Finding God in Unexpected Places!
“What is he doing?” asked my friend pointing to a boy picking up the leftover water bottles at the Chennai central railway station. “Perhaps he is trying to make some money out of it, by reselling the old plastic bottles”, I said. Perhaps he is! we both kept watching him as he went about the chore.
It was an odd sight! The central railway station was full of migrant labourers, who are hoping to get the train back home. The volunteers were busy giving food to the scores of humans. The lockdown has caused them immense suffering. All of them had lost their jobs. Many had not had food for a few days. Most of them walked many miles to have got there. Everyone looked tired. Sick. Hungry. Frustrated. Confused. The whole atmosphere was a mess! An absolute mess.
In that charged atmosphere, someone cleaning was odd. We slowly went to him. “Aap kya kar rahein hain sir”, I asked him. He looked up irritated. What is your business, said his face. He wanted to be left alone. “Sorry to bother you sir, but just wanted to know why are you doing this”; The man slowly opened up.
I don’t have any other work sir; I’m a migrant. It has been three months since I have been living on the roads. I had initially thought I can survive this and get back to work. But now I want to go home, but don’t know when will I be able to get a train. The railway station looked a mess with all the water bottles thrown around. So I thought of cleaning the place. I’m not doing anything anyway, he finished with a small hand gesture used to show insignificance.
The blogger tentacles in me started to feel a story in him. The selfish intrusive idiot I’m, went to him and asked for a photograph. “Sir, I’m just cleaning the station to keep it clean. Nothing else. I don’t want my photograph anywhere”, he said firmly. That was a slap I badly needed.
“Sir, I’m just cleaning the station to keep it clean. Nothing else. I don’t want my photograph anywhere”,
As he was transported to the shelter to get registered, and from there to the train and then to his home, I thought what a great man he is. To be a good man and to do good is one thing, but to do good work even when the world is against you is divine.
Divinity exists! In those human hearts who can rise above the circumstances to hold onto your convictions.
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Loving the Migrant Worker is a network of volunteers and NGOs across over 50 cities in India serving daily wagers and migrant workers who are on the move.
