The long walk home

AS INDIA WITNESSES ITS LARGEST MOVEMENT OF WORKERS, DOWN TO EARTH’S VIVEK MISHRA WALKS WITH THEM FOR OVER 500 KM, CHRONICLING THE CRISIS. THIS IS THE FIRST OF A TWO-PART REPORT

HORRIFIED WITH the stories of workers walking thousands of kilometers to their homes, it occurred to me that the best way to document their hardship was to join them and see it for myself. I started on May 16 without a destination in mind. A friend had told me that a large number of people were on the Delhi-Ghaziabad-Amroha road; so I decided to take that route. As I file this report on May 21, I am about 100 km from Bahraich, a district in eastern Uttar Pradesh, roughly 600 km from Delhi.

MAY 16: DELHI TO HAPUR

11 am: I left home in Mayur Vihar for the Anand Vihar Interstate Bus Terminus near Ghaziabad in the hope of finding people headed in the direction I had chosen. Close to the bus station, I saw a middleaged worker and thought of striking up a conversation: “Kya kaam karte hain (What do you do)?” I asked.

He responded in a disinterested and irritated manner. “Welder kaa kaam karte hain (I am a welder).”

Kahaan rahte hain (Where is home)?” I posed a second question.

“Farrukhabad,” he grumbled. “To achaanak se chal diye (Why did you depart suddenly)?” I said. “Arrey khaayenge kya? Na paise hain, na ration (What do I eat? I’ve no money, no food),” he snapped.