NEW DELHI -- Covering her face in a red gamchha, a piece of cloth used by daily wage workers in India to protect themselves from the tropical summer heat, drag queen S.A.S. sings sadly in the regional Bhojpuri language: "The train takes away my husband, let the city where the train takes him catch fire."
The song, where a wife remembers her husband who has gone far from their village to a big city in search of work, is a prelude to S.A.S.'s act about the distant workers who are now unemployed and traveled thousands of miles home after the COVID-19 lockdown in India cut short their jobs.
