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Pune man helps 5 grief-stricken Nepal nationals get home
In a single room in Ramnagar area of Balewadi, a group of seven men from Nepal lived through three months of the lockdown
It was a difficult morning for Joseph Monis on Sunday when he received a desperate call from the out-of-work migrants he had been sponsoring during the lockdown. “We can’t stay in this tiny room anymore. Please help us get back home,” said one of the five workers on the phone.
In a single room in Ramnagar area of Balewadi, a group of seven men from Nepal lived through three months of the lockdown. However, only five of them could make their way back home on Tuesday, after Monis arranged for their return. While one of them died in his sleep, another preferred leaving the only accommodation he had rather than spending another minute in the dingy room where one of his temporary roommates had died.
Vijay Parihar, 24, a native of Nepal looked sleep-deprived with swollen red eyes as he recollected waking up to the cold body of his roommate Chandra Monatat Chaudhury, 23, also a native of Nepal, on Saturday morning. His four nephews - Saroj, Prem, Milan and Vishal - looked to him for mental support. They called Monis for help after cremating Chaudhary’s body at an electric crematorium.
Monis, who works in a multinational company (MNC) in the city, posted for help on social media to arrange for five tickets to send these Nepal nationals back home. In two days, Monis was able to gather enough funds to buy bus tickets costing Rs 5,500 per person and finally helped the five workers from Nepal board a bus back to their country on Tuesday.
Vijay worked at restaurant-bar in Balewadi and knew Monis from when he had visited the place. “At 4am that day (Saturday), Chandra said that he wanted to go home and started feeling restless. The room where we stay is small and so, we all sleep close to each other. In the morning around 9am or 10am, we all woke up to find him immobile. I immediately called the person from his village in Nepal who also lives in Pune,” said Vijay.
“They called me early in the morning. I could only reach them after a few hours. Chandra is from the same village where I come from. He had a heart condition and died of a heart attack, the doctor later told me,” said Yamlal Damai, a man who works at a dentist’s office in Aundh and was the closest person Chandra had. Chandra had been taken to the Aundh Hospital where his post-mortem was conducted.
The body of Chandra remained in the crammed room with one bulb and a barely functional fan as the boys - all below the age of 24 - waited for the ambulance to arrive. “When we realised what had happened, none of us could stop crying out of fear. It was scary to be in the same room. None of us have been able to eat or sleep since then,” said Milan.
The five relatives were living in an accommodation provided by their employer before coming to this room when the lockdown began and the restaurant temporarily closed for business. The small room cost them Rs 6,000 per month.
“From living in a building, we were moved here. Then, a fellow national brought Chandra to us and one other person. The other person ran away when Chandra died. We would eat whatever little we could buy during the lockdown. Monis provided us some support with weekly supplies. We were hoping to stay back till work started again, but now we just want to go home. Even if we die in the process, at least we will die with family; not like this,” lamented Vijay, while fighting tears.
The boys have left for Nepal and will spend 14 days in quarantine once they reach their village. They hope to return to India some day under better circumstances.
