Desperate Indian girl bikes 745 miles home with disabled dad
Source: AP
By SHEIKH SAALIQ and EMILY SCHMALL
NEW DELHI (AP) From her village in eastern India, 15-year-old Jyoti Kumari reflected on her desperate 1,200-kilometer (745-mile) bicycle journey home with her disabled father that has drawn international praise.
I had no other option, she said Sunday. We wouldnt have survived if I hadnt cycled to my village.
Kumari said that she and her father risked starvation had they stayed in Gurugram, a suburb of New Delhi, with no income amid Indias coronavirus lockdown.
Her father, whose injury in an accident left him unable to walk, had earned a living by driving an auto rickshaw. But with all nonessential travel banned, he found himself among millions of newly unemployed. Their landlord demanded rent they couldnt pay and threatened to evict them, Kumari said.
This Saturday, May 23, 2020, photo provided by sister Pinky Baby shows Jyoti Kumari 15, with her father at their home in Darbhanga district in Bihar state, India. Kumari rode a bicycle hundreds of miles with her father riding pillion to escape the constraints of a coronavirus lockdown in India that appears to have staved off an unmanageable spike in coronavirus cases but that triggered an exodus of migrant workers and crippled the economy. The 15-year-old has been invited to try out with the Cycling Federation of India, the body that sends team to the Olympics, and won accolades as far away as Washington, D.C. But she says she didn't pedal her father home to their village in pursuit of fame but rather simply to survive. (Pinky Baby via AP)
Read more: https://apnews.com/1f482558808f8fe5a8bbea3a5f7f4f62
iemitsu
(3,888 posts)And Americans complain about having to wear masks.
peacebuzzard
(5,149 posts)she could be a spokesperson for the tragedy of the poor working class. Beautiful and brave girl.
onetexan
(13,025 posts)stories like this break my heart but i hope she will in fact get some monetary benefit for her tremendous courage and determination. Cycling 1200km is an amazing feat for a 15-year-old.
peacebuzzard
(5,149 posts)trying to hike their way home. The poor workers in India have suffered so much with political changes and discriminations, and now this additional mortal adversity. Sad...
Ford_Prefect
(7,873 posts)There is no 3rd thing.
Joinfortmill
(14,397 posts)iluvtennis
(19,837 posts)Turbineguy
(37,296 posts)oswaldactedalone
(3,490 posts)Jyoti. Thats phenomenal!!
keithbvadu2
(36,678 posts)Dedication
Skittles
(153,122 posts)really
compare her actions to the gun humping pieces of shit here whining about hair cuts
BComplex
(8,020 posts)suing the government for ordering everyone to show up for trump's self-glorifying.
He just "wanted them to do him a favor, though", before he offered the trade deal.