mumbai

Updated: Apr 22, 2020 06:56 IST

Devidas Jaisingh Rathod, 55, is an employee of the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC). He lives in Manor, 100 km north of Mumbai. He is a conductor on a bus that runs every day from Palghar, 21 km from his home, to the central Mumbai bus depot, Dadar. These days, he is in charge of a bus that has an important job -- ferrying 25 doctors and nurses to KEM Hospital. He usually hitches a ride on trucks ferrying essentials that pass by Manor. They drop him off at Palghar. On Sunday, though, there were no trucks.

So, he ran.

“I could not let them down as the doctors and nurses are treating Covid-19 patients and they are my daily passengers,” said Rathod.

It helped that he loves running. He runs every morning before going to work and has taken part in several marathons — both full and half.

“I did not wear my uniform and kept it in a bag. I told my wife, Usha, to give me extra water bottles mixed with glucose, just to keep me hydrated. Then, wearing shorts and vests, I began to run,” he said.

Upon reaching Palghar depot, he quickly freshened up and the bus, with the medical personnel, set off for Dadar.

Deputy manager of Palghar depot, Nitin Chavan, later honoured Rathod in a small ceremony.

Rathod reports for duty at the Palghar bus depot at 6am, his new duty time following the lockdown. The bus he is a conductor on goes from Palghar to Dadar, where KEM Hospital is situated. At 3pm, Rathod’s bus leaves Dadar and reaches Palghar at 5pm, after which he again hitches a ride to Manor.

The pandemic has disrupted his daily running schedule. “Due to my emergency duty, my running practice is not possible but I will continue once the lockdown is lifted.”

A commerce graduate with a conductor’s licence, Rathod joined MSRTC in 2003 after spotting an advertisement for conductors. “Even the recruitment officer was shocked. My qualification is too high for a conductor’s job, he said,” recalled Rathod.

In the past, Rathod has worked as a daily wager. He and his wife, Usha, who works as a tailor, have four children: Sachin, 29, Priyanka, 27, Archana, 25, and Deepak, 21. Sachin works as a security guard and Deepak is studying printing.

But the health care workers Rathod’s bus ferries everyday are likely to remind him more of his daughters.

Priyanka has a post graduate degree in medicine from Nagpur University and Archana is a nurse at a civic hospital in Vakola.