The Coolies Have Carried Our Load. It's Our Turn To Carry Theirs

If you’re someone who has ever been to a railway station in India, you’d see young men carrying large piles of luggage over their heads. They’d climb through stairways, walkways, and move strategically through the bustling crowds to help passengers reach their train on time. These are our porters, or in a much homelier term, coolies. You’ll find them in hundreds, sometimes thousands, dressed in red, carrying our load throughout the day.

Varanasi is India’s most religious and spiritual city. It is not only home to thousands of pilgrims who travel across India to come here, but it is also known to have one of the largest railway platforms in the country. 

On an ordinary day, you’d see this station bustling with travellers, but now, it’s deserted and empty. The pandemic and its ongoing restrictions have not only stopped all kinds of travel but they have wreaked havoc on the lives of thousands of coolies. 

“Usually April, May and June are the months when we witness crowded trains. This is mainly due to school and college vacations and summer wedding season. This is the time when each coolie earns around Rs. 500 to Rs. 1000 per day. However, after the pandemic broke out, we started sitting idle, and the condition has not changed much even after resumption of the rail traffic,” said Abdul, a coolie who has a family of four sons, three daughters and a wife. 

There are 3 major railway stations in Varanasi where coolies have been deprived of their livelihood. Some have been struggling to even find one square meal per day. There are coolies who are so helpless that they had to sell or pledge whatever jewellery they had at home to feed their children. 

“No passengers are coming for over 4 months. My children are crying at lunch and dinner time due to hunger. All the schools are closed, so they don’t even get any mid-day meals,” said Mohan, another coolie from Varanasi. 

Divyanshu from Hope Welfare Trust explains how many of these coolies are from Bihar or nearby states. These coolies don’t have a ration card to avail any government benefits. They’re left on their own to fend for themselves. 

Hope Welfare Trust has been striving to reach out to these coolies to help them during this crisis. They’ve been actively working during the pandemic outbreak to help hundreds of people who’re struggling with food. 

Today, they’re looking to help these coolies and their families survive these tough times so that they can feed their families three meals a day. 

These men aren’t just coolies, they’ve carried our luggage and made all of our journeys easier. Whether it was one bag or ten bags, they never complained. 

Today, it's our turn to ease their burden. Donate a grocery kit, now.

About Hope Welfare Trust - Hope is an initiative run by youngsters with a will to bring about a change in the society, especially rural India. The idea of Hope is to bring out sustainable development in Indian villages and involving women to play a key role. Amid the pandemic, they’ve been workingly relentlessly to help the underprivileged communities. 

Note: Donations made towards this fundraiser in INR on and after 29th September 2020 are eligible for Indian Tax Exemption.