Meet Anil Kumar Baloch—the ‘nomad’ from Balochistan, Afghanistan, Russia and Kazakhstan who has made India his home

Anil Kumar Baloch has spent almost half of his life in India. He spent the other half in Balochistan, Afghanistan, Russia and Kazakhstan.

Now that he has settled in India, he is working in medical tourism—an interpreter and a medical tourist guide to people who come from half a dozen countries. "I know Russian, Hindi, Sindhi, Baloch and Pashto. I can also converse in Dari, which resembles Persian therefore I can interact with people from Iran as well", says Anil with a sense of justified pride.

Struggle in New Delhi

Life wasn't as easy in New Delhi. "My initial life in Delhi was a struggle. I tried my hand at many jobs—made credit cards, did odd jobs in shops and worked in a bank. None was easy”, says Baloch.

One day, whiling away time with friends, an Afghan recommended him to utilise his multilingual skills to help people coming from Afghanistan as they faced problems in interacting with medical staff. "I began translation for Afghans coming to India for treatment. Some wanted my help in taking them around as a tourist guide also. There used to be one weekly flight from Afghanistan to India. I would rush to the airport in the morning and wait for the passengers to come out. I would ask them if they needed an interpreter or help in hospitals. If an Afghan family wanted help, I would come back with them in their cab as I often did not even have Rs two for a DTC bus ticket".

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