Satnam Singh got a two-month leave after two years from his employer in the UAE. He was supposed to fly back, find a partner and get married.
There was, however, a change of plans.
After Singh reached home in Punjab's Jalandhar district on November 29, he got to know that his elder brother and farmers from his village were protesting at the Singhu border against the Centre's contentious farm legislations.
The 29-year-old spent just two days with his parents, bought a new motorcycle and set out for the Delhi-Haryana border with a friend.
"Marriage can wait. Job can wait," says Singh, who works as a plumber in a company in Abu Dhabi.
Thousands of farmers from Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and other states have been camping at several border points into Delhi for over three weeks, demanding that the new farm laws be repealed as they claim it would benefit the corporates, and end the traditional wholesale markets and the minimum support price regime.
Singh's parents told him to get married during the leave. "They wanted me to meet some women," he says. "My mother is aged around 70. It's getting difficult for her to manage the house."
Her vision has diminished and the father cannot take care of the fields anymore, Singh adds, standing near a bonfire on Wednesday, while his brother is serving tea and distributing water bottles at the border.
Satnam Singh's friend, Sookha Singh, a differently-abled farmer who accompanied him, says his parents are alone back home, but they didn't stop him once.
Asked about how long he planned to be at the site, Satnam Singh is determined to stay put till they "win this fight".
"I was a farmer before I got a job in Abu Dhabi. I need to save my fields first."