Farmers Movement Archive

Hit by Covid, she now ekes out a living by serving others on platter

Tribune News ServiceJalandhar, November 17While the street food vendors continuously battled to save their livelihood during lockdown after residents avoided eating outside food, a large number of jobless people started vending out food as soon as the lockdown was lifted partially. Simran Kaur (37), a resident of the BSF Colony near the Workshop Chowk, is doing the same to make both ends meet. She lost her job due to lockdown, imposed as a precautionary measure against Covid-19 pandemic.For the past eight years, she was eking out a living by working as a cook at a restaurant in Himachal Pradesh. She was earning enough to sustain her family. However, the lockdown first led to a salary cut, followed by a lay-off, which later pushed her to sell food along the road. It’s been only two weeks since she started selling cooked meals. She hopes to earn better in the coming days. She has a school going daughter at home who also assists her in setting-up a vending cart every day and serve food to the customers. She devotes extra hours at work to earn a little better. Her husband works as a daily wage earner.“The lockdown has taught us many lessons. When I lost my job, I thought things would normalise shortly and I’ll be back to my work, but everything happened differently. With little savings left, I was sure that I’ll have to look for another job. As every sector was affected due to the pandemic, I didn’t get a new job. Later, my sister-in-law who also sells street food advised me to do the same. In the absence of any source of income, I was convinced to do it, but I decided to sell normal cooked food. Though setting up a cart is not easy, I dared to utilise my remaining savings in purchasing a cart and the ration with no certainties of profit. However, I followed my instincts and set up my stall on the road,” said Simran, who sells food on a footpath near the entrance of Dana Mandi road.She had come back to Jalandhar at the end of March to be with her husband. Her husband also couldn’t find a job in the tough times. Considering herself ‘Atamnirbhar’ Simran giggles, now it’s up to the residents to get ‘vocal for local’ and support people like us who are on the streets to earn their livelihood.

The Tribune

2020-11-18