Lionhearted

An injury, a journey, a recruitment. But then, a question. Also, 7 other things worth your time.

Here’s an inspiring story. And there’s an even more inspiring twist toward the end.

But then, we’ll explore whether it was all necessary.

OK. It’s from India. In January, a man named Mohan Paswan got injured. He drives a tuk-tuk (I had to look it up, it’s one of those three-wheeled, scooter-based taxis) in a city of about 876,000 people called Gurugram, which is near New Delhi.

Paswan has been a driver for about 20 years, but he’s actually a migrant worker from Bihar, which is about 700 miles to the east of Gurugram. After he was injured, he couldn’t work, and so his 15-year-old daughter, Jyoti Kumari, took a train to meet him and take care of him.

Her family is poor. Jyoti was only free to make the journey because she’d dropped out of school last year after running out of money. Then, not long after she arrived, the coronavirus pandemic took siege.

India was under a nationwide lockdown. Thousands of migrant workers like Paswan had no work, and started trying to find ways home before th…