Earlier this week, a young theatre and TV artiste committed suicide in her hometown, Indore. Her Instagram post read, "What does one do when their dreams are dead?" One of the reasons, cited widely for her spiral into depression, was the lack of work. Closer home, young artistes are in despair, as theatre venues remain shut indefinitely, with no sign of hope or income. In the absence of formal networks or government programmes to bail the community out, it is from within that they find support. "I am terribly worried about what young theatre artistes are going through," says a distraught Sameera Iyengar, theatrewallah and cultural practioner. "We live in a society with absolutely no social security. It's always down to individuals, families and communities. People are doing whatever they can, but there is only so much that civil society can do," she says.

Faezeh Jalali