Farmers Movement Archive

Teacher turns veggie vendor to sustain living

Kapurthala, May 1A teacher, an auto-rickshaw driver and now a vegetable vendor. Nishant Kumar, who teaches at Government Primary School, Bhagat Pur here, has been forced to take any job that comes his way in order to sustain his family of five and pay the EMIs of his three-wheeler loan.Before the lockdown was announced, my routine used to be like teaching till 2 pm and from 3 pm onwards, I would ferry passengers from the Jalandhar bus stand to the Kapurthala chowk. After the lockdown, I decided to work as a vegetable vendor to earn livelihood and serve people of my town by providing them veggies on their doorstep. — Nishant KumarNishant says that he gets a meagre salary of Rs 6,000 from the state education department, which is not enough to sustain his family. To bear other expenses, he started driving an auto-rickshaw after the school.Now since this business has also been affected in the wake of the curfew, Nishant Kumar has started working as a vegetable vendor. He reaches the local sabzi mandi at 4 am sharp to buy vegetables from the arhtiyas to further sell these door-to-door in different localities.Talking to this correspondent, Nishant said it had been over one year that he had been working as an auto-rickshaw driver in Jalandhar. He said he purchased the vehicle on loan and invested all his savings just to double the income. "Before the lockdown was announced, my routine used to be like teaching till 2 pm and from 3 pm onwards he would ferry passengers from the Jalandhar bus stand to Kapurthala chowk," he said.However, the auto-rickshaw was now lying parked outside his house since March 23 and Rs 6,000 salary from the teaching profession was not enough to run the house. Nishant said just a week after the lockdown, he decided to work as a vegetable vendor in order to earn livelihood as well serve the people of his town by providing them veggies on the doorstep.He said the idea of selling vegetables was given to him by his friend, who was a wholesaler. "As only essential commodities are allowed these days, I did not have enough money to start grocery business, so with the help of my friend and by borrowing some money from him, I started selling veggies,” said Nishant.“After unpacking the veggies and arranging them on my cart, I start from home at 8 am to sell these door-to-door. I return home late in the evening. After taking rest for half an hour, I prepare some assignments for primary class students to keep them busy with their studies,” he said.Nishant said he had put 11 years in the education department with the hope that one day his services would be regularised. "I got married a few years ago but my wife left me due to my meager salary. I have the responsibility of my parents and a brother on me, therefore I can't afford to sit at home", he said adding that earlier he had also worked as a servant in a restaurant and at times washed cars from 6 am to 7 am for a mere Rs 50 per vehicle.

The Tribune

2020-05-02