A scooter ride over 1,800km, crossing three states braving the rains and insecurity amid the lockdown, for four days. That’s what 28-year-old Sonia Das had to endure to meet her son, aged 5, and her ailing husband in Jamshedpur.

Sonia, a production manager in a private media production house, had reached Mumbai in February for a project. However, the project got shelved midway in March due to the lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus. Left with no resources and frustrated at her repeated failure to travel by train to Jamshedpur, Sonia decided to travel all the way on a scooter to meet her family.

“I tried three times to book a train ticket from Mumbai to Ranchi (there is no direct train service between Mumbai and Jamshedpur after lockdown) and met with failure each time. Twice my tickets got cancelled as the train was cancelled. Thereafter, my application for a ticket got rejected as train services had stopped in Mumbai. I tweeted to Jharkhand chief minister Hemant Soren and also to actor Sonu Sood but did not get any response. I was growing frustrated as I had no resources to even pay my rent. There was also the fear about my son’s wellbeing amid the pandemic as Covid-19 cases are rising sharply in Jamshedpur,” said Sonia, who stayed in a rented house in Malad.

She also tried to get permission to board a car travelling from Mumbai to Jamshedpur carrying some persons but was unsuccessful.

Then her friends came to Sonia’s rescue.

“I was getting depressed. My friends in Mumbai and Bangalore (where she used to work earlier) contributed and arranged to transfer Rs 5,000 to my bank account. They also arranged to send my scooter, which I had purchased in Bangalore, through courier to Mumbai after I said to them that I am even ready to leave on a scooter,” said Sonia.

She left Mumbai on July 20 evening and reached Jamshedpur on Friday evening, crossing Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh and Odisha on the way.