“I didn’t have a long term plan for my future, but I knew I was passionate about a lot of things. So I have never stuck to one particular job in my journey so far.

I had done khethi (farming) for a few years in my hometown Bihar along with a few odd jobs before moving here. I felt Hyderabad was a good place to earn a decent living so that I could build a house for my family. My cousins who are settled here helped me initially and I worked my way to open a food stall court of my own three years ago.

Things were going well and I was close to achieving my dreams. But life went down south when the covid pandemic struck the country. I had to shut my food court due to a lack of income for more than 7 months. Yes, I did suffer from major losses but I never let my confidence go down. I backed myself and started this small bhel business. It’s been over four months and things are slowly improving.

My family is staying in my hometown for the last one and half years and I did try to hide the information about the losses to my children. But kids nowadays are extremely intelligent. My elder son even called me and said, “Pappa, maa, did aur mein apke madat karenge. Aap tension mat lijiye” Those words hit me hard. I was so touched by my son’s kind gesture. That certainly gave me the strength. My wife had also started working in my hometown and we both are trying to rebuild everything from scratch right now. I have a few friends here to support me and we are on a mission to set things back on track.”