Bengaluru Man Turns His Salon Into A Shelter For Jobless Youths & Migrants From Northeast
An owner of a hair cutting training salon in the city has given shelter to the jobless IT professionals and migrant workers hailing from north-eastern states and Nepal, in his salon.
After the coronavirus outbreak, one other terrible thing that made headlines was reignited racism against Asians internationally. Back home in India, things weren't all that different.
Several reports brought to light cases where those from the northeast were spat on, denied entry into shops, called derogatory names, even 'coronavirus,' and forced out of rented apartments and restaurants. But it was the good Samaritans who changed the narrative yet again and set an example by helping those in need irrespective of their backgrounds.
One such person is this owner of a Bengaluru salon.
Rahul Rai, the owner, reportedly turned his hair salon into a shelter for jobless IT professionals and migrant workers hailing from northeast India and Nepal.
Rai told ANI: "The moment the lockdown started then I received many complaints from different corners that several persons became jobless and they were thrown out of their rented accommodations."
"They are from different states of the northeast and some of them are from Nepal also. I converted my hair-cutting training salon into a shelter home for them," he said.
A person who got shelter at the salon said, "I lost my job after the lockdown started. I was facing a lot of issues after my landlord had evicted me from my rented accommodation. I spent about a week nearby a lake. I managed to contact Rahul Rai through Facebook and he rescued me along with many others."
Among the many displays of racism against citizens from the northeast, the most disturbing ones have been where people have spat on them apparently holding them 'responsible' for the pandemic. On the night of March 22, 2020, a 25-year-old woman from Manipur had paan spat on her. She was reportedly then called ¡®corona¡¯ by a man in North-West Delhi¡¯s Mukherjee Nagar area.
In her complaint to the police, she stated that a man in his early 50s passed lewd comments on her and when she objected, he spat on her and managed to escape after shouting ¡°corona.¡±
¡°The scariest part was that the paan juice entered my eyes, including bits of tobacco. I was in shock and my eyes were burning,¡± she told The Print.
On March 22, 2020, Indian Idol fame Meiyang Chang, an Indian-Chinese, shared his ordeal of facing racial discrimination amid the outbreak. Two guys on a speeding bike in Mumbai called him ¡°coronavirus.¡±
i want to say lots of things but.....??
¡ª #IAMDEHINGPATKAI ? (@anu_jironi) March 22, 2020
thank you #Gujratpolice ??? pic.twitter.com/TqWZTNCNRj
In Gujarat, a group of women from the northeast were forcefully evicted and blamed for ¡°bringing coronavirus to India¡± by the housing society. In a viral video a police official, reportedly from Gujarat Police, can be seen reassuring the women that they are safe and do not have to go anywhere.