This is undoubtedly the most extraordinary story of confinement. A 15 year old girl takes her father across the vastness of India on a bicycle. Jyoti Kumari covered a distance of 1,200 km after her father Mohan Paswan in the luggage rack. In seven days.
Rickshaw driver Mohan Paswan is one of millions of workers hurt by the lockdown decided in March by Indian authorities in an effort to slow the progress of the coronavirus. With no money to pay rent or buy food and public transportation at a standstill, many of them set off on foot or by bicycle to their home villages.
Injured a few months ago, Mohan couldn't make this journey alone. Due to lack of money, he had to return his rickshaw to its owner. Jyoti suggests traveling by bicycle. “At first I was doubtful because he was only 15 years old, but I was wrong,” Mohan Paswan told Reuters by telephone. “He asked me to sit on the bike and ignore what people were saying.”
On May 10, after buying a second-hand bicycle with their remaining money, the two set off from Gurugram, near New Delhi. He was in the saddle, pedaling, she sat in the back with a small suitcase and some clothes in her hands. They arrived in his village of Siruhully, in the state of Bihar, on May 16, after completing a 1,200 km journey.
Jyoti asks her father to “ignore what people say”
The story went viral in the media in India, to the point that the Indian Cycling Federation suggested that Jyoti Kumari take a test to try out for the national team. “He covered this distance in seven days with his father and his luggage. I think he has something in him […], this level of resilience. We can test it,” said federation president Onkar Singh. The young girl especially wanted to continue her studies, which she had to interrupt for family reasons, so the president assured her that the Federation's training center could guarantee her education.
If he returns to New Delhi, when the country lifts restrictions on movement, Onkar Singh promised to pay for his return and his father's expenses. For now, the girls are confined to the family home with their mother and siblings, while their father is in an isolation center.
While Jyoti's extraordinary story hardly seems to stir up any controversy, Ivanka Trump provoked one, in spite of herself. Friday evening, Donald Trump's daughter published an admiring tweet, praising “the wonderful feat of resilience and love (which) has captured the imagination of the Indian people and the cycling federation! »
“Her poverty and despair are glorified as if Jyoti traveled 1,200 km for fun. The government has failed, this is not something that can be considered a success,” Omar Abdullah, former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, responded this Saturday.
“This is not a superior achievement. “This is an achievement fueled by desperation due to the government's unreasonable attitude,” said Kanti Chidambaram, an opposition member.
After weeks of mounting criticism, with Indian media broadcasting harrowing stories of millions of poor workers forced into an exodus, the government is now operating trains and buses to help migrants return to their homes.
