Covid deflated his business, but his hope keeps him afloat

Manmeet Singh Gill

Tribune News service

Amritsar, November 10

Pappu Kumar, a balloon seller on Lawrence Road is happy that the lockdown days are over, but his trouble is not over yet as the sale is extremely low. Courtesy, no one wants their toddler to contract the infection.

“My business picked up pace when I was booked to decorate the party venue with balloons for birthday parties. But apart from that, the sales are down,” he said, talking about his business these days.

Pappu pedals his cycle from his home every day to look for a banquet hall or a marriage palace in the hope of an ongoing party so that he is able to do a brisk business. Small children are on his guest list. In the evening, he parks his cycle outside an ATM at Lawrence Road and sells balloons to children coming for a stroll or to have an ice-cream along with their parents.

“The hard days are already over. Now, the business is a bit slow but it is still going on,” he said, adding that he hopes that in the winter season, the business would be good owing to a lot of marriages during that time.

“The business during the early days of the winter season used to be good as people would come out of their homes after harsh summer season. There used to be celebratory mood everywhere as people would buy winter clothings from the market. As their children used to accompany them, my sales were also good,” he said. But with people taking all precautions to avoid contracting the virus, my business has taken a beating, he said.