My world had already collapsed by the time I managed to reach my village, Bariarpur Purvi, under Khodawandpur block in Begusarai, Bihar. My only son, the apple of my eye, had died from illness, while I, the hapless father, was stranded during the first lockdown in the searing Delhi heat of May 2020.
I was one of the countless migrant workers from Bihar in the nation’s capital, working for Rs 250 a day at construction sites and living on rent in Najafgarh. Two months into the lockdown, with resources running low, I was exploring ways of making my way back home like so many others, when I got the fateful call from my wife Bimal, telling me in a desperate voice that our one-and-a-half-year old son was seriously ill.
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