Page from a Work Diary

It has been very cold for the past three days. Days of fog and no sunshine. Temperatures hover around 10 degrees, very cold indeed for the poor and homeless.

Today, on December 19, 2025, during a conversation with labourer brothers at Munna Chowk, I learned that one labourer had died due to the cold. His name was Masood Alam, and he was from Bakhtiyarpur.

So, I spoke with people living in the nearby village about helping the family obtain the unorganized death benefit, including preparing the necessary documents. I wrote down and gave them a list of what papers would be required.

I also advised them to work cautiously in this cold weather. Regarding work activities, the labourer brothers said that work is very slow right now because it's Kharmas (an inauspicious period), so people consider it highly unlucky.

During a conversation with a mason named Ranjit, he mentioned that he hasn't been paid wages for work done in Raja Bazar. So, I told him to come with me on Monday to the contractor's house, and then I would discuss what the issue is.

Then, while talking about the education of the labourers’ children, I found out that they themselves are illiterate but are providing good education to their children. Some are preparing their kids for banking jobs, others for police, and some for engineering—they're giving them proper education.

They said, "We are illiterate, but my children should achieve something in the future to show that they are a labourer’s son." That's why they have to work as hard as we do.

Then, I provided information about education loans from the government for further studies, explaining that if there's a shortage of money, they can take a loan from the government and continue their preparations.

Conversations happened on many other topics as well.

Reported by Ranjeet Kumar, Aashray Abhiyan.