A migrant worker’s journey from despair to hope in 3 weeks

Gurgaon: Ebraham (60) had only been in Haryana four months before he boarded a bus to Bihar on June 2 but lost a lot -- his job, his savings, his eyesight even. The 36-hour wait under a stadium tent for that bus had almost killed his spirit too. He sat quietly through it, frail and forlorn, letting the anxiety show only when anyone walked up to ask him where he was from. “Please, just send me home somehow,” he kept telling this correspondent during a brief meeting at the stadium.
The bus reached Araria the next day, and Ebraham was reunited with his son and wife. A couple of weeks later, Ebraham was back on the road, this time in an SUV that took him to Siliguri in Bengal where he underwent a surgery to fix a retinal detachment. Ebraham can now see again. “He is extremely happy,” Ebraham’s son Mohammad Saibul told TOI.
The surgery was enabled by a group of city-based volunteers who networked with others in Bihar to get Ebraham treated. The volunteers had met Ebraham at Tau Devi Lal stadium where nearly 750 migrants waited a day and a half for transport after an unfortunate mixup on Shramik Special trains. They were among the last to leave, the final wave of the exodus of migrants triggered by the pandemic-induced lockdown. Some of the volunteers also organised the buses. Among the volunteer groups that tracked Ebraham’s journey and facilitated his surgery were Pure Heart, a children’s initiative, and Helping Hands. One of the volunteers, Gurgaon resident Shalu Johar Sahni, said, “Ebraham’s surgery was conducted last week.” The surgery took place at Retina institute of Bengal.
Saibul told TOI, “My father’s vision has been restored and it is all we could have asked for in the current situation. The doctors have said that he will get better soon.”
Saibul said his father was relieved that he did not have to depend on others for basic needs; during his wait at the Gurgaon stadium, it was one of the things that really bothered Ebraham. His grandson-in-law Mohammad Sabir, with whom he stayed and worked in Rewari, was travelling with him and Ebraham, aware he couldn’t move without Sabir’s help, ate and drank little to cut down on toilet visits.
Ebraham had come to Rewari in February this year. He roasted coal at a construction site. His eyesight had been failing, and lost vision entirely within weeks of working there. After the lockdown was imposed, his contractor refused to pay him. Treatment was a far cry; he and Sabir barely had money for rent and food. “We realised he was not even being able to hold the refreshments we offered him. He was in tears and it was so heart-rending,” one of the volunteers told TOI. “We kept following up with them until they boarded the bus and even afterwards. We looked for eye surgeons and hospitals in Patna and were finally able to arrange for the surgery in Siliguri,” said the volunteer.
The search took a while because of Covid protocols and conversion of several hospitals into Covid facilities. When the Siliguri hospital was found to be available, a decision was immediately taken to facilitate Ebraham’s travel by road to the North Bengal city. Ebraham, his son said, is now back home. He can see his family again, and is ready for a fresh start.