The lockdown has created an appalling situation for our migrant workers and labourers. It’s been over a month now, many of them are still trying to get back home in villages that are far flung, and more often than not, inaccessible.
Helpless and homeless, they are forced to do things they wouldn’t have done otherwise. Like this one migrant worker who had to steal a bicycle to travel 250 km to his home with his differently-abled child.
What’s more heartbreaking is that he left an apology letter for the owner of the bicycle expressing his helplessness.
Heartbreaking: Poor migrant worker in Rajasthan stole a bicycle to head home in Bareilly & left a note saying: “Please forgive me, I had to do this for my child who can not walk” pic.twitter.com/Y65PkXcfyA
— Aarif Shah (@aarifshaah) May 15, 2020
The incident was reported from Rarah village in Bharatpur, Rajasthan. Mohammad Iqbal, a migrant worker from Bareilly in UP stole a cycle from Sahab Singh’s house on the night of 11th May. Later, Singh found an apology letter while sweeping his verandah.
He apparently left a note for Singh, which he found while sweeping the verandah.
The note read:
Main aapki cycle lekar ja raha hoon. Ho sake toh mujhe maaf kar dena ji. Mere paas koi saadhan nahin hai. Mera ek bachha hai uske liye mujhe aisa karna pad raha hai kyunki woh viklaang hai.
A picture of the note going viral on social media is breaking people’s hearts.
Hearts of the poor are pure, whereas the rich has filth in it.
— Zakaria زکریا🇮🇳 (@mzak29) May 15, 2020
I bet that given a chance in his lifetime he might return it too.
These stories make us cry 😢😢
— deepak pande (@deepakpande77) May 16, 2020
Very painful message 😥😥😞
— Najeeb Khan India نجيب خان الهند (@NajeebKhanIndi1) May 16, 2020
Tragic… 🤐 😯 😪
— The Meme Daaktar आत्मनिर्भर (@MemeDaaktar) May 15, 2020
Hungry for days and walking hundreds of kilometres to their homes, this is just another incident of the migrant workers’ plight. And it shatters our hearts to see their helplessness.