A day in the life of: (A tempo driver)

Father of haemophilic son finds hard to make both ends meet

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 6

It’s 11 in the morning and Bittu Pehelwan’s eyes are glued to his phone. He is waiting anxiously for someone from any industrial unit to call him to transport the goods. Earlier, things were different. He would start the work at 5 in the morning and would visit Ludhiana, Hoshiarpur and other districts for the transportation of goods. But since the pandemic began, the work has almost stopped. Bittu Pehelwan shares his life journey. “I am illiterate. I had a horse cart initially, then I started riding rickshaw. Now, I ride tempo and transport goods. I also used to wrestle in akharas, so, hence I was named ‘Pehelwan’. It gives me a sense of strength,” tells Bittu.

His daughter is also a wrestler and has been taking coaching in a college. His 10 year-old-son is suffering from a rare disease called haemophilia. These days, Bittu’s focus is on providing his children with a balanced diet so that their health doesn’t suffer. He wants his children to become successful wrestlers, for which he is working hard to help them get a good diet.

Bittu Pehelwan’s otherwise strong voice becomes bleak when he mentions his son, “He needs medical checkup every three months and we visit Chandigarh for his checkup, but since March, when the lockdown was imposed, we haven’t gone for his medical checkup. These days, I am taking an extra care.”

After a pause, he adds, “Once his forehead was bruised and the bleeding wasn’t stopping. Several bottles of blood had to be given to control his condition. I have also got a goat for my son. I make sure that he drinks goat’s milk because it is good for his health. But these days, there is hardly any work, so, I am hard pressed. I have no idea regarding how I will look after my family as well as the goat. I have to ensure a good diet for the goat as well. It is getting difficult with each passing day.”