JOIN US19-year-old Bengal boy grapples with lockdown, cycles 150 km daily to sustain his family
'Where there's a will there's a way.'
A youth from West Bengal’s Nadia district has made this phrase the motto of his life. As local trains stopped running following the nationwide lockdown, Imran Seikh, aka Sagar to his customers, cycles about 150 km everyday from the district's Ranaghat to Kolkata to sell his sweets.
The lockdown has put a question mark on his livelihood. But giving up is rather alien to his nature.
The 19-year-old soft-spoken youth takes his sweet-filled canisters on his rickety bicycle and sets off to Kolkata everyday at 3 am.
He reaches Kolkata at around 7 am after cycling 78 km. After selling sweets throughout the day, in the city and the adjoining areas, he returns home at around 9 pm.
“I have to cycle for at least 10 hours every day. It’s exhausting but better than sitting at home unable to help my family.” Imran told DH. He has to look after his parents and his younger brother and sister.
His parents earn a meager amount from farming and working as daily wage labourers which proved to be inadequate to sustain the family of four.
Imran doesn’t earn much from selling sweets but it makes the life of his family a little less difficult. He runs his “small business” with utmost honesty and never makes any compromise with the quality of his sweets.
However, it's not just about money for him. If he sees that any of his customers are in some financial distress he will sell them sweets on credit. His honesty has struck a chord with his customers.
“I am proud of what I do. There is no point in getting frustrated,” he said.
The wheels of his bicycle will keep rolling with the tin cans full of sweets tinkering with every bump. But Imran is determined to keep moving forward no matter what the challenges are.