The team behind the highly successful Facebook page ‘Humans of Bombay' has launched another initiative on social media and set up a virtual memorial for those who have lost their lives to the virus. Titled Covid Memorial India, the Instagram page is a place where stories related to those who died due to COVID-19 in India will be documented. The page description says it is an attempt at “immortalising the faces behind the numbers”. The account has photographs of several people — from those famous to the common man and from government employees to private citizens — accompanied by their stories told by someone close to them.
In a post describing the initiative, Covid Memorial India said, “Let's immortalise the faces behind the numbers. If you have lost a loved one, or know someone who has, please drop a comment or DM us – their story will be told.”
And people have been coming forward to tell their stories – stories they wanted to speak about but could not gather the courage to say it in-person or did not know of a medium to express.
“I want to share my story too,” commented one Instagram user, Khushboo S Goel.
“Just going through a couple of stories is making me tear up. It's a great initiative,” said Anishaa Naayak.
But a user named “epistemophillicc” also hinted at the tragedies unfolding due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which is still raging across the country, and said, “This is perhaps the saddest page I've ever come across on social media.”
The page has already got almost 2,000 followers since being set up.
Humans of Bombay, which runs a Facebook page in the same name, describes itself as a “team of storytellers” which focuses on the journey of individuals. It says it has made “every attempt” to ensure accuracy and reliability of the information it shares but it does not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, legality or reliability of the information.
