Her name is Jyoti Kumari.
In 2020, she was 15 years old, a Class 8 student from Sirhulli village in Darbhanga, Bihar. Her father, Mohan Paswan, drove a rickshaw in Gurugram, more than a thousand kilometres from home.
Early that year, he was injured in a road accident and lost his ability to work. Jyoti travelled to Gurugram to look after him.
Then the lockdown came.
With no income, the rent went unpaid. Their landlord pressured them to pay or leave and cut their electricity twice.
Public transport had stopped. A truck driver demanded Rs 6,000 to take them home, money they did not have.
Between them, they had about Rs 600.
So Jyoti made a decision that many adults would have hesitated to make.
She bought a second-hand bicycle for around Rs 500, seated her injured father on the carrier, and began the journey back to Bihar.
Over the next seven days, she travelled roughly 1,200 kilometres. She rode through the summer heat on highways crowded with migrant workers trying to get home.
At night, they slept at petrol pumps. Strangers gave them food. Occasionally, passing vehicles carried them for short stretches.
She kept going until they reached their village.
The story spread across India and around the world. The Cycling Federation of India invited her for a trial.
She later received a national child award and spoke with the Prime Minister.
For a time, the girl who carried her father home became a symbol of the resilience shown by millions of Indians during the lockdown.
A year later, in May 2021, Mohan Paswan died of a cardiac arrest at home.
Jyoti had cycled 1,200 kilometres to bring her father back.
She got one more year with him.
Follow for stories India deserves to remember.