Mumbaikars are pulling in to help an auto driver, whose picture has gone viral on the social media. The driver, identified as Mohammad Saeed, can be spotted om Mumbai streets with his two-and-a-year-old son. The photo went viral after filmmaker Vinod Kapri took Mohammad Saeed’s auto recently and tweeted the heart-rending photo.
Saeed’s wife Yasmin has been paralysed due to a stroke, force him to carry around Muzammil when he works. He cannot leave his son at home as there is no one to take care of him and may stray into the raod and meet with an accident or get lost. He has a three-month-old girl as well who is under a neighbour’s care and as she has three children of her own, so she can’t look after Muzammil too.
According to media reports, speaking about his ordeal, Saeed has said: “This has been a difficult phase for us. Several times, potential customers have taken another autorickshaw after seeing my son on my lap. We have slept with our stomachs empty because I have either come home empty-handed or did not have enough money to sustain my family.”
Sadly there’s no family support for Saeed, who hails from Gorakhpur. For him it is a struggle to survive as he needs money for his wife’s treatment and feed the family.
Following the tweet, one thing good that has happened for the auto driver is that he has received countless calls — some from Mumbai NGOs and some from people wanting to help him out financially. Today, officials from his bank called, saying that some money had deposited in his account.
