Humans of Bombay Part 2 From Bombay to Bihar.

This is the story of Jai Prakash who is a twenty eight year old immigrant from Bihar working in a big city like Bombay, this is his story, this is his struggle.

So what’s your name?

Jai Prakash

What brought you to Mumbai?

Work

What work so you do?

I work as a house help, cleaning, cooking and looking after my employees.

When did you start working and why?

When I was 10 my father died. He drank a lot of alcohol. That packet alcohol. I wanted to contribute to the house expenses. I could not see my mother take up extra work she already worked really hard. So I began to work in a brick field. A lot of us kids worked there. But I still wasn't doing enough so I ran off to Delhi with my friends. Did not tell my mother. I worked as a help for a few years there in a dhaba. Then in 2001 I moved to Bangalore. There I found a real good job, worked there for 11 years. My employer was a widow who treated me like her own son. She helped me send money back to support my elder brother in building an auto repair shop of his own and she also gave twenty five thousand for my marriage.

She moved to America in 2012, insisted that I come along, I refused. I did not want to go to a foreign land and live with foreign people. So I came to Mumbai. Here I live with my wife and my daughter. My first employer here was a sardar family. The Memsaab passed away and then it got depressing to work there. I found new employment at these college kids house. They are very caring and I feel so much like an elder brother with them. I feel very responsible for them.

Where did you meet your wife?

I met her when I went back home from Bangalore aged 15. She was a friend of my cousin. We instantly fell in love and we exchanged letters for a few years and then when I told my mother about her she gave her blessings saying whatever is your choice is my choice. I was really afraid of her reaction but she has been completely supportive all these years. We are happily married for twelve years now and we have to stay away for so long but when we meet we are so happy. You know love is like that. It makes you realise what is important and what is not. Family and love are what drive a man to do better and providing for them is my biggest joy.

What has been your greatest achievement?

It has to be supporting my family, my elder brother got married really early and he still didn't have any work. So when I began to earn, I borrowed some money from my Memsaab in Bangalore and set up an auto repair shop for my brother. The shop has put food on the table for my nephews, made my mother happy. I think seeing how my hard work has brought so much difference to my family makes me feel so proud. That is indeed my greatest achievement.

Does it get difficult being away from your own village?

Every man is connected to his birthplace and feel some kind of emotional connect with it. But since I have moved away from there and started to find work home has been this moving feeling. People who have given work to this uneducated kid looking for work and supporting me when they didn't have to. Memsaab’s house in Bangalore was home for long and now it’s these boys’ house who make sure I sleep well and have rested and eaten well. This makes me feel at home, so I have been lucky to have found homes at so many places. And now Bombay is my child’s village and mine too.