This morning, I saw Koel Manjhi paddling his bicycle hard. When I interrupted him, he pulled the brakes on his bicycle and agreed to talk to me for a few minutes. He told me he was going to Dumka to work as a day-labourer. This was his daily routine: to paddle up 22 kilometres and then paddle down the same distance in the evening to return home. He also said that he was not alone in this race of survival.
But there is a group of around 45 people who paddle up and down almost 50 kilometres daily. First of all, I am not going to complain about anything, but these people who are poor migrants from my locality, hoping to earn their daily bread, is my concern. As we know, the solution lies within the problem. This seems to be a great paradox because not all of these people would know the solution to their problems.
The rising price of petrol does not affect the poor class much, but this is not true in the case of the rising price of diesel. This is because most means of transport travelling between localities run on diesel. Petrol is mostly used in private vehicles. while diesel is used in most public vehicles.
People with private cars somehow manage this inflation, but this becomes a major problem for daily-wagers who need to work every day to feed themselves and their families. They cannot afford the increasing price of fuel, so they end up struggling with their bicycles every day from their home to their workplace. Cycling hour-long distances in a city every day can break one’s sense of cycling just to save some money to buy candy for their kids.
All these sufferings come from one hurdle, and that is the fare of buses that has now doubled from its pre-Covid price. Despite the situation coming back to normal, why this humiliation to those who are a big part of our country? Isn’t it pitiless of us? Should we hope that the situation would get better on its own for people like Koel Manjhi, who continue to suffer on their cycles every day?