Rendered jobless, woman sells fruits to afford 2 square meals

Ajay Joshi

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, August 3

The pandemic has many people’s lives in shambles. Just as large number of autorickshaw drivers have resorted to other ways of sustenance; many have taken up selling of fruits. Aarti, a former employee of the Sacred Heart hospital, too has joined the club.

Presently, the only bread winner in her family of six, she is selling fruits near the hospital — where she was a housekeeper — to keep her family going amid these tough times. She was confronted with multiple problems even after she had got the boot. Her husband’s father was being treated already and then he met an accident.

“After losing some saving, we were happy that at least my Rs 10,000 income was manageable for all our expenses,” she says. However, things went downhill after she was sacked in April.

The wait for the lockdown’s ending never came. As it extended, so did family’s needs. The rent is there and stove had to keep on burning for her two sons and two daughters. But the times had come down hard on her. “Despite dialing on all my contacts and approaching previous bosses, I didn’t get any work,” she shares. Hence, vendoring was the best option as most of the drivers were doing the same.

Therefore, she did the needful by mortgaging her gold earnings. “I took a vending cart on lease in May. In the beginning, I also suffered a loss of Rs 2000-3000 as I didn’t know to make deals and preserve the fruits,” the 42-year-old tells. Now, she’s earning Rs 200-300 daily.

Striving to pay back the loaned money by standing in long queues of the Maqsudan Sabzi Mandi, she is optimistic of better times. “I want to provide better education to my children and clear all the dues from landlord and bank,” Aarti, a resident of Ravidas Nagar says.