India, March 9 -- By any measure, Kamala Devi has lived a difficult life.
Born in northern Bihar, the 45-year-old spent her youth tending to her children, then followed her labourer husband to Delhi, where she found work as domestic help. After a long day of trudging from one house to another, she went home to a tiny cubbyhole.
Yet, nothing prepared her for her extraordinary journey in the summer of 2020, as the country shut down at four hours' notice.
A new virus was spreading. The government was advising people to stay home. But the fear of starving in a city with few friendly faces took hold. People like Devi and her husband Babulal found their sources of income gone, food running out, and their home now unaffordable.
Soon, they were...