Listen to the latest songs, only on JioSaavn.com Sethu, the metal fabricator, spent months cooped up while his factory was shut. Work has since restarted, but he sees layoffs happening all around him and Advertis worries that some migrants are willing to work for cheaper salaries. "I don't know what will happen," Sethu said. Only Unnikrishnan's job - as a clerk in GGME's warehouse - seemed safe, partly because of his father's legacy at the company. But even he was nervous about the future with business so slow. Each night, he returns to the labor camp where the men sleep ve to a room in bunk beds. He sends about $400 home to his family each month, and while he speaks to them every day, he won't see them in person for another year. After Ramakrishnan was laid off, he tried, without success, to nd a different job. In late June, he boarded a ight sponsored by a television station in Kerala, just one of many private efforts to bring out-of-work migrants home for free. The Indian government also organized a massive airlift. One such ight returning from the gulf to Kerala ended in tragedy when the ight skidded off the runway, killing 20. Ramakrishnan landed in the state's capital, Thiruvananthapuram, then boarded a government bus heading north. At Kadalundi, a town on the Arabian Sea known for its bird sanctuary, the roads narrowed as he approached home. The concrete track that leads to his house is only wide enough for a motorbike. The large, white two-story home with a red-tiled roof soon emerges from the trees. Downstairs a case holds trophies won by his 15-year-old daughter in classical-music competitions. As Ramakrishnan began 28 days of home quarantine, he had no idea what would come next. He managed to pay the latest installment on his loan with the nal payment from his employer but didn't know where he would get the money for those that would follow. Even now, his mind is full of thoughts of going back to the gulf - anything to avoid the indignity of returning home with nothing. When his father came home from the gulf and retired, he took to selling produce out of a small concrete shack nearby - a way to combat idleness rather than to earn a living. Now Ramakrishnan decided his only option was to reopen it as a tiny store where he could sell vegetables and rice on a quiet rural lane. Promoted LIVE TV Dil Chahte Ho CORONAVIRUS ELECTIONS LATEST INDIA VIDEO WORLD Laid Off And Unpaid, Kerala Workers Return Home The GulfOPINION Dil Chahte Ho - Jubin Nautiyal, PayalFrom Up next Taaron Ke Shehar – Neha Kakkar… OFFBEAT CASES IN INDIA 68,35,655 78,524