Dulia sat relieved in the Shramik Express taking him back from New Delhi to Ranchi in Jharkhand. He remembered the journey six months back with his contractor from Ranchi to New Delhi. He was going to work at a big project in the national capital. It was also a construction site like the one in Jharkhand where he was working under the same contractor. He was assured of better wages in the big city. He had landed in Delhi with bigger dreams. But life was tough. Everyday he remembered his family back home. The only consolation of staying away from his loved ones was the increase in wage which he was promised. A few of his and his family’s wishes could probably now be fulfilled.
Today while going back home after the break of the pandemic, he realized that none of his dreams saw the light of the day. He realized that he was richer by a smart phone and a bag pack after his hard toil of six months. The pandemic had shattered his dreams and made him more practical. He was heading towards home not with dreams but hope for a better life. As he reached back, his mud house seemed to be a palace for him. He felt safe and secured here. He looked around for his old parents while the younger sisters came running to him with joy. ‘Where is mother Rupa ?’. ‘Oh bhaiya she is grazing the goats in the backyard ‘, they said. ‘But why in the backyard, hasn’t Haria sown any vegetables there?’. Rupa answered, ‘No bhaiya he keeps playing cards with his friends under the tamarind tree ‘. ‘And where is father? ‘ I asked. As I stepped in the courtyard I found him inebriated with the local drink ‘hadia’. Dulia realized that due to his migration to the big city for the marginal profit he had to pay a heavy loss back home. When he was working from home he could look after the fields involving his father and brother. The backyard yielded the seasonal vegetables which his mother sold in the weekly ‘haat’ .His mother and sisters would prepare his food as he would have to leave for the construction site. How he had missed all this while staying in a shanty made up of tin sheets at the construction site. Thankfully he had taken his mosquito net otherwise after whole day’s hectic labour he wouldn’t have been able to sleep in the night. Food was made collectively by the combined efforts of his co-labourers. But it was only meant for survival as here at home his mother and sisters prepared it so well. While he was here his siblings attended the Government school regularly. He had realized that education was certainly an answer to poverty. At least back home he could be instrumental in educating his brother and sisters.
Dulia after seeing the hardship of the metro life found that life was certainly easy at home, as the struggles of life seemed shallower in the warmth of his near and dear ones. The smart phone that he had earned after so much of toil was the cause of new addiction for Haria. He would spend much of his time playing games on it as he was not allowed to play cards with his spoilt group of friends. The pandemic had changed the entire perception of Dulia. He felt his hands had the capability to create paradise where ever he toiled then why not his own homeland. His hope was taller than his dreams after he had returned home.
Resonance 