'Cycle Girl' Jyoti Kumari's Father Passes Away In Bihar: How Their Pandemic Journey Stirred India

Jyoti Kumari father and the story of resilience: The duo's poignant cross-India travel became the symbol of the pandemic's deep-affecting ravages in 2020. At 15, Jyoti cycled all the way from Darbhanga to Gurugram and back, picking up Mohan Paswan, her father, who was among thousands of migrant workers scrambling to get home as a national lockdown was announced.

Her father was injured, ailing, exhausted to the acute extent that Jyoti was motivated to get him home securely. Even if that meant covering a laborious 1200 kilometers all on her own under the scorching sun, pedalling without pause.

One year on, their journey takes on a new meaning with the news that Paswan has passed away. Reports on Monday said it was a heart attack.

Hearing of lives such as Jyoti's leaves one with a bittersweet feeling. To laud? To mourn? To outrage? What does one do?

How Jyoti Kumari Father-Daughter Duo Became The Story Of The Nation

Her drive, in every sense of the word, was a complex one. The strength of character in the teen was a glaring quality, for in moments of helplessness, seldom do people find the vigour to be moved to action. But Jyoti was.

The pain of an injured father, miles away from home, was a catalyst potent enough to keep her cycling from Bihar to Haryana. Her pockets were thinning, so much so that there was hardly money to afford adequate meals. The pandemic-induced poverty had struck the family with blunt force. Other transport was hard to come by and even harder to afford. And so, Jyoti said she hit the road "on an impulse."

The young girl's hardiness did not go missed. Her efforts prompted offers from the Cycling Federation of India (CFI), which she dismissed citing the completion of her education. Former US President Donald Trump's daughter Ivanka too hailed Jyoti's "beautiful feat of endurance." Offers poured in also for her higher education and admission coaching for IIT. The father-daughter duo's journey is reportedly also being made into a film, roaringly titled Atmanirbhar, which will see young Jyoti star in it as herself.

And yet, the praise she received begs the question of just how much this recognition translates into.

One is simultaneously aware that Jyoti's story is just one thread in the larger fabric of inequality that affects ">fathers and daughters, not unlike the Paswans, across India. How many daughters would be equipped to cross states to bring their fathers back home? How many fathers would have survived that journey? How many such tales are going unheard?

It is at once both empowering and agonising.