BHUBANESWAR: From far away China, where the coronavirus fight began, an Odia couple is providing doorstep delivery of groceries and vegetables to people in the Twin City and neighbourhood through their Bhubaneswar-based online store.
Bijaya Kumar Mohanty and his wife Sonalika struck upon the idea of launching the e-commerce platform www.BigBFreshStore.com on July 11 last year, after a visit to their native Niali during cyclone Fani. Now, from the lockdown in Tianjin where they live, the couple is addressing the needs of people back home.
Bijaya, an engineer in a Chinese Government company, was in India when Fani struck and realised scarcity of essential goods can be scary. “I returned to China with an urge to serve people of Niali. After contacting a local grocery store in Bhubaneswar and my brothers, I was able to get essential food items delivered to 150 persons as an act of charity. That’s when the idea of setting up an online grocery store struck me,” Bijaya told TNIE during a Skype interview on Wednesday.
Now, Sonalika attends customer calls from India and chalks out delivery plan while procurement of items and delivery is taken care of by Bijaya’s three brothers and retired father here. “There are no other delivery staff but am ready to pay people to continue the service or even volunteers,”said Bijaya, who claimed to be procuring groceries from local distributors and vegetables from an organic farm in Jajpur.
The couple stayed indoors for 60 days since January 24 when lockdown was declared during China New Year. It’s only been three days that Bijaya is back to work, wearing mask and gloves, while maintaining social distancing. Talking about her experience of lockdown Sonalika said: “People in China were so sacred that they had stopped going outdoor even before the lockdown was announced. The grocery stores used to open only for three to four hours. Even at the stores, body temperature of all customers would be checked. There were emergency ambulances parked outside each residential colony and markets. If any suspected case was found, he or she was rushed to hospital.” She encouraged her family to take up creative tasks, read books and made conference calls to friends in India to relieve stress during lockdown. The couple and their four-year-old child have claimed to be healthy and safe, so far.