Mohan Paswan and Jyoti Kumari
On March 25, 2020, the Government of India imposed a countrywide lockdown to prevent the spread of corona virus. The citizens got just a few of hours of notice. The lockdown was a shock to all but specially so to India’s millions of migrant labour. With the stoppage of all economic activity, they lost their jobs and daily wages. They had little money to buy food and in most cases no way of paying the rent for their sparse accommodation. The only solution was to go home, but there were no trains or buses to take them to their villages. So they decided to walk – hundreds or thousands of km!
Millions of migrant labour have been on the move, the biggest migration of people across India since the partition of 1947. Many did not make it. Some were killed on the way by trains or trucks; many collapsed and died on the road.
This, however, is the happy story of 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari and her father Mohan Paswan who made it – from Gurugram near Delhi to their village in Sirhulli, Bihar (a distance of over 1200 km) on a bicycle! Also, it wasn’t a case of the father ferrying his daughter – it was the other way around!
Mohan Paswan was a rickshaw-puller in Gurugram and was injured in an accident in January. His family had stayed back in the village and Jyoti had dropped out of school last year due to their poverty. When the accident immobilized Mohan, Jyoti came over to help him. When the lockdown happened, they were running out of money and Jyoti suggested that they should cycle their way home. Mohan first thought it was a mad idea, but later agreed. They spent the last of their savings on a ladies bicycle and started off on May 8.
Jyoti had done a lot of cycling in the village and she was able to carry her dad as a pillion rider along with a bag. It was hard work and on many days they had little to eat. They slept at gas stations and depended on the generosity of strangers. Except for one short lift on a truck, Jyoti pedaled more than 150 km a day. They made it in 8 days.
Mohan Paswan was placed in quarantine, but Jyoti was allowed by the village authorities to live at home. Once her story broke, she was besieged by phone calls and visits by journalists. The New York Times featured her story.
I believe the lockdown in India was very poorly implemented, placing millions of people in grave danger. Now when current situation is 100 X worse 0 lockdown has been lifted!
Let us all note that it was a 15 years girl ferrying her father across 1200 Kms. Her mental state to challenge the adverse situation is what needs to be appreciated. I am sure that given an opportunity women folk can perform equally well, and the male dominated society needs to acknowledge this this. In spite of laws being there to make them equal, practice is far from it.