She was a global star: Teen bikes 700 miles carrying injured dad. Where is she now?

Fame is a strange beast. It brings applause, attention and promises of a better life. But when the spotlight moves on, those promises are often forgotten. No one knows this better than 22-year-old Jyoti Kumari.

When she was 15 years old, during the peak of India's COVID shutdown, she shot to international fame for cycling over 700 miles, from northern India to her village in the eastern state of Bihar, with her injured father riding on the back of the hot pink bike she'd bought for $20.

Her dad, Mohan Paswan, drove an autorickshaw for 20 years in Gurugram, a city near Delhi, sending money to his wife and five children in the village of Sirhulli. After he suffered a debilitating road accident in January 2020, Kumari and her mom took the train to Gurugram to care for him.

Five months later, he still hadn't made a full recovery and his family was running out of money for food and rent. The family decided they would all be better off at home. But at the time, authorities had shut down public transportation for the pandemic lockdown. No one knew how Mohan Paswan could make the journey. That's when Kumari insisted she would bring him back home, riding on a pad attached to the main seat of her bicycle.

She cycled for seven consecutive days on a relatively empty stomach at the height of the lockdown to get him to safety. Even though it was a test of sheer endurance, Kumari discovered that she loved cycling — it came naturally to her.

Her epic ride grabbed headlines around the world. NPR's previous reporting noted promises of cash rewards, training for a career as a cyclist, even a movie deal.

Six years later

That was in 2020. "Now — life is hard," Kumari told NPR in a phone call from her home in Bihar.

What happened to all the promises made — for financial support, especially to support cycling as a competitive sport?

Many promises were not kept, she says.

"The politicians who made promises, saying they would give money for my sports or education — nobody actually gave anything," she says. "Whatever reward money we collected back then [from individuals who extended help and a government award that came with a cash prize], we put it all into our house, rebuilding it. We had a brick house before, but it only had bare walls. Now we have completed it, added a toilet, a bathroom, and a running water connection. By doing all that, the house has finally become livable," she says.

This is no small achievement. An estimated 300,000 people are homeless in the state of Bihar in spite of government programs. For a family living in poverty, having a home can make a huge difference in the fight for survival.

For Kumari's family, making their house livable meant securing something that burst of fame had failed to deliver on — a more stable place from which to build their lives.

But they are doing so without her dad.

Mohan Paswan passed away of a heart attack in May 2021, just months after his daughter brought him home. Kumari says she felt heartbroken. After his passing, financial security has been precarious for the family.

At the moment, her mother works as a cook. Her meager income supports Kumari and her three siblings at home (an older sister has married and moved out).

"There are days when we go to sleep hungry," she says. "Our brother-in-law used to help us earlier, but now he also has a child, a wife and his father to take care of. He works a small job in the city — how much can he really do? So now he isn't able to help us much."

Still she holds out hope for a better future.

"Once my education is fully complete, only then will I be able to do something else. Only then can I prepare for things and look for a job," Kumari says.

But she has yet to pass the final exam required to complete Class 12, her final year of secondary school. That's an important credential to apply to university or qualify for certain jobs. It's a stepping stone to a better life, especially for disadvantaged students.

A typical day

Finding time for her studies has been a challenge. Kumari's day begins at 7 a.m. She cooks and cares for her younger siblings after her mother rushes off to work. "I give my brothers breakfast for school and get things ready for my sister. Then, I clean the house, mop the floors, do the dishes, wash clothes by hand, take a bath," she says.

By the time she can turn her attention to her studies, she says it feels as if she has already done a gazillion chores. "There are days when I sleep because of the sheer exhaustion of it all."

What she hopes for

Whatever the future holds, she is determined to stay in their native village rather than seeking employment in the big city, as her father did. His experience showed her how precarious day labor can be — he had no savings and no medical support after his injury.

Kumari is firm about living in their native village. "Whatever I do, I want to do from here," she says.

She says she still loves cycling as much as ever. She loves the wind in her hair, the feeling of going somewhere, of feeling free. That's what the bike represents to her. But she doesn't have the time to do it as much these days as she's bogged down by household chores and small but persistent everyday worries. She can't just cycle for the joy of it or train as a competitive sport. She only cycles to do errands for the family.

With her own progress on hold, the family has quietly set their hopes on her younger sister who will take her 12th grade exams in mid-2027. If she manages to pass and get into a good college, their prospects will improve once she graduates and starts working.

But Kumari hasn't given up. "When you're poor, fame doesn't help. Only education can help you out of your difficulties. Otherwise, life becomes a never-ending obstacle course," Kumari says.

Kamala Thiagarajan is a freelance journalist based in Madurai, South India. She reports on global health, science and development and has been published in The New York Times, The British Medical Journal, the BBC, The Guardian and other outlets. You can find her on X: @Kamal_t.

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