Dear Readers,
Welcome to the 29th issue of Eyra.
The past few months have been challenging for everybody across the globe. There are so many issues to handle, fears to face, tasks to be done, and worse, emotions to be felt.
Definitely not an easy time.
One cannot help but feel sorry for the migrant workers, who have lost their jobs and money, while we remain at home cursing our fate. But my heart fills with gladness when I think about what some people are doing to help them. One such initiative, Evara, has helped more than 5000 migrant workers reach home safely. How, you ask? That is the beauty of it. Thinking nothing of the lockdown, these volunteers simply picked up their phones and started helping the workers with guidance, network and coordination! Read all about it in Helping the Migrant Workers – Evara.
Back to the relatively more mundane life that we lead, the foremost challenge we are facing is in balancing ourselves between office work and home chores while working from home. Jayanti Krishnan shares her experience of handling both in Rediscovering ‘Work Home Balance’, a worthwhile read, especially as we have entered a new and unfamiliar order of the world – spending more time with family (a challenge in itself) and spending less time with colleagues (creating communication gaps and efficiency issues).
In all this confusion, do not forget to groom yourself. It gives one immense confidence and positivity to dress up nicely for work (no matter we are at home!). We bring you seven types of skin care from Fira Z Ahmed which can be done with easily available kitchen ingredients in Glow At Home.
For more inspiration, we bring you A Walk Within – Conversation with Lopa Banerjee, an author with rave reviews on her memoir and other works. She not only tells us how to delve deep within ourselves, but is a real inspiration for budding authors to pen down their stories. Let us utilise this lockdown for literary pursuits. On that note, we also bring you a review of Mahasweta Devi‘s book in Hazaar Churashir Ma – A Perspective, a very enlightening journey of a mother to understanding and realisation.
And for dessert, we bring you a thoughtful article by our Young Voices section highlighting the issues in language, rape culture and meme culture, in light of the recent Bois Locker Room incident in Locker Room Chitchat. While you chew on it, we request that you allow the taste to linger and think about whether the next generation is heading in the right direction, or if it is time for parents to intervene?
I leave you to enjoy the issue.
Stay Home. Stay Safe. Stay Healthy.
Regards,
Jyoti Shekar
Founder Editor, Eyra
Eyra 