LOGO: Frontline Warriors

For your veggies, he gets to work at 3:30 am

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Amarjot Kaur

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, April 16

Rohit Kumar (26), a resident of Bapu Dham Colony, ferries fruits and vegetables in an auto across Sector 44-B here. Back home, his eight-month pregnant wife awaits him. Amid the Covid fear and battling the scorching sun, Rohit won’t let either the sector residents or his family starve. Here’s a story of a working-class hero, attending to the 12-hour duty call, starting at 4 am every day.

“To get the freshest vegetables and fruits, you have to make it to the Sector 26 grain market at 4 am sharp. I start at 3:30 am because I want to stay ahead of time. In business, time is everything,” says Rohit while attending to a customer.

“You can smell ‘dhaniya’ from a distance, it’s that fresh!” he gushes. A bottle of sanitiser rests near the weighing scale, plonked on the edge of a blue-coloured tempo the rear of which is stacked with all summer vegetables and fruits. Talking of timing, Rohit had got the permission to run his grocery business in the nick of time — just two days before the lockdown was announced.

“I wanted to make money for the new family member, my wife’s expecting. At the same time, I wanted to feed people. Food is health. Food is immunity. Food is what keeps us alive. Just when I got to know about the pandemic, I applied for the licence, two days before the lockdown,” he says.

Knowing well about the perils of the pandemic, especially with his domestic situation, Rohit lets nothing come in the way of his duty. Covering his face with a cloth and with a couple of masks in his pocket, he is quick to chide those who don’t obey the new social norms. “I tell everyone to stay at least one metre away from me. Social distancing is must. Also, I wash my hands every 15 minutes for at least 20 seconds and use a sanitiser regularly,” he says.