KOCHI: As the country goes through the 21-day lockdown with most people working from home, this group of people diligently ensures that hot news is delivered to the breakfast table every morning. The newspaper boys in the city have been doing their job just like any other day, dispelling misinformation that newspapers are carriers of the virus.
“We have a job to do,” said Navaneetha Krishnan, who has been distributing newspapers for the past 35 years. “This is the only job I know,” said Krishnan, whose day begins as early as 2:30 am. According to him, things took a turn for the worse after messages began circulating on social media about how newspapers act as carriers of Coronavirus.
According to V G Suresh, who has been in this business for the past 42 years, this is the only job he has been doing and can think of doing. “The newspaper industry is the keystone of society. Since my childhood, I have been hearing and hold tight to the belief that print media is the one that keeps the society sane and informed,” he said. Hence, it has to survive and forge ahead in these times of difficulties, said Suresh.
“However, in these past 42 years, I have never experienced such hostility from my customers. Earlier, the only time they used to get angry was when their copies got late,” he said. “But since the outbreak of the Covid pandemic, the people who used to wait on their doorsteps eagerly for the newspapers to be delivered now don’t even open their gates,” said Suresh. “You should see how they approach us. It is as if we are the virus. People can be seen wearing masks and even gloves and they make all sorts of weird actions before picking up the paper. Some even douse it with sanitisers before handling it,” he said.