To celebrate Deepavali, Mr Shermaraja Arunachalam, a scissors-lift operator, would usually go shopping for new clothes and have a mass cookout with his dormitory mates. Away from his family and home in Tamil Nadu, India, those festive get-togethers helped to ease his homesickness.
This year, things will not be the same.
Mr Shermaraja is among more than 300,000 migrant workers in Singapore who have endured lockdown-like conditions since April.