Not without my father

When 15-year-old, Jyoti, cycled 1200kms, across states, with her injured father riding pillion, ensuring that he reached their village safely, it wasn't just her will power that held her in good stead, but also her wheel power.

Dec 25, 2020 RACHNA TYAGI No Comments Like
ILLUSTRATION : SHWETA PASARKAR

By :



MUMBAI :

A Father-daughter relationship is one of the most beautiful relationships in the world and when there is a bicycle thrown into the equation; you can be sure that it only provides further impetus to keep the wheels of this relationship turning even more smoothly and securely. 

By May 2020, 15-year-old, Jyoti Kumari, had realized that her father, Mohan Paswan, who was recuperating from a knee surgery, performed at Delhi’s Safdarjung hospital, after a road accident, was in no position to travel back home to Bihar either by bus or by truck which thousands of migrant laborers, across the country, were boarding in order to get ‘home.’ That is when, perhaps unknown to her, her teen instinct kicked in. She did what most teens her age do – nag – until she got what she wanted. She started beseeching her father to leave Gurugram and head back to their village, Siruhully, in Bihar’s Darbhanga district, on a bicycle! Paswan, a daily wage earner, who sold samosas and bread pakoras before becoming an e-rickshaw driver, was in no mood to relent. Ride pillion for a distance of around 1200 kms and that too on a bicycle that his daughter would pedal on a national highway, all the way from Gurugram to Darbangha! That’s preposterous, he exclaimed.

With the lockdown extending week after week, fewer vehicles plying on the streets, and users of public transport being few and far between, even the INR 400-500 which Paswan used to bring home every day had come to a grinding halt. And it wasn’t long before they completely ran out of food supplies as well. And if that wasn’t enough, fate dealt another cruel blow. The duo found themselves being evicted from their home, in Gurugram, as the landlord flatly refused to let them stay on without paying up the monthly rent of INR 1500 which had been piling up.

That is when, Paswan, thought of trying his luck at booking two seats for himself and his daughter on a bus leaving for Bihar. But with four-five lakh people already on the waiting list and with more money needed to grease palms in order to secure two seats on the bus, he decided against it. “Greasing palms would have costed me an additional INR 50 but more importantly, if somebody in the crowd, even by mistake, stepped on my operated leg, I would have collapsed right there, and so travelling by bus, in my condition, was just impossible,” says Paswan. 

Jyoti, who stayed back in Gurugram to cook meals for her father after her mother and brother-in-law had returned back to their village post the accident, says that she couldn’t bear to see her father’s plight and that was the reason she started insisting that they return home to Bihar on a bicycle. However her father would have none of it.  “I kept telling her that she cannot do it,” says Paswan. “Papa aane ke liye tayar hi nahi the,” (Dad wasn’t willing to come at all), says Jyoti who kept telling him, “Hum le chalenge, aapko ghar, Papa.” (I will take you home, Papa).   

Forced by his dire circumstances and with no other option left, when Paswan, saw several other migrant laborers walking towards their home towns, reluctantly and half-heartedly, he finally relented to Jyoti’s wish of riding pillion and traveling all the way back home to Bihar on a bicycle. An elated Jyoti assured him, that they “would get home safely” and that they would “travel slowly for his sake,” says Jyoti.

The idea of travelling on a bicycle had in fact, been suggested to them by “Mullah uncle,” who lived in a mohalla (Locality) close by and who hailed from Araria, Bihar. He told them that he along with his family, were heading back and that they already had three bicycles between the four of them which he and his two sons would be riding all the way. He told Paswan and Jyoti, were welcome to accompany them, if they wished to. That is how, Paswan and Jyoti came to join “Mullah Uncle,” on what turned out to be the journey of a lifetime! 

But before they could set off on their long and arduous journey, there remained the task of procuring a bicycle for Jyoti. Upon learning about a house in the neighborhood that had a spare bicycle, it was decided to go to the house, and purchase it from the owner right away. “It was a second-hand ‘ladies’ bicycle and we requested them to sell it to us. They wanted INR 1000 for it, but that was the exact amount that we had in our pocket which we needed for our onward journey, so we told them to give it to us for INR 500, and promised to pay them the remaining amount later,” say Jyoti. That is how the shocking pink ‘Afro’ bicycle with a red seat entered Jyoti’s life which, unknown to her then, was about to bring a big change her life. 

On the night of May 10, 2020, at around 10pm, Jyoti and her father, along with Mullah uncle and his family, set off on their bicycles pedaling towards home, in Bihar. “There were Policemen on duty everywhere who were keeping a tight vigil, especially on inter-state highway movement and so, it was decided to avoid the main roads for some distance, and so we ended up riding through a small jungle instead, on the very first night itself,” recalls Paswan, who after paying for the bicycle, had spent INR 100 on food, was now left with only INR 400 in his pocket for the entire journey.

Thus, began the father and daughter’s unforgettable journey. “Along the way, we would eat and drink whatever people would hand out to us. A few good Samaritans had made arrangements along the highway, for weary travelers to rest, so, at such places we would stop, park our bicycles, take some rest, eat and drink whatever was available before proceeding further. At some places they would hand out Puri-subzi, on some days there would be fruits, and on some days tea and biscuits. Some places had arrangements for weary walkers to get some sleep also. Jyoti’s legs would ache from pedaling the bicycle all day and sometimes she would pedal even through the night. I would offer to press her feet but out of respect for me, she never allowed me to. And then again, the next day, Jyoti would start pedaling again,” says Paswan about his daughter. “People along the way were very nice to us, especially at petrol pumps,” says Jyoti. “They would show us where the restrooms were and they would also tell us where we could charge our cell phones,” says Jyoti who would make one call to her mother every day to inform her about where they had reached. 

“Mullah uncle really kept encouraging me throughout the journey. Not all roads were even, some stretches also had an incline, and on those stretches it would become really strenuous to pedal up the road on the bicycle,” says Jyoti. With Paswan, a portly man, sitting behind on the carrier of the bicycle, with his legs dangling on either sides and holding a bag with their belongings, it couldn’t have been easy for 15-year-old Jyoti who had just learnt to ride a bicycle two years back in her village. “Mullah uncle would keep saying, “Chal beta, Papa ko kheench ke lana hai,” (Come on kid, you’ve got to pull your father and bring him along),” says Jyoti. When I would get tired, I would just stop, but then when I would start pedaling again, up ahead, I would find Mullah uncle and his family waiting for my father and me. Mullah uncle did this throughout the journey. They would set off with us but sometimes they would cycle faster and so, sometimes they would get ahead sooner, but they would always wait for us because we were slow and took longer to catch up with them. “Hum unko Bhagwan maante hai. Jab tak jiyenge, unka naam lenge. (We consider them God. As long as we live, we will remember them), says Paswan about Mullah uncle.

Jyoti who forced by her circumstances had embarked on this journey along with her father cycled on some of India’s dangerously fast roads including a national highway without even a helmet or proper footwear. “I was just wearing my rubber slippers,” she says. Luckily for them, all that they had to do along the way was “check the air pressure in the bicycle’s tires, which they managed to do at regular intervals. Otherwise, the bicycle had good brakes and performed well minus any punctures on the way,” says Jyoti.

Finally, on May 16th 2020, at around 9:30 pm after cycling for a distance of almost 1200 kms (a part of which also involved hitching a ride for a short stretch in a near empty truck,) Jyoti, who had started cycling all the way from Gurugram, with her father, finally reached Siruhully, bringing her father back home to their village, safe and sound. By then, news of Jyoti’s feat began spreading like a wild fire. A small crowd had even gathered at the entrance of the village to give her a hero’s welcome for her cycling feat which went on to catapult her name to unimaginable fame. 

What with Ivanka Trump tweeting about Jyoti’s effort, lauding it, and calling it a “beautiful feat of endurance and love” Jyoti’s journey with her father not only made waves, but it went on to change Jyoti’s life for the better in the days that followed. 

However, before that, Jyoti’s feat caught the attention of the Cycling Federation of India who extended an invitation to her to display her cycling abilities and offered to put her through some tests to see if she meets certain parameters to qualify for championships. “When I reached home, they called me and said that I should come down to participate in a race and that they would sponsor everything, my travel, food and stay, but I told them that right now my limbs are swollen and aching and so, I can’t do it now. They understood and told me to come later,” says Jyoti.

Onkar Singh, Chairman, Cycling Federation of India, says “the training center is closed as of now, we will start next month, hopefully. Once it starts, we will call her and see if she fits the different parameters to start training, but until then, she has been cycling around in her village. She will certainly be called,” says Singh.

Today, four bicycles are parked outside her house. All gifts, received from politicians, ministers and well-wishers. A new pucca makaan (Solid structural house) with running water and a restroom have also been constructed with the money that she received as gifts from various Indian politicians such as Akhilesh Yadav, Chirag Paswan, Tejaswi Yadav, Papu Yadav and others such as Yes Bank and India’s soldiers. In fact, the management of the bicycle manufacturer, Afro, whose bicycle Jyoti rode all the way home, also announced a cash award for Jyoti. Enrolled in Class IX, ministers and politicians have also generously agreed to sponsor her education for “as long as she wishes to study,” says her father. 

As for Jyoti, she is just super thrilled about the fact that she was able to bring her injured father home safely. She wears her new found fame lightly. “I’m just happy that you are writing about me. That is a very big thing for me,” she says. Now, Jyoti, is looking forward to participating in a real “Race.” “Right now, they have told me to just keep cycling, keep practicing, and to keep concentrating on my health,” she says “so that is what I’m doing,” she says in her happy and carefree manner. 

Here’s a honk for your will power and another double honk for your wheel power – Pedal Puff Girl. You make us so proud!

 

 

 


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