Panipat (Haryana): Scurrying across the crowded platforms, eyes searching for a customer. With a crinkled Kurta Pyajama and a shawl on his head, Kishan Chand, a 91-year-old porter, doesn't want to waste even a minute as the train arrives at the Panipat Railway Station. In a conversation with ETV Bharat, Kishan Chand said, "My family came to India from Pakistan at the time of partition. I was 15 years old. To earn a livelihood for my family I started working at this very railway station in 1947. It was a small railway station back then with only three to four trains passing from here." Kishan Chand told that before partition, his family used to live in the Khelaiya district of Pakistan.
With no place to stay, Kishan Chand and his family considered this railway station their home. Kishan Chand says, "I was 15 when I started working here in 1947, and today I am 91 years old and I am still working here. I have made friends here, and raised my children with the money I earned by carrying luggage for passengers."
In the era of coal engines, we were hired to add coal to the engine for Rs 1, Kishan Chand recalled. Kishan Chand said, "Either we carry the luggage on our heads or we start begging. Begging was never an option for me. I worked hard and raised my five kids. No day is the same for a railway porter. I make up to Rs 400 some days, and on other days, I have to go home with just Rs 100. Sometimes, I even have to go empty-handed."
"When Lalu Prasad Yadav and Ram Vilas Paswan became Railway Ministers, they passed the proposal to provide jobs to railway porters. But, the job was given to those porters whose age was less than 50 years. I was 50 years old then and I could not get any government help. I still get my licence renewed by paying Rs 90 annually", Kishan Chand said.
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Krishan Kumar, Sub Inspector, Government Railway Police, said, "I was first posted here in 1992. I have seen him working hard since then. He is a kind man and does his work with full dedication. Where many people depend on their children at this age, Kishan Chand carries luggage to earn his livelihood. He is a very honest man."
Despite having four sons, nonagenarian Kishan Chand earns his bread and butter. He said he does not like to ask for help from his sons as they are struggling to make ends meet. He reaches the station at 8 am and works tirelessly till 9 pm. Despite earning less, Kishan Chand's smiling face is proof that age is just a number.
