HYDERABAD : As we enter Unlock 1.0 and the government slowly eases the over two-month lockdown, allows all shops to reopen, and people slowly trickle to go out to work again, we speak to a cross section of people who did not have the luxury of staying home
TRIED TO FULFILL EVERY DEMAND OF MY CUSTOMERS Gopalvan, 28, runs a mom and pop store ‘Kamal Kirana and General Store’ at Gunrock Phase-II in Karkhana. All through the months of lockdown, as per government guidelines, he opened the store from 7 am to 1 pm. “This is a residential area and I have my regular customers,” says he. Gopal says he fears for the safety of his wife and fouryear- old child every day, but adds, “I did not have the option to stay at home and close the store. I took as many precautions as I could, such as sanitising my hands, wearing masks, and requesting customers to maintain social distance.” However, he says, he had to go to the wholesale markets to buy items, as none of the company representatives would visit.
“My profit margin is zero. I had to buy at MRP and sell at the same.” He adds, “My customers had certain requests, I tried to fulfill them the best I could.” He had the most demand for dairy items like milk, bread, butter, fresh cream and cheese. While on a regular day he would have about 70 customers, during the limited hours the past few months he would get about 60 customers a day. “I am alone in the shop, so it was difficult to manage, but I my customers waited with patience for their turn.”
NO OPTION, AS NO OTHER SOURCE OF INCOME Syed Ansari, 34, is a vegetable vendor who comes from Shamshabad to Banjara Hills every day to sell vegetables. Syed says, “We used to set our stalls in the Sunday market, but were forced to move from one neighbourhood to another. We know we are putting ourselves at risk of greater exposure, but we have to feed several mouths and do not have any other source of income. We bought fruits and vegetables from Shamshabad mandi although the rates were higher by ten per cent. When we don’t sell much, we are forced to throw away the rest of the purchase.”
HAD TO TAKE DETOURS TO REACH CUSTOMERS’ HOMES “We have been putting our lives on stake during the Covid- 19 breakout and we have been operating our centers and doing our home collection as usual”, says Arun Raj, 26, a phlebotomist with Apollo Diagnostics. Arun, who hails from Prakasam district, has been a home collection phlebotomist for the past four years. He says, “In some areas, colony roads were completely blocked for the outsiders by the locals and due to that we had to find different routes and some times take long and difficult routes to reach patient to collect their samples.
NO FEAR COULD STOP HIM FROM DELIVERING NEWS “As always, I wake up daily at 4 am to distribute newspapers,” says Naveen Kumar, 29, a newspaper agent in Begumpet. Although many home owners temporarily discontinued paper subscription fearing it would be a carrier of the virus, he continued to supply to those who still wished to buy. He says, “We explained to them that it is just a myth that newspapers may carry coronavirus.
We helped them understand that and told them that this is the time they need authentic news and a newspaper is the best way to do so.” Naveen, who lives with his father (a plumber), mother, and brother who works in the IT sector, says that his income dropped by `1 lakh during this time. “Now, 60 per cent business has improved,” he says, feeling relieved. He also works as a part-time driver and took people to hospital during this time. He says, “fear and tension of contracting Covid-19 is there, but I cannot afford to not work.”
“I DID NOT ALLOW ANY VISITORS TO GET IN” Rohtash Sharma, 51, has been working as a security guard at AWHO Colony in Karkhana for the past three years and did not miss a single day of work in the past two and a half months. He hails from Bijnor in Uttar Pradesh where his family, which includes his wife and three sons live. He says the colony members regularly checked up on his health and provided him and the other guards with milk, flour, rice, fruits, face masks and sanitisers. He says proudly: “I did not let any visitor come into the colony during the lockdown.”
He adds, “All the members also followed the rules strictly, making my job easier.” When we ask him if he fears getting Covid-19 or about his family falling ill, he says, matter-of-factly, “If we fall ill, we will get treated.” As an after-thought and softening up slightly, he says, “I do not worry, and derive solace from daily video calls with my family back home.” Rohtash earns about `9,000 per month and has booked a train ticket on June 5 to go and spend time with his family in Bijnor.