MALKANGIRI: Pandemic crushed hopes and dreams of many last year but it failed to deter the faith of two engineers of Malkangiri who discovered entrepreneurship is answer to the job crisis and their ‘Engineer’s Thela’ stands testimony to it in Malkangiri town.
Parked near the Collectorate, lip-smacking dishes flying off their food truck which has found a way into people’s hearts and given Prittam Bebarta and Sumit Samal, both engineering graduates, a career choice.
Not lomg ago, the duo had gone to pursue BTech course outside Odisha. While Prittam pursued mechanical engineering, Sumit was in civil engineering stream.
After successfully completing their courses last year, they applied for jobs and were waiting for the offers when the pandemic struck.
Without jobs and little money left, they were compelled to return home and sit idle for around six months. But the duo didn’t lose heart and decided to utilise their limited resources to start a food cart last week.
Coming from a modest background, the friends didn’t want to burden their families any further and got an unused broken hand cart thrown near their house to kick start their venture.
They repaired and remodelled it, laced it with tribal decorations and attractive lights. Naming it “Engineer’s Thela”, they placed the cart on the roadside near the Collector’s office, delicious food in the evening.
The very first day saw good business with its unusual name drawing people’s curiosity.
“Many thought we are selling some innovative engineering products. But when they came to the cart, they were pleasantly surprised by the aroma of our special chicken and mutton biriyani and chicken tikka,” said Prittam.
A plate of dum biryani costs Rs 100 and chicken tikka is priced at Rs 50 at the thela.
“We have a cook who helps us with the preparations and we also pitch in with the cooking. Our families have been very supportive of everything. We are earning a profit of around Rs 4,000 per day and really happy with the response our cart is getting. People who cannot afford going to restaurants are coming to our thela,” said Sumit, who is also working as a civil contractor during the day.