I decided to look at topics that dominated our national discourse over the past year, not because I enjoy reliving moments of anxiety but because I wanted to try and gauge how we direct our attention. I wanted to get a sense of what occupies us, more during a time of crisis than when things appear to have a semblance of normalcy. I noticed, unsurprisingly, that most of our conversations centred around the Covid-19 vaccine: when scientists would discover one, how long it would take to produce, when it would arrive, and when our parents or grandparents would be eligible for a first shot.

There was almost nothing said about how children across India were faring during the pandemic. A couple of news features in weekend supplements involved psychologists pointing out the effects of forced isolation, while news reports restricted comments to when examinations were being held or when schools were scheduled to open. I was looking specifically for information from the government, about how it viewed the health of children and what it intended to do for their well-being and future in a post-pandemic world. And I found nothing.