1232 km – The Journey of Seven Indian Migrants | EXCERPT

In the aftermath of the nationwide lockdown in 2020, Ritesh, Ashish, Ram Babu, Sonu, Krishna, Sandeep and Mukesh were only seven of millions of migrants who undertook an arduous journey back home to their villages. Their harrowing trip from Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh, to their hometown of Saharsa as they braved police lathis and insults, and battled hunger, exhaustion and fear, has been documented by National Award-winning filmmaker Vinod Kapri. Read an excerpt:

Sonu’s cycle kept breaking down and, during one such incident, when everyone was trying to fix it, three men approached them. All of them were young—in their early twenties. They seemed to be locals.

‘What happened?’ asked one of the three, a frail-looking man. ‘Is your bicycle giving you problems? If you want, we can have a look.’

Everyone was more than glad to accept this offer of help. Ritesh felt as though luck was shining down on them again. He immediately handed over the cycle so that the man could take a look. He started fiddling with the cycle chain. Looking at the way he examined it convinced the seven labourers that this man was an expert. Within no time, he stood up and offered his diagnosis. ‘Brother, your cycle chain is completely worn out. There is nothing left in it. It needs to be changed.’

‘So what should we do now?’ asked Ritesh anxiously.

‘Let’s see what we can do. Will Rakesh be awake?’ he asked the other two men, and before they could answer, he said, ‘Do one thing; call Rakesh.’

The second man dialled a number. The phone kept ringing. But no one picked it up. Even as the group’s faces fell, the first man reassured them, ‘Don’t you worry; our village is just a kilometre away. Rakesh has a cycle shop.

Even if he’s sleeping, we’ll wake him up and get this thing fixed.’ The confidence with which he spoke gave them all fresh hope.

Ram Babu wasn’t convinced. ‘What if we don’t find your friend in the village?’

‘Why won’t you find him?’ asked the third man, who was a little stockier, speaking up for the first time. ‘He’s there in the village. We ate dinner together just an hour ago.’

Ram Babu still wasn’t sure that they should leave the highway and go into the village. For one, it would delay them, and secondly, these were complete strangers, and third, he wasn’t very comfortable with them. He himself sat down to have a look at the chain. ‘Is it good enough to run for another 10–12 kilometres?’

‘No,’ said the first man at once, ‘it is not. We saw you in trouble, that’s why we came. The rest is up to you.’

Ram Babu, still doubtful, looked at others. They looked back impassively. No one betrayed any emotion. But a decision had to be taken. ‘Let it be. We’ll move ahead,’ said Ram Babu. ‘It’s already too late at night. If we go to the village and return, we will be further delayed. What do you say, Ritesh?’ He included Ritesh in his decision to make it more convincing. Ritesh, deep in his own guilt, wasn’t ready to take any chances. ‘Whatever you say,’ he agreed quickly. ‘Let’s move ahead.’

‘And if the chain breaks off on the way?’ demanded Ashish.

‘You people sort yourself out. We are leaving,’ one of the men said and started to leave. The other two followed him.

‘Oh, stop … Okay, tell me, is your village just a kilometre away?’ Ram Babu shouted after them.

‘Yes.’

They left the highway and started walking on a narrow road behind the three villagers. Ram Babu prayed that his decision was the right one. Ritesh was happy that this time if anything went wrong, at least he wouldn’t be taken to task. Both were right in their own minds. This is how the human mind works. Whenever you are entrusted with responsibility, you worry about the impact of every decision.

Five minutes into their walk, the route became even more desolate. From the narrow road, the three men now turned on to a dirt road that passed through the fields towards a grove. There was pin-drop silence and not even stray dogs—a standard feature in any village—could be heard barking.

Ram Babu was now getting more suspicious, and said, ‘Brother, we can’t see any village nearby.’

‘There is one. You see that dense grove? It’s beyond that,’ replied the man, vaguely pointing to something in the distance.

‘I can’t see anything.’

‘There is no electricity. So that is why everything is dark.’

Ram Babu’s gut feeling told him that something was very wrong. He tried to catch Ritesh’s eye, but Ritesh didn’t respond because it was too dark to see anyone’s face clearly.

Finally, Ram Babu said, ‘Look, brother, I am not going beyond this place. Even if we have a broken chain we would prefer to walk.’ With this, he stopped. The others too stopped in their tracks.

‘Brother, what are you saying; it’s just couple of minutes more.’ The second man came forward. ‘The village is behind that jungle. Now that you have come so far, get your work done.’

‘What do you say, Ritesh? Ashish?’ Ram Babu didn’t want to take a decision now.

‘We have to walk for another two to four minutes, so let’s walk,’ said Ashish. Everyone agreed and started walking. Ram Babu wasn’t happy. The three men were leading. Ram Babu was just behind them, followed by the rest.

Ram Babu couldn’t shake off the feeling that this was a gang of burglars, and the rest of them would appear the moment they received a signal from these men. We could be robbed, he thought. But if these three were part of a gang, shouldn’t there have been some activity by now? He also wondered what these men could possibly steal from them—their situation was no better than a beggar’s. He convinced himself and kept moving ahead. By now, they were close to a grove of trees that had been called a jungle for the last several minutes.

‘I can’t see a village, brother,’ said Ritesh, looking around.

‘Oh, there it is … Look,’ the first man said, pointing to something while his other hand poked something into Ritesh’s waist. ‘Can you see the village now?’

Ritesh was terrified and his legs began trembling. The others, being at a distance, thought the man was showing Ritesh his village. Then the man turned to them and said, ‘Look, my friends. I have a pistol ready to shoot your friend.’

Ram Babu and the others froze with fear. Ram Babu’s gut had been right all along. He regretted his decision, but still couldn’t figure out what these burglars could take from them.

‘There is no one around and neither is there any village,’ said the first man, who was holding Ritesh at gunpoint. ‘We are 1.5 kilometres from the highway. You know this, don’t you? So everyone leave your bicycles and go back.’

‘And your mobile phones too,’ the third man added.

Ram Babu was terrified, and said with folded hands, ‘Brother, we are poor labourers. We were forced to leave Ghaziabad during the lockdown and are now moving back to our village in Bihar. What will you get by stealing from us?’

‘We aren’t Tata–Birla either, you know,’ replied the first man. ‘We are poor too. Now don’t waste your time talking; just leave. We won’t harm any of you.’

‘Brother, at least leave our cycles,’ said Ritesh. ‘If you take our cycles, how will we go to Saharsa? You can keep my mobile,’ and he placed his mobile phone on the ground.

‘Trucks and buses are plying now; we heard it on the news,’ said the third man. ‘Now, hurry up and leave. Get lost.’

‘Brother,’ pleaded Ashish, ‘these are old. We ourselves bought them second-hand. What will you do with bicycles that are so old and dilapidated?’

The second man was enraged. ‘What will we do with second-hand bicycles?! They will fetch us at least Rs 500 a piece, which means Rs 3,500 in all. Enough for a month’s ration for our three families. For the last one-and-a half months we haven’t earned even a single rupee. Now leave,’ he warned, ‘or he will shoot you.’

‘Will he really fire?’ asked Ritesh.

‘Yes, motherfucker, I will,’ screamed the first man.

‘Okay, then fire,’ challenged Ritesh, frightening Ram Babu even more.

‘No, brother, don’t shoot,’ said Ashish quickly. ‘We are all leaving our bicycles behind. Let’s go. Ritesh, come here.’

But Ritesh wasn’t one to back down. ‘No one will leave their bicycles behind. Just shoot me,’ he dared him. Everyone around looked shocked by his bravado.

‘Shoot me. Why aren’t you pressing the trigger?’ Ritesh asked again.

Ram Babu and the others had no option but to stand there and watch the drama unfold. Would they witness a murder? Would they all become part of a mass murder? Though they waited with bated breath, the first man with the pistol neither fired nor spoke. Ram Babu couldn’t understand what was happening.

‘Tell him to pull the trigger,’ Ritesh taunted the other two men.

Ram Babu, mighty irritated by Ritesh’s bluster, shouted, ‘Just keep your mouth shut. He will fire!’

‘He can’t fire, Ram Babu. He doesn’t have a pistol nor does he have bullets,’ said Ritesh.

‘What?!’ Ram Babu was stunned. The three men were quiet and Ritesh was now in total command. He turned to take the pistol from the man’s hand and said, ‘Ram Babu, they are no burglars or goons. They are just like us, hard-working labourers. This pistol is actually a Diwali toy we buy for our children.’

‘He’s right,’ the man mumbled, hanging his head in shame.

‘But how did you know, Ritesh?’ asked Ashish.

Ritesh went up to the second man, ‘Brother what’s your name?’

‘Anil Kumar.’

‘Actually, when Anil Kumar said he hadn’t earned anything for the last one-and-a-half months, I knew they were anything but criminals,’ said Ritesh. ‘If they didn’t have money to eat, how could they buy a pistol or bullets? That’s when I realized I was being threatened with a toy pistol, and took the risk of calling their bluff. That’s why I challenged them to shoot.’

The first man stood there, his head hanging in shame.

Ram Babu heaved a sigh of relief. The tables had turned. The three couldn’t do anything now. They had no option, because they couldn’t match the collective power of seven hardy men.

‘Brother, why are you indulging in burglary? Once you become a criminal there is no redemption,’ said Ram Babu, using his age as a shield to offer them a piece of advice.

‘What to do, brother?’ asked the man who had held the toy gun. ‘We are facing a lot of problems at home. There’s nobody we can approach for help. And who will extend a helping hand to us in these times? So we thought let’s just try our hand at burglary. We could have sustained ourselves for a month on that money, by which time the lockdown would be lifted and we could go back to our jobs.’

‘What do you do for a living?’ asked Ram Babu.

‘I ply an autorickshaw,’ he said softly. ‘It has been standing idle for the last one month. Anil works as a painter and Bablu works as a guard in Lucknow.’

‘And what’s your name, brother?’ Ashish asked him.

‘Akshay Kumar.’

‘Akshay Kumar? The film star?’ Ram Babu asked, and everyone started smiling. Suddenly, the atmosphere became more relaxed.

‘What film star? I was about become a criminal,’ said Akshay. ‘If you deem it fit, you can stay in our village for the night. In the morning get the bicycle repaired and then leave. The village is nearby. This time, I am telling the truth.’

Ram Babu knew Akshay was telling the truth and that he was full of remorse. But he didn’t want to stay back, and they left the place without wasting even a single moment. But before leaving, they gave the three men some chana muri from their stocks.

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