When former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee drew the East-West corridor map, he never could have imagined that one day a man would walk from Westernmost part of Indian (Gujrat) to the Easternmost part (Assam).
A migrant worker Jadav Gogoi, 45, did exactly that. He covered 2890 kilometre in 26 days. Of which he took a truck ride to Uttar Pradesh for the first two days crossing remaining 1500 kilometre on foot in the next 24 days.
This journey will eclipse every other such heroic effort when migrants workers off for home in a cycle or by foot.
Jadav, a resident of Godhoriya, 45km from Ahotguri, under Nagaon Sadar police station, was working as a security guard in Gujarat's Vapi when the lockdown was announced.
On March 25, he left Gujarat withthree colleagues from Bihar in a goods truck bound for Uttar Pradesh, fromwhere he started walking on March 27.
The exact distance he walkedcould not be ascertained because Jadav, who is weak in reading and speakingHindi, could not make out where he had alighted in UP. Guided by his threecompanions, he walked till Bihar where the others stayed back.
With Rs 4,000 in his pocket, the45-year-old had set out on the epic 2,800 km march on March 27 from theindustrial town of Vapi in Gujarat close to the Union Territory of Daman.
From the seacoast of Gujarat in the west to Nagaon in Assam, Jadav Gogoi hitchhiked and walked for 25 days and it is a sort of miracle that he lived to tell the tale.
Jadav only had a phone no of hisneighbour and friend Ranjit Phukan and he occasionally used to call borrowingphone from others.
"From March 27 till Sunday, Jadavcalled me several times. On March 27, he called me from UP, on April 10 fromBengal and on April 18 from Rangiya in Kamrup district of Assam. He had mynumber and requested strangers to lend their mobile phones."
On Sunday, Jadav called to saythat he had reached Ahotguri and requested to be brought home. Phukon andpolice rushed to Ahotguri and found Jadav lying at a waiting shed. "We took himto the civil hospital where, after preliminary treatment, he was forwarded to14-day quarantine," Phukan said.
In his hurry to reach home, Jadavdid not even consider taking a day's rest at his colleagues' place. All along,he survived on biscuits and water as roadside eateries were shut. Besides, hedid not have enough money.
During his journey, the last legthrough Bihar was the most painstaking. After entering Bihar, he had to walkthe remaining stretch of around 1,000 km. It was at Raha of Nagaon districtthat members of the Asom Jatiatabadi Yuva Chatra Parishad (AJYCP) rescued him.Subsequently, he was admitted to the Bhogeswari Phukanani Civil Hospital inNagaon.
AJYCP local leader DibyajitHazarika told newsmen they learnt about the man after he had called up hisfamily from Ahatguri in Nagaon district by using someone's phone.
"I am from the same village as him — Gadharia. When we learnt about his plight yesterday (Sunday), some of us, including actor Jitumoni Mahanta, went out in a vehicle in search of him. Finally, at around 8 pm, we spotted him by the roadside near the toll gate at Raha. We took him to the Raha Police Station. Later, he was admitted to the hospital in Nagaon," Hazarika said.
He said he was robbed of the Rs4,000 he carried and other valuables on the way. He also said that he survivedby begging, Hazarika added.
Doctors at the Nagaon hospitalsaid Gogoi was "tired but stable".
