When the country rang bells, blew conches and clapped to express appreciation for medical staff and other COVID-19 warriors, a middle-aged miner thought about paying tribute to his brave co-workers as well.
Nitin Gupta, an overman with Coal India-arm SECL, penned the lyrics and sang a song titled 'Humse sara jag chalta' (this world runs because of coal miners), and posted the video on social media.
Gupta, who sings and composes music in his spare time, said he wanted to highlight the spirit of coal miners like him who are working dauntlessly in these trying times to produce coal and keep the nation's power plants running.
"When Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an appeal to the citizens to clap and applaud those at the forefront of combating the virus, like doctors, a thought crossed my mind that no one is talking about coal warriors who are also working round-the-clock at this time when most of the citizens in the country are at home.
"So I decided that I will write a song and sing it so that the common people can also know that coal miners are no less than the other warriors who are working in this difficult time, like doctors and police personnel," Gupta said over phone.
His four-and-a-half-year old daughter Swarnashree also joined him in extending thanks to the miners at the fag end of the video.
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No sooner did he release the video on social media, he became the talk of his town Ambikapur, in Chhattisgarh.
"As this is an era of social media, my video reached many through WhatApp as well as Facebook," he said.
The video garnered around 85,000 likes on Facebook, he added.
"On Twitter too I had posted my video, tagging Coal Minister Pralhad Joshi. But unfortunately, the minister has not responded," Gupta said, sounding a tad dejected.
However, Gupta said he was delighted when CEO of Adani Enterprises-Natural Resources Ltd, Vinay Prakash Goel, shared his video and tweeted,"...a heartening moment for the entire coal fraternity. Well sung, Nitin. Kudos to the spirit of miners who continue to work in the coal mines to ensure powerplants get the fuel to continue producing electricity."