا بند نہیں کر سکتے

Nashik

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You can’t lockdown this mother of all smiles

In those huge lines of migrants walking determinedly along the Mumbai-Nashik highway in Maharashtra, the image of this extraordinary mother sparked the imagination of the artist

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