Although the initial period of the global pandemic was there for one and a half years, it was not as fearful and terrible as in the second wave, especially in India. April and May of 2021 were hard, traumatic, and horrible. It brought chills to our spines to see mass deaths and graves in different cities of India. Cremation grounds in almost every major city contained piles of burning bodies, innumerable people dying with entire families wiped out. The government’s official record reports around 700,000 deaths, nowhere near matching the actual figures, which have unofficially been reported as 2,500,000 deaths. Cremation grounds were overflowing, graveyards had no space, there were floating unclaimed bodies in the rivers. The riverbeds were full of dead bodies. The smell of death was all around, and social media flooded with news of condolences, messages, and death. Many people lost close friends and family members. The second wave had created fearful smog of death, hopelessness, and loss. The smoke from the burning pyre covered the whole country, and mourning was everywhere, every family under this gray cloud. The burden of loss was heavy—people waited outside cremation grounds for hours or days so they could give a proper send-off to their loved ones.

This performance was a silent protest about whom to blame. The fear of human extinction was overshadowing the man-made disaster. This video is about the silent anguish, agony, and misery that people experienced and encountered during the period, and the performance is about unregistered deaths and unclaimed bodies. Deep thoughts towards the lost souls were a silent protest to make every death count.

I stood tied up with cut tree branches on my head, holding a doll wrapped in cloth in my hand, surrounded by other dolls wrapped in cloth resting on piles of flour—metaphorically representing several unclaimed bodies. I was carrying wood on my head, standing still in protest mode, engulfed in smoke and fire. This work was to bring an unsettled state of mind and thoughts of loss of the people, the uncertainty of life itself, the mass graves, and the psychological state of mind of pain, loss, and agony.