Jharkhand’s 27- year old Dhananjay Kumar Hansda drove all the way from Godda to Gwalior on a rickety scooter to ensure his seven month pregnant wife Sony Hembrom (22), who is pursuing a Diploma in Elementary Education (DEd) could appear for her exams scheduled from September 1 to September 11 and fulfill her dreams of becoming a teacher. On reaching Gwalior, as a video of the couple was made viral on social media by a local journalist, help started pouring in and now they are due to fly back to Ranchi on September 16, tickets for which have been sponsored by the Adani Foundation.
The couple started their journey on the morning of August 28 and reached their destination on August 30 afternoon covering a distance of approximately 1200 kms bracing potholes and rain.
“Dhananjay and Soni’s marathon travel was a journey of survival, resilience and great optimism. We @Adani Foundation are humbled to arrange for their comfortable return journey to Godda and thankful to the local media for bringing this inspiring story to light,” tweeted the Foundation’s Chairperson, Priti Adani on Saturday.
Since there are no direct flights from Gwalior to Ranchi, the two will fly to the State capital via Hyderabad and cover the rest of the journey by road. Hansda also informed that the Foundation has made arrangements to send his scooter back to his hometown.
“Before the lockdown, I was working as a cook with a private company in Gujarat but due to the pandemic I have lost my job and also exhausted all my savings. Since I could only study till class IX, I did not want my wife to lose this opportunity and decided to undertake this journey. We mortgaged whatever jewellery we had and raised Rs 10,000 but that still was not enough for train or bus tickets,” said Kumar.
Halting a night each at Muzzaffarpur and Lucknow, the couple reached Gwalior about 36 hours before the scheduled exam. “All through the ride, I was worried about my wife’s health. She even got a slight fever enroute but all is well now. We are extremely thankful for the flight tickets to return home. This is the first time we would be travelling by air. I have only dreamt of sitting in a plane but now it’s going to come true,” added the husband.
Kumar also informed that the Gwalior DM Kaushlendra Vikram Singh has given them a financial aid of Rs 5,000 while the district administration has arranged for their accommodation near the exam centre and also provided health check up for his wife.