The months-long lockdown owing to the vicious coronavirus pandemic has rendered thousands of people jobless and pushed thousands of families into severe financial distress, forcing them to take up random jobs in desperation to make ends meet.
Sixteen-year-old Gaurav Grover from Faridabad has a similar story to narrate. Narendra Grover, Gaurav's father and the only bread earner of the family, was the owner of a small eatery in downtown Faridabad selling local burgers, chaat and pakodas. The financial return from the shop was enough to feed the family of four, including Gaurav and his unmarried sister until earlier this year.
The family started facing severe losses when Gaurav's father was forced to close down the shop for months once the government introduced complete lockdown across the country in view to stain the pandemic.
Without any customers, who feared to venture out while the contagious infection was spreading fast across neighbours and borders, the family fell short of finances enough to support them during the days of difficulty.
But even after the Central government in June announced to unlock the cities and since the people are slowly getting used to the 'new normal', there is hardly any customer at his father's shop these days. "People are feared to gorge on local foods from restaurants even now," Gaurav told the International Business Times (IBT), India.
While the pressing need of the hour made it difficult for the family to repay loans during the pandemic, the teenager, rather than focusing on his studies unlike any other boy of his age, decided to carry forward his father's business and open a subsidiary sweetmeat shop to balance the family's income.
"Looking at the financial conditions of the family, I thought I should also help my distressed father. Since government rules don't allow me to undertake any job at my age, I decided to open a new sweetmeat shop apart from my father's business in order to support the family. I also have catered to the needs of my ailing mother and an unmarried sister. Only being dependent on my father's eatery would not suffice to the family," he stressed.
Only because of my father, I know how to make the best bhaji burgers in town
But the starting the venture was not easy. Severely hit by the pandemic, his family had no money even to even open another stall for Gaurav. "I somehow persuaded my father to take a loan of Rs 30,000 to buy the essentials of the eatery," he told IBT further. My father used to earn around Rs 40,000 per month before the lockdown, he said, but now his monthly income doesn't cross even Rs 25,000, a major part of which goes for repayment of the loan.
Gaurav now earns around Rs 15,000 per month from his eatery, Shiva Ji Burger, set up near Neelam Chawk in Faridabad, he said, cheerfully. "I didn't want to take money from my father and instead help him in time of need. I miss going out with my friends but that is okay because family is top priority for me," the Class 10 student said. Gaurav wishes to expand his father's business and open a restaurant after his name.
"My aim is very clear. After Class 12th, I will study business and open a restaurant. If I couldn't, I will take up a job during the day and run the eatery in the night," the boy said. According to a joint report by the International Labour Organization (ILO) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), as many as 41 lakh youth in the country lost jobs due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
