Bhapur: A trivial carelessness has turned the easy-going life of a fire cracker maker, Rabi Nayak of Satagochhia village of Kiajhar panchayat under Khandapara block in Nayagarh district, painful as he has been rendered disabled for the rest of his life.
Till the other day, Rabi and his father earned a living by making fire crackers. Be it a marriage procession, an idol immersion procession or a religious rally, people would throng to Rabi’s house. At that time, they their hands were full of orders and they hardly got time to take rest.
Their earnings at that time were enough for Rabi to keep the wolf from the door. He was able to take care of a family of six comprising his father, wife Roma, two daughters and a son. Those days, Rabi hardly realised that misfortune was lurking to make the lives of his family members miserable.
Misfortune struck him in 2011. “I can never forget that day. We had orders for crackers for ‘Dola Purnima’ procession. As time was running short, my father and I were working overtime those days. Like any other day, that day too we were busy making crackers. But carelessness on my part set the crackers on fire and all went off simultaneously producing a deafening sound,” recounts Rabi.
The explosion was so intense that it ripped both his hands from the elbows downwards.
“I realised the saying ‘it never rains but pours’ when my family suffered another blow a few days later. My father had gone to a nearby jungle to attend nature’s call when a wild boar attacked him. Subsequently his right leg was amputated,” said Rabi, whose years have been taken away by these two incidents, with tears rolling down his cheek.
Since then, the responsibility of running the entire family fell on his disabled shoulders. “My deformity left me jobless. And, at the same time I had to feed five members. So I had no other option but to start begging,” he said with a choked voice.
Now, he goes out for begging in the morning and returns late in the evening. “I am proud of my wife Roma who is standing by me all through these misfortunes. She helps me to wear my shirt and trouser. She even feeds me in the morning before going out to get alms,” Rabi continues narrating his sorrowful journey after a brief pause.
“As I am not able to take any food during day hours, I go without food for the whole day. When I reach home in the evening, Roma washes my feet, face and mouth and feeds something,” he adds.
Currently, Rabi is getting Rs 500 in the form of disabled persons’ pension, his father gets another Rs 300 as elderly pension and his family is receiving rice under the state government’s food security scheme. Besides these, the family did not get anything from the government, even not a pucca house under any schemes.
For Rabi and Roma bringing up their children – two daughters studying in Class V and Class VII and son in Class IX, is a herculean task now.
PNN