India’s coronavirus lockdown forced low-wage migrant workers to return from the city to the home towns and villages from which they came. Pre-pandemic living and working conditions were already stressful and difficult for these migrants. The lockdown became an additional burden, since it shut down sources of income with no assurance about when, or if, work and earning to support families could be resumed. This article draws on the lens of the Culture-Centered Approach (CCA) to understand how workers engaged with and navigated these difficult times. A total of 54 migrant workers locked-down at home across the Indian states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal were interviewed for this qualitative study. Financial worries were found to be endemic, with rising debt a major source of stress, and educational qualifications becoming an obstacle to earning. Returning migrants were suspected of bringing the virus from the city, and so stigmatized in their home towns and villages. However, the pandemic lockdown also showed some unexpected healthful consequences. It provided these marginalized, and always busy workers the time and space to stop working for a while, to stay home, eat home food, and take walks in the comparatively green and clean spaces of their home environments. In this, the pandemic lockdown may be seen to have enabled a measure of agency and health in the lives of these workers, an oasis albeit temporary, and ultimately subject to the demands of the globalized cities of India.

印度的冠状病毒封锁迫使低薪农民工从城市返回家乡和村庄。疫情爆发前，这些移民的生活和工作条件就已经充满压力和困难。封锁成为了额外的负担，因为它关闭了收入来源，无法保证何时或是否可以恢复工作和收入来养家糊口。本文利用以文化为中心的方法 (CCA) 的视角来了解工人如何应对和度过这些困难时期。这项定性研究采访了印度比哈尔邦、北方邦和西孟加拉邦的 54 名被困在家中的农民工。人们发现，财务忧虑普遍存在，债务增加是压力的主要来源，教育资格成为收入的障碍。回国的农民工被怀疑从城市带来了病毒，因此在家乡和村庄受到了污名化。然而，大流行的封锁也带来了一些意想不到的健康后果。它为这些边缘化、总是忙碌的工人提供了暂时停止工作、呆在家里、吃家乡菜、在相对绿色和干净的家庭环境中散步的时间和空间。在这一点上，大流行的封锁可能被视为在这些工人的生活中提供了一定程度的代理权和健康，尽管是暂时的绿洲，但最终会受到印度全球化城市的需求的影响。