In search of job, man walks 200km to Chennai in six days with kids

In search of job, man walks 200km to Chennai in six days with kids

Priya.Menon@timesgroup.com

Chennai:10.06.2020

It took M Rajaram and his children six days to make the 200 km walk from Ulundurpet to Chennai. Six days in which they braved hunger, thirst, and the blazing sun in the hope that Rajaram would finally find work in the big city. Today, the family is waiting to be reunited. For while the kids are housed safely in a children’s home run by the Madras Christian Council of Social Service (MCCSS) in Perambur, Rajaram is looking for work so he can get a place of his own and bring his kids home.

“I lost my job as a driver after the lockdown was announced, and couldn’t find work,” says Rajaram, who had moved with his children Varshini, 12, and Sooraj, 8, from Bengaluru to Periyapalayam three years ago, after his wife died. “My landlord asked me to vacate so I went to a relative’s house in Ulundurpet. But fights broke out between my relative and his wife as they had more mouths to feed.”

That’s when Rajaram set out for Chennai with his children, and their puppy Rocky. Since he had exhausted his savings, they made the journey on foot. “Passers-by gave us food and some money. Sometimes, we went hungry,” says Rajaram, who would watch over his children at night and sleep in the daytime.

More than a week ago, the family was spotted at a bus stop by assistant director Atchaya Kumar. “I contacted a friend, Yamuna, who works in the Secretariat who directed me to the department of social defence,” says Kumar. S Thanasekarapandian, joint director, department of social defence immediately contacted Kumar. “The children were produced before the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) and sent to the home on June 3,” he says. “When he is economically independent he can get a place for his family to stay. Even when he goes to work, arrangements need to be made to ensure the safety of the girl child,” he says.

NEEDING HELP: M Rajaram with his kids