Sunday, 24 May 2020

Arjun Kumar Paswan Migrant





See this cropped WhatsApp image carefully. You would have seen this face many times. Behind golguppa carts, cleaning up in hotels, as watchmen in apartments. They all have a story to tell.
Here is the story of a debt of 80,000/-.That drives a young man from pillar to post. From Bihar-Jharkhand border to Erode and on foot back to his village Hazipur.  
Arjun, "I am the only support for my parents. They are old. Every day my mother weeps, I have to reach home , see them as soon as possible.
I came here only because we are in deep debt. One and a half lakhs debts, over the weddings of my two younger sisters.
I was first working in Erode for 2 years. But that company ran into losses and they fired some of us. Then I came to Chennai eight months ago.
Over the years I managed to earn and pay up 70,000/-. But then the lockdown happenned and everything was finished. We still have 80,000/- debt. At 100% interest."
And then he switched topics, "Is the WhatsApp picture yours ? Really ? Then you are just like my Ammaji. I will never foget your ehsaan. We people never forget."
"In Chennai, I had set up a small stall outside a company where I would sell water and chana. I would make about 9000/-. I would send it home. I spent very little on myself. I did not even stay in a room. Night I would close my stall window and sleep on the ground outside. I had a small kerosene stove, and I would cook my roti and subzi there on the roadside."
And when it rained, I asked. "The watchman of the company has his room at the gate. We would both sleep there then."
"Every day I speak to my Ammaji and Babuji. I speak for half an hour. My Babuji would always tell me, work anywhere, but never theive. He would teach me that again and again."
"We have some land. We put a motor, but that failed and we dont have money to repair it. You will not understand the pressures of us poor people."
I asked him to send his picture, and of his family. "My phone camera does not work. I will send after we return home.When people see me now they will not recognize me. The times have been very hard. Six months ago I was so much better.
Nights I dont get sleep, I keep worrying ..."
His father is old he says, and very worried over the huge debt. He says, "Gareeb logon ke bahut mushkilen hain ji."

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Stories Without An End ...
38 people from Jharkhand were part of a group I was following up with.
Then one day when I called them, there were only two.
Where are the others I asked Arjun and Mohan Singh.
- Chale Gaye (Theve gone)
- Kahaan ?? (Where ??)
- Jharkhand !
The 36 had got their families to borrow money and send to them. They hired a private van, paying 7000/- each and left.
This is the face of desperation.
They came here to earn for the families. Now the families are pushed into debt to get them back.
The group of 36 called me up now. They have almost reached home, they are near Bokaro. They thanked me. What for I don't know. Maybe to have wished them well. I asked them to reach out anytime in days to come too.
Arjun told me that day, "We both also tried to get in. But the driver pushed us out as we had no money for tickets."
Two days they were on the footpath as we tried to locate space in overflowing relief centres for them. I would leave money in the local hotel and they would eat there. One day I requested the hotel Seth to give them 1000/- each as they had no money on them at all. I transferred the money.
And that day, maybe on the strength of that small money, they left. I don't know where. The phones are always switched off. I try many times daily.
They must have given up on our empty assurances. And decided to walk to Jharkhand again ... we may never know.
We gave collectively failed. And failed the people vwho sustained us and our land.

Prasanna Gandhi
The others sold their mobile phones for 5000 to a truck driver. Apparently went to buy tickets.  



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Arjun, one of the 'migrant labour' I was following, had suddenly become unreachable. He had been very worried about his mother, who was unwell. I had transferred some money to him 3 days ago, and from then he was untraceable. While we were trying to get a relief center entry for him, he disappeared.
After 4 days he contacted me. This morning.
He has walked along the track to Hyderabad.
He told me he will continue to walk along the track to Bihar he said as there are no trains.
I tried to dissuade him. I asked him if he needed money. He said he had 200/- left and would ask if needed.
He asked me if the WhatsApp picture was mine. When I said yes. "Aap tho mere Ammaji jaisi hain !"
Another 'migrant labourer', young enough to be my son. A teenager. Planning to walk from Chennai to Bihar along the railway track. Alone. In burning heat.
Again his phone is unreachable. As we are trying to get thro and convince him to wait for a train.

  • Prakhar Prakash
    These kids deserve a hug. He could have asked for more but he was ok with 200 rs. Because he didn’t want more. His swabhiman kicked in. 
    • Aparna Krishnan
      Prakhar Prakash they are like that. I again called and asked him to take, worried he may not find an ATM later. He brushed it aside. Their courage vsnd srkf confidence is also way higher than ours. We prop ourselves up with money notes. 
  • Rama Murthy
    Refusing money that was offered especially under these circumstances , that is a culture many in our Society will not understand.. And that is the India we are trying to obliterate.. 
    • Aparna Krishnan
      Rama Murthy their integrity, rooted in courage, is something we 'educated Indian's can never come close to understanding. We waver between fear and greed, reducing to ashes all that we touch. 
  • Aparna Krishnan
    Very worried for him. Walking down a track from state to state. Disowned in their own country, these children


Part I
Arjun Kumar Paswan called me last night, late.
"Aap Kahan ho ??", I nearly shouted.
Whole day I had been on the phone trying to reach him. His phone was switched off. And I could not get off my mind the image of a lone man with no money in his pocket trudging on the highway from Hyderabad.
"Mein Latur mein hoon.", I fell off the chair. Morning he had called from Hyderabad.
But Latur is still a long way from Bihar, Aurangabad.
He was with a group of 57 Jharkhand people in Chennai, when I started tracking this group.In hennai we had divided amongst us the work of helping differnt groups. He was not originally part of that group, but as he was alone he attached himself to them. 
They had all set out walking from Chennai.The police caught them at the check post after their long hard walk to the border, and brought them all to Central Station. There the group of 57 was split and left in two places by the police van. A group of 36 was dropped on the Sriperumbudur Highway. The remaining were  dropped at Redhills . 
This group of 36 ate with their own money at a small hotel on the Sriperumbadur highwayland slept on the roadside. He stayed with them.
The 36 of them together raised 7000/- each, by selling their cell phones, and took a private van and left. He had no money, or wherewithal to raise it, and when he tried to get in too, he was pushed out by the driver.
So he and another lone person Mohan Singh stayed on the Sriperumbudur Highway for two days near a hotel. As we were in touch with them, we would pay the hotel and they would eat. He would tell me about his parents, "Mere Ammaji and Pitaji boode hain. Roz rothe hain. Mujhe Jana hai. ", 'My parents are old, they weep daily. I need to go  ...'.
One day I transferred 1000/- extra to the hotel as he would have some spending money. And that afternoon he left even as we were trying for relief centres for him.
The phone was switched off after that. I would try daily many times.
Then 3 days later I got a call from him from Hyderabad to tell me that me that he had walked to there. And he told me that he  would keep walking till he reached home. I told him not to, I asked him to wait till we discussed possibilities. I asked him how much money he had. 200/- he said. He does not possess a bank account. And he had no suggestions on how I could transfer money to him.
After that I could not contact him. His phone was switched off.
He had told me that he keeps the phone switched off. To conserve charge.
Night I got a call from Latur ... he had had a ride on a lorry. He had 100/- now. He had no way to help me transfer money to him.
He informed me that he would walk on to Varanasi. He said that a lorry driver asked for 1500/- for the trip, and that that was not possible. I assured him that I would pay and to please fix up the lorry ride. ... He hesitated very much, and then said ok ...
Today morning I got a call that the driver refused, and that he had started walking and was 25 km out of Latur. And since then the phone has been switched off ...
He will call ...
(to be continued ...)



tauMafhrSapody lcg22,rns 2o0rS2ead0 
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Part II
I just got a call from Arjun, night 9 pm. He's on a bus to Varanasi. He will reach by early morning. I asked him where to transfer the money for the ride. He said it's fine, the driver did not ask for money.
No bank account. 100/- in his pocket. Making the journey from Latur to Varanasi to his village 300km from there.
In faith, in courage, in simplicity.
I can only offer to transfer money. There is no way to do that. I have nothing else to offer. What is sustaining him is something else. Including the goodness of the truck driver, and many others he meets on the way. Simple people.
He says I remind him of his mother. He had asked if the WhatsApp picture is mine, and decided my position. He thanks me profusely. I don't know why ... I have done nothing except worry for him. And wish him well.
(To be continued ...)



Arjun called now. "Border paar kar liya. Bihar mein hoon." !!
He said that now hes 200 km from home. He was very cool. He said now he will meet people from his district, and will reach home by tomorrow
18th May, He set out with 1000/- from Chennai. Which I had transferred to him via a shop as he had absolutely no money. I did not transfer more as I did not know about this shop. After that he disappeared.
21st May, he reached Hyderabad and called. He had 200/- with him. He was determined to proceed homewards.
As he has no bank account, it was not possible to reach money to him. Also no coordination was possible as he would keep switching off his phone when he was not calling, to conserve charge.
21st evening he called me up from Latur. He had hitched a ride. He had 100/- left.
A lorry driver said he could drop him in Varanasi for 1500/-. I tried to persuade him to take it, promising to transfer as soon as he gave me a number. He was not sure.
22nd morning he called to tell me that he was walking from Latur to Varanasi. That the lorry did not work out. I checked the distance 1245 km ! There was no way to reach him, the phone was switched off.
22nd evening he called me saying he was in a lorry to Varanasi. That the driver had asked for no money and all was well. That he would reach by 2 am. He had only 100/- with him. And courage.
23rd morning, today, there was no call. I kept waiting, worried. Then I got a call near noon saying he was in a bus from Varanasi towards Bihar.
23rd 3pm he calls me and says all is well. That he has crossed the border into Bihar.
Money was not on his mind, and now I realized that that are far greater support systems working than money can buy. Anyway I again asked him if I can transfer some money for the remaining 200 km he needs to go. He then asked the shop nearby,and the shopkeeper said that he could take the money on Google Pe and give him.
He said he should reach home by tomorrow. 24th.
I will wait for that call. But he reassured me that he was now in Bihar, all was well. He would meet people from his district. Everyone would help.
18th to 24th. A young man, a 'migrant', lost his job, his savings. And crossed the country on 1000/- from a wellwisher, and on his own courage and determination and need.

It was his love for his parents that gave him the strength to do this marathon. He used to say how he was their only support, and he needed to be with them now.
... and after all after checking with me that my whatsapp picture was really mine, he has told me "Aap tho mere ammaji jaise hai.". 'You are like my mother.".
... the rest of his story, his family, the difficulties back home, the small box shop he set up in Chennai, the integrity of the father, the debts ...all that is for another post later ...

  • Chitra Sharan
    It's much more than courage, determination and grit that makes people like Arjun take up this arduous journey back home. It's such a wonderful feeling to be with familiar sounds, sights and smell. Hope he is able to stay at home and be happy. 
  • Bharat Thakur
    I wish these brave stories will set up more human bondings than feeling of isolation. Otherwise The entire scene looks like India vs migrant labors. 
    • Aparna Krishnan
      Bharat Thakur it is. India has failed them. The upper class whom they sustained, failed them. The government, kowtowing to industrial interests, failed them. 
    • Vijay Daga
      If Indians had failed he couldn't have completed his journey from Chennai to Bihar there is some positivity amongst gloom 
    • Aparna Krishnan
      Vijay Daga upper class India failed him. 
    • Vijay Daga
      Aparna Krishnan it is not necessarily upper class there is more than that it is our forgotten culture and ethos class divide is more of a foreign concept but being on side of dharma is important and I might be wrong when I said Indians it should have been bhartiya there is much divide between them.Otherwise without help people couldn't have reached there villages.We have many times survived inspite of government which has failed us umpteenth time but our fighting spirit has kept us going . 
    • Aparna Krishnan
      The rural India still has the essence of our culture of hospitality. That is the only hope. 
  • Aparna Krishnan
    Arun Kombai, for some reason as I was writing this, I was thinking of you. I can imagine you doing this ... 
  • Prakhar Prakash
    His story gives goosebumps. A boy, living in a free country, feels nobody, till he reaches Bihar. Until then, he crosses TN, AP, MH, MP.....all different countries sort of..... with one common passport.
    Ghar Ghar hota hai. One can feel why working near home is so important and why Gram Swaraj is so important to achieve it. 
  • Srinivas Samudrala
    Congratulations
     💐👍to Arjun for his determination and Unfathomable Love to his Parents, relatives and home land 
  • Manan Bindal
    Respect & Love to Arjun. Love to you. 🙏❤️ 
uMtmgrrSSaypo ansosre23,Sr 2ud0s2o0 
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Arjun reached home, Bihar!
18-23
Chennai- Hyderabad- Latur- Varanasi-Bihar on 1000/-
#MigrantTales #OnFoot
Komakkambedu Himakiran, Chitra Sharan and 108 others
 

14 Comments


Do you know what gives greater happiness than seeing Arjun reach back his village Hazipur after a walk of a week across the length of this land ?
Talking to his mother.
He connected me to her now. She spoke Jharkhandi, I did not understand anything, and yet I followed everything she said. And she, all that I said.
Journeys end in mother-son meetings. 🥰
AND THEN ...

This story had a happy ending. He was in deep debt of 2 lakhs incurred over droughts, and was incurring a monthly interest of 4000/-. He had come to Chennai. Over ten years he had paid half the principal, but was now finding just paying the interest also very difficult.
Village people have high dignity and to have the money lended come home and abuse is the deepest humiliation.
Hearing this story, a friend stepped in. Spoke to the money lender. Paid up the balance of the debt in three installments.
And now Arjun is a free man. He sounds so light. He labours in neighbouring farms and may never return to Chennai.
God grant it be so. And he lives with his children, wife and parents.
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