Two men, now friends, met at a quarantine shelter in Jodhpur recently. Both showed no symptoms of Covid-19 but had to undergo the mandatory isolation as they had entered the district from different states.
Anirudh had come from Nagpur as a tourist, getting stranded there due to the lockdown; Gayoor, a carpenter with disability in his legs, from Muzaffarnagar in UP. Something clicked and they became friends.
When they moved out on May 8, a bus dropped them 40km away from Bharatpur, near the UP border. After bidding adieu, Gayoor started hand-pedalling his tricycle towards Muzaffarnagar. Anirudh, too, had a long distance to cover. They left the quarantine centre together.
Barely had they walked a while when Gayoor’s struggle with his tricycle became apparent to Anirudh. It took a few moments for Anirudh to decide and he changed his direction to head to Muzaffarnagar instead of Nagpur and accompany Gayoor until his friend reached home safely.
As per reports, Anirudh pushed Gayoor’s tricycle for the next five days as they crossed several districts, walking past Mathura, Aligarh, Bulandshahr, Hapur and Meerut. They moved, ate and slept on roads all this while until they finally reached Muzaffarnagar on May 12.
Gayoor said on Saturday he will never forget the kindness. “I was on my tricycle and Anirudh was always walking behind, pushing it during the whole journey of about 350km. We reached home in Muzaffarnagar’s Kidwai Nagar late on May 12. He didn’t abandon me,” Gayoor smiled. The story spread like wildfire in the district after that.
Additional district magistrate (finance) Alok Kumar said, “Every possible help will be provided to the disabled man and his family, and even to the person who helped the disabled man.”
Now, Gayoor who have reached home safely doesn’t want to let Anirudh go until the lockdown is lifted. Neither does his family.
“First, we are human beings. We are Hindus and Muslims after that. I am happy I could help Gayoor. I am living with his family now. I will be here for a while. All of them are nice and polite. It’s like I am with my own family,” said Anirudh.
On his part, Gayoor has a request that he wants the administration to help Anirudh reach Nagpur.
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