NEW DELHI: Forty-year-old Ajit Pal Singh—who doesn’t own an inch of land in Punjab—came to the Singhu border with other farmers to serve his fellow brothers, on Day 1 of the farmers protest last year. Leaving behind his five-year-old daughter, a son and his wife, he has been giving foot massages to elderly farmers at Singhu border. He has a small tent with four such machines.
Ajit shared, “I had started with a small stall by the name, ‘Zakhmi Jooton ka Haspataal’ (Hospital for Injured Shoes) and then after some days, looking at elderly people getting manual foot massages, I thought of arranging these machines. Initially, I moved across the Singhu border with these foot massage machines in a trolley. Now I have kept these are in the tent.”
There is a white board hanging outside his tent for counting time. “One year, 13 days may sound short, but we have spent 378 days, 9,072 hours, 5,44,320 minutes so far and over 32,659,200 seconds on this field together.”
Gaganpreet Kaur, 56, who was getting a foot massage at the tent, said, “Getting in and off from the trolleys, marching from one point to another, distributing food to the farmers… It was tough. But at the end of the day, these foot massage machines were so relaxing. The 15-minute free-of-cost massage was the best part.”
Singh is happy to return home. “I get to see my family, especially my daughter after a year. I used to kiss her on the forehead every day before going to work and I miss doing that. But I will be the last person to leave this place on December 15. I will keep my foot massage trolley towards the end for farmers who get tired and want a massage.”