Cuttack, Sept 26: “You can’t take care of your two children. Give me the younger one, I will change her luck”, it was the offer to homeless Muhammad Aarif in Cuttack city of Odisha.

Many people are offering him to sell his four-year-old daughter but in vain. His fatherhood is stubborn to take care of his own children despite all odds. This was the scene on the footpath adjoining SCB Hospital on Sunday.

Aarif, a resident of Jharkhand, had come to Odisha in search of livelihood with his family. He was working as a laborer in Keonjhar district. However, he found it hard to get work during Covid and shifted to Bhubaneswar.

Aarif and her wife Muskan started working as daily wagers for livelihood. However, Muskan was diagnosed with cancer last year and was undergoing treatment at Acharya Harihar Cancer Hospital in Cuttack where she breathed her last.

After his wife’s death, Aarif decided to stay in Cuttack with his ten-year-old son (Arman) and four-year-old daughter (Parvin). Aarif is working as a rag picker in Cuttack staying on the footpath adjoining SCB Hospital.

When he goes to work, Arman takes care of his sister. Taking the opportunity of helplessness, touts are regularly offering him to sell Parvin at a lucrative price.

“I will no way sell my children. They are only mine. I can do anything to bring them up,” said crying Aarif.

My son is taking care of his sister like her mother. They can’t live leaving each other, he said.