‘Learnt lesson only when I had no money to get my child vaccinated’

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, June 25

Honey (name changed) (34) was in college when he started consuming drugs. His father sent him off to Saudi Arabia so that his son could work and get out of this deadly trap. For five years, Honey worked as a driver there and never consumed drugs. He also earned a good amount of money. But the relief was short-lived.

This is the tale of a father who learnt his lessons hard way. Spending his entire money on drugs, he says he couldn’t even afford Rs 1,200 for his daughter’s vaccination.

Honey came to his village last year in March when Covid lockdown was imposed. He could never go back. Father to a two-year-old daughter, he shared that he again fell into a bad company and then got hooked to heroin. This time, he did whatever it took for drugs. He opened a secret account, where he put his money he had earned by working hard abroad. He spent the entire money on drugs.

When he ran out of his entire savings, he started using money from the joint account he had with his wife. “My wife would ask me, where was the money going and every time, I started making excuses. I knew my family members were suspecting me of falling prey to drugs again, but I never confessed,” he said.

Honey further shared that it was in December last year when he met with an accident and his leg was fractured, and his world turned upside down. “I was confined to bed. One can imagine the misery. I needed heroin but couldn’t arrange it from anywhere. Who would I ask to get it for me? That was the time I confessed of my addiction to my elderly father. He was shocked and disheartened. I used to scream and shout for drugs, but my parents and wife would ask me to stay calm. They stood by my side like pillars,” he said, adding that the need for heroin was soaring day-by-day.

Honey said when he recovered, the first thing he did was to procure drugs. “Tusi changa maada sab bhul jaande ho. Je dimaag kahe vi ki eh galat hai, mann nai manda. This is a road to death,” Honey said.

But the day of actual realisation came when he needed Rs 1,200 to get his daughter vaccinated. He did not even have the required amount for his daughter in his pocket. He was shattered.

“That day, I decided to go get myself treated and thus I am now getting treatment at the de-addiction centre and am determined to shun this bad and killing habit,” he said.

Chaman Singh, the Project Director of the de-addiction centre in Nawanshahr where Honey is under treatment said he came himself and talked about his problems. “I would say that in such cases of self-realisation, the recovery gets easier,” he said.