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G Nanaprakasham Rajamarian was short on cash. Two years into his job at a construction site in Saudi Arabia, his sponsor demanded more money to renew his work permit. Failing which, he would keep his passport to keep him from returning home.
But Rajamarian, who had left his home in the coastal district of Kanyakumari in south India in 1994, didn't have the money to buy his freedom.
More than 20 years after he was stranded in Saudi Arabia with an expired work permit, no pay, little food and no means to fly back, Rajamarian came home to India last week under an amnesty scheme offered by the Saudi government.
There are an estimated six million Indian migrants in the six Gulf states of Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates and Oman, many of them trafficked and exploited, campaigners say.
Rajamarian's account of his life as an illegal migrant in the Saudi city of Al Baha, doing odd jobs and chasing officials is a familiar story for thousands of migrant workers, they add.
Rajamarian left home when he was in his late thirties, to save money for the weddings of his four daughters.
For two years, the decision to migrate seemed like a good one. But, sometime in 1996, two years into the job, Rajamarian's sponsor demanded more money to renew his residence and work permits.
Stuck, with no work and little money, he went to the police to lodge a complaint. They sent him to some labour officials who sent him back to the sponsor.
Rajamarian started looking for odd jobs, to survive and send home money every few months. When he couldn’t afford his rent, he convinced the landlady to let him live in a goat shelter.
Rajamarian says a lot has changed in his village, the houses are bigger, the road less bumpy.
"I still have a daughter to marry so I will continue working," he said. "But this time at a construction site closer home."
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