LUCKNOW: They say trying times test the strength of a relationship. But such is the fear of coronavirus that it made even a mother spurn her son. Ashok, 25, walked all the way from Mumbai to reach home 1,600 away in Varanasi on Sunday, only to be turned away by his mother and brother. He is now quarantined at a private hospital while the police are make arrangements for his stay.
Ashok, hailing from Gola Dinanath locality of Varanasi, had gone to Mumbai in search of work four months back and got a job as a waiter at a restaurant at Nagpada in central Mumbai. As the lockdown was announced, the hotel was shut. Failing to get another job, he decided to go back home. “I, along with five friends from Chandauli and other areas in Uttar Pradesh, started for home about a fortnight back. With some cash in pocket, we followed the road and rail track and walked around 1,600 km to reach home,” said Ashok.
As he arrived near Varanasi Cantt Railway station, he called up his mother to tell her that he was about to reach home. “In these difficult times, when parents are worried about their children who are far away, I also expected that my mother will be very happy to know that I am back. But it was the opposite,” said a heartbroken Ashok. Mindful of his Mumbai stay, Ashok first went to a hospital for screening where the doctors found no symptoms of coronavirus but advised him to remain in 14-day self-quarantine at home as a precautionary measure.
When Ashok reached home, his mother and brother refused to open the door, fearing that he might be carrying the virus. Ashok tried his best to convince his family but to no avail.Tired and distressed, he then went to his maternal grandmother’s house in Katuapura locality but she, too, refused to give him shelter.
Finally, it was the police that came to his rescue. They got him admitted to a quarantine centre at a private hospital in Maidagin locality. “He is fine but exhausted,” said Kotwali police SHO Inspector Mahesh Pandey.