As He Lay Dying
Outlook|June 08, 2020
Amrit and Saiyub’s bond of friendship, forged in childhood, would break cruelly on a hot, dusty highway. This is their story.
Salik Ahmad
As He Lay Dying

IT was the morning of May 15. Mohammad Saiyub (22) and Amrit Kumar (25) had been travelling atop the roof of a truck for over a day. They were returning from Surat in Gujarat, where they worked in a textile unit, to their village Devari, 1,500 km away in Uttar Pradesh’s Basti. Amrit had developed a raging fever; his condition deteriorated as the blazing day wore on. The prolonged exposure to the sun had caused a heat stroke.

“He lay with his head in my lap. His body was burning, I could feel the heat,” says Saiyub. He told his friend to hang in there and that they’d find a doctor somewhere on the route. But, seeing Amrit’s condition, other passengers in the truck started growing uneasy. Suspecting that Kumar was a COVID-19 patient, they told the driver to get rid of him. Saiyub insisted that they be dropped near a hospital at least. But the frayed nerves ranged against him were overpowering, their demand heartless. The two were dropped about 50-60 km from the district hospital in Shivpuri, Madhya Pradesh.

As they got down, the driver told Saiyub, “Leave him. Why are you getting down with him?” It was a thought Saiyub couldn’t countenance even for a moment. All he wanted was his childhood friend to get well and their safe return to Devari—they mostly travelled together. Fortunately, they were dropped where a few good samaritans were serving food and water to migrant labourers in transit; they called an ambulance for the duo.

This story is from the June 08, 2020 edition of Outlook.

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This story is from the June 08, 2020 edition of Outlook.

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