Mohammed Faraz’s first call came at 6.56 pm on Saturday. I missed it.
Barely an hour later, he called again. “My younger brother Rahimullah is in Assam. He has not eaten for the last few days. Please do something or he will die,” he pleaded.
Faraz is from Bihar’s East Champaran district. Some days ago, I had met him by Lucknow’s Shaheed Path where he was looking for a way to return home; part of the mass of migrant labourers abandoned by their employers, distrustful of the state and scared of the virus.
The air conditioning firm that Faraz worked at was shut, his boss was not reachable and his money was running out. He was desperate for home. Despite my assurances that he would be taken care of by the government and organising rations for him through civil society, I could not convince him to stay.
His plea was discomforting. He was placing faith in a stranger he had met just once. A stranger who had failed to get him to stay.
No names came to me when I thought of friends or acquaintances who I could reach out to in Assam, a state I have never visited.
The first idea was to reach out to the state’s COVID-19 control room. After two rings, a pleasant voice from the other end greeted me. I asked about helping Rahimullah—and the others who were stuck with him. I was given three local helpline numbers. These numbers were sent to Rahimullah. I was not very sure he would call or that he would receive response.
At 10.33 pm, I tweeted, ‘Desperate call for help from 17 year old in Assam, abandoned by employer, now subsisting on biscuits. Please retweet to bring to the notice of @sarbanandsonwal @CMOfficeAssam @assampolice @PIB_Guwahati...’
In another tweet, at 10.59 pm, I tagged the state’s National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) and added the address where Rahimullah was. Precisely four minutes later, my screen lit up with a response from Renuka Mishra, Additional Director General of Police (UP Police Recruitment and Promotion Board) based in Lucknow. She had been in touch with Satya Narayan Pradhan, the Director General of the NDRF who had further contacted G.P. Singh, ADGP Law and Order, Assam.
Singh’s response on Twitter (to Pradhan) had been cheerful. He wrote: ‘No sweat. It’s our backyard. Would be delivered with enough ration to see through #lockdown by tomorrow 1000 hours’.
By 11.50 pm, Mishra messaged that both officials had directed their subordinates to do the needful.
At 12.42 pm on Sunday, Singh tweeted, ‘Groceries handed over to the persons mentioned in the tweet of @pujaawasthi by @Hojai_Police @assampolice’
Rahimullah had earlier said over the phone, “I do not think I would live to see my parents and siblings. This hunger will kill me. We are poor people with no land. I did not come here to eat just biscuits. My boss has gone back to his village in Bihar. He does not take my calls.”
On Sunday, he was surprised and soothed in equal measure. “I never thought the police was any good. I was very scared of policemen and would avoid them,” he said.
“Dil khush ho gaya” (My heart is happy), he added.
In these trying times, when attacks on the police and health workers are escalating, this quick response gives hope to Rahimullah and his family, and to those who are with him. It should give us all hope.
