A Deaf man named Sachin Kambale, walked all the way from Mumbai to Beed. When his savings began to dwindle and he found it difficult to make ends meet. All he had were biscuits, peanuts and water to eat. He was starving. He then called Pradeep More who works with SLAD and asked for help. Pradeep made a few calls and contacted Himanshu Dhirawani - sign name - who agreed to help. Himanshu then gave rice, dal and other items to Sachin, who was very grateful. However, he quickly ran out of food again. Since he was starving, he decided to go back home to Ambajogai. Sachin got himself screened by a doctor and procured a health certificate as well. He presented the certificate to the Mulund police and requested them to allow him to go back to Ambajogai. As he was finding it very difficult to make ends meet in Mumbai. The police rudely told him to remain in Mumbai.

Sachin then saw many Hearing people walking. That's when he decided to walk. He packed his bag, water bottle, peanuts and began walking from Mulund and kept taking breaks at various districts. From Mumbai to Ambajogai is 460 km. Despite getting blisters on his feet, he continued to walk. The skin between his toes began to chafe. When it got dark, he slept in ATM kiosks. When his mobile battery ran out, he used plugs points in the ATM to charge his phone. He would awaken at 4:00am and begin walking again. In the searing heat, he struggled to walk. Vehicles zoomed past him, when asked for lifts. Eventually, he walked to a military base in Ahmednagar and collapsed with exhaustion right outside.

Through SLAD affiliates in various districts, Pradeep contacted Bablu Ballal, a Deaf delegate from Ahmednagar. When Bablu asked him where he would go now, Sachin said he wanted to reach Ashti, which falls under the Beed District, where transportation was available. Bablu stopped a Gas Truck and showed his ID. Bablu explained to the Driver that a Deaf man had struggled and walked all the way from Mumbai. After a lot of explaining, the driver finally accepted and asked Sachin to hop on. The truck was halted at a police check-point 10 km from Ahmednagar.

The police began verifying everyone. When the police saw it was a Deaf man, there was a quarrel. Sachin pleaded that he wanted to reach Ashti in Beed district. Sachin contacted Pradeep, and Taslim, an interpreter, spoke to the police officers. They screened him and stamped his hand. However, they did not allow him to go to Ashti, instead they told him to go Jamkhed. Sachin did not have any option and agreed. The driver then dropped him at Jamkhed.

Fortunately Jamkhed was Taslim's village. Taslim made a few calls and contacted her maternal uncle. However, her uncle was initially hesitant as Sachin had walked from Mumbai. He was hesitant because Jamkhed was a dangerous area and Sachin could get assaulted or arrested by the police. Her uncle instructed Sachin to hide at the ST Bus station in Jamkhed. Her uncle then rode there, gave him food and brought him to the village. Taslim's maternal uncle then contacted Sachin's family. As Sachin had not informed them of his plan to walk from Mumbai. When the uncle called his family, they were shocked that their son had walked all the way and was now in Jamkhed. The family secured permission from the police to pick up Sachin. The police gave permission and dropped Sachin to Jamkhed. Sachin then went to Ashti, where he was picked up by his parents and reached home safe. A Deaf man walked all the way home. It was extremely difficult to walk in the dark, all alone, fearing no communication due to loss of battery, etc. But in the end, due to his faith, he emerged victorious. Cheers to SLAD for their support to the deaf community by spreading hashtags on Twitter convinced the police to help Sachin reach home safe.

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• SLAD
• Lockdown
• COVID-19
• Pradeep
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