With Rs 1,000 left in the kitty, you have to take up a challenge that may change how you look at the humanitarian crisis unfolding in India during the lockdown. Survive Covid, a game launched by Chennai-based NGO Yein Udaan and developed by XR Labs, is sure to hit you where it hurts. The game is simple: assume that you are a daily wage worker living with a family of four, trying to survive the lockdown with few resources available to you. The reality, however, isn't so simple.

The game begins with telling you that the government has just announced a 21-day lockdown. Will you walk 12 kms to your employers' house to collect the prorated salary of Rs 3,000? Or will you instead borrow R6,000 on an interest of 10 per cent from the nearest money lender? If you think this question comes with difficult choices, then you are in for a ride. It gets worse. You are asked to choose between food supplies for a month and cleaning supplies to keep the virus at bay. Your son suddenly complains of fever and chest pain, and you are left to decide whether to do a COVID test that will burn a hole in your pocket or feed him home remedies.