“We often set a lot of expectations in life but sometimes when things don’t go as planned, we end up losing hope in the future. Well, we had faced a similar situation in the past.

I was a farmer back then and had an agricultural land of two acres in our village Aurad in Karnataka. Within two years after marriage, we suffered major losses due to scanty rainfall and seemingly overnight, life changed, and we lost our livelihood.

But that’s when a friend of mine suggested that I come to Hyderabad for work. I was living life on my own in the past but suddenly I had to work under someone. But I must thank my wife as not even once during that phase she lost hope in me and we both decided to start something small, once things settle down.

Initially, we thought of selling fruits but later we had decided to start a chat Bandar on the roadside. It wasn’t an easy journey as we both got trained for a year before setting up our stall.

It’s been more than 9 years since we started this business in this area and by god’s grace, we are able to make our ends meet. The Covid was another major setback in our lives but we both stood strong together during the lockdown phase and decided to continue the business by adapting to the new normal.

My wife is the biggest support in my journey so far and every day, she comes here to help me in the evening. There’s no ‘me’ or ‘she’ with us. It’s always ‘we’ and that’s what kept us going forward in life.

Today, our panipuri has a loyal following among the locals, here. From around 3:00 in the afternoon till 10:00 in the evening, our stall is crowded with families. They tuck in at least two to three plates of our panipuris and they also have our special samosa chat later. Sometimes they lose count of the number of plates but they always leave with a satisfied smile (laughs).”