1100-km-long journey on two-wheeler earns man, pregnant wife return air tickets

The residents of Godda city, Dhananjay Kumar, 26, works as a cook, while his wife, Soni Hembram, 24, is a second-year student enrolled in a diploma course in elementary education (D.El.Ed) with Madhya Pradesh board of secondary education.

Dhanjay Kumar drove his two-wheeler vehicle for over 1100 kilometre from Jharkhand to Gwalior so that his pregnant wife could write her examination. Their strenuous, back-breaking journey earned the couple air tickets for their return journey. A corporate group came forward and helped them get back home. It will be their first air journey when the couple board a flight on September 16.

Dhanajay Kumar and his wife with their two-wheeler in Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. (HT Photo)

The residents of Godda city, Dhananjay Kumar, 26, works as a cook, while his wife, Soni Hembram, 24, is a second-year student enrolled in a diploma course in elementary education (D.El.Ed) with Madhya Pradesh board of secondary education. Soni took admission in the course in the year 2019 as the fee for the course in Madhya Pradesh is much lower than Jharkhand, the couple said.

The couple had to drive down to the examination centre in Gwalior on their two-wheeler since most of the trains were cancelled and cabs were charging ₹30,000 which they couldn’t afford. After borrowing ₹10,000 by mortgaging his wife’s jewellery, Dhananjay left from Godda on August 28 and reached Gwalior via Muzaffarabad, Lucknow and Agra on August 30 evening.

As stories of the couple appeared in the media, Adani Foundation, a corporate social responsibility (CSR) wing of the Adani Group, sent air tickets to the couple. This was announced by the foundation chairperson Dr Priti G Adani on her Twitter account on Saturday.

“Dhananjay and Soni’s marathon travel was a journey of survival, resilience and great optimism. Adani Foundation is humbled to arrange for their comfortable return journey to Godda,” said Dr Priti Adani in her tweet.

“Since, there is no direct flight from Gwalior to Jharkhand the couple would fly to Hyderabad and then from Hyderabad to Ranchi on September 16. From Ranchi, they will travel by road in a cab to reach Godda. The Foundation has taken upon itself the responsibility of bearing health expenses of Soni,” said Subodh Singh, CSR head Jharkhand, Adani Foundation.

Gwalior district administration has been taking care of the couple since the media coverage on the couple.

Gwalior district collector Kaushlendra Vikram Singh said, “Apart from giving money, the district administration has made arrangement for the transportation of the couple’s two-wheeler to their home. We arranged health check-ups of the woman and moved them to comfortable accommodation.”

Expressing his joy on the unexpected support, Dhananjay said, “I never thought that people in such a large number will come forward to help us and we will ever board a flight. The only thought in my mind was how to take my wife back to Godda safely. A couple of days back, a madam from Mumbai Shreela Roy gave us money to repay the loan of ₹10,000 that I had taken from a person in Jharkhand. And now this is another major help to us to get back home by a flight. The district administration has also helped us a lot.”