Important Announcement: HGStreet Mumbai 2020

Since its inception, Homegrown as a youth-based platform has tried to work for and in tandem with the Indian youth, and having novel conversations and exploring spaces that no one conventionally treads into has had us have to make a lot of tough decisions. And yet, every morning, when we get down to work, we do so from a place of responsibility. We acknowledge that our words and actions have the ability to change not only thoughts but also lives, and this is why we put a lot of care, courage, and reason into everything we present to our audience.

As aforementioned, sometimes, having to choose the right path takes a lot of courage and often comes with mini-heartbreaks. For the last few months, all of our energies had been dedicated to the organisation of our festival HGStreet. We had painstakingly planned the whole line-up, and our giant event spreadsheet was, quite honestly, very visually satisfying. It won’t be an overstatement to say that all of us had become so obsessed with the HGStreet introductory video song that we had it downloaded in our phones to listen to it when it wasn’t playing in the office! Every confirmed sponsorship was followed by a round of loud cheer, and as Instagram countdown came alive, so did our hopes. Of course, it was a lot of work, but at the same time, we were so glad to think that what we were producing had the capability of igniting dreams, sparking hope, and inspiring individuals and if not anything, at the very least, ensuring that everyone who attended the festival, went back having learnt something new.

All this while, what was also running parallelly, however, was what is easily one of the biggest crises globally, and when the pandemic caused due to Coronavirus started looming too large to be contained, we knew it was time to take a stand. COVID-19 is an infectious disease caused by the most recently discovered coronavirus. This new virus and disease were unknown before the outbreak began in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. This disease spreads through contact with infected droplets. According to the WHO,

“ The disease can spread from person to person through small droplets from the nose or mouth which are spread when a person with COVID-19 coughs or exhales. These droplets land on objects and surfaces around the person. Other people then catch COVID-19 by touching these objects or surfaces, then touching their eyes, nose or mouth. People can also catch COVID-19 if they breathe in droplets from a person with COVID-19 who coughs out or exhales droplets.”

HGStreet, which was to be held in an enclosed space and which would have expected a massive footfall would have also meant people having to stay within the perilous distance of six feet from one another. We couldn’t help but imagine the worst-case situation and following a lot of sleepless nights, we decided that we cannot be putting anyone through a potential risk of what is certainly one of the most dangerous epidemics of our times.

To this end, for now, we have decided to postpone HGStreet until we can be assured of a risk-free time for bringing together the youth of the country for their favourite lifestyle and culture festival. We understand that this decision will be affecting people beyond our thought-circle and we take full responsibility for the mini-heartbreaks that our decision will cause.

Nevertheless, we are moving ahead with the hope and assurance that our audience and the Indian youth as a collective will be more than happy to support us in our decision and when times are happier, they will sing and jam again along with us. We also want to extend our gratitude to all our audience members and to everyone who believes in us, for their support and encouragement through the planning process of #HGStreet. We truly believe that wonderful things can happen when we all come together as a community and stand by and for each other.

In the meantime, we promise with all our heart that we will keep putting forth inspiring, creative, and revolutionary conversations, as we always do.

Please find a note from our team attached herewith.