COVID-19 Wound Is Still to Heal-up: An Interview Based Study on Door-to-Door Sellers and Small Scale Entrepreneurs

Abstract

The world including India have faced a lot of difficulties passing through Covid-19 waves not only once, but for several times which has also given a big threat to the world economy and human lives. Different waves have disrupted the lives and livelihood of the people. As per views of scientists the Covid-19 virus is something unique which has been changing its form from time to time. Recently, in March, 2023, it has come to light that Corona virus again has come in the name of “XBB.1.5” with 89.6% of affected cases. This small piece of study is based on the marginal class of people who are selling their products from door-to-door and small scale entrepreneurs. The main objective of the paper is to draw the attention of researchers and readers on the business threats and sufferings of small scale business personnel and daily sellers. The research is done on the basis of face-to-face interviews with their photos in order to share the experience the interviewees earned during different phases of Covid-19. This paper is concluded with a common view of those simple folk that this virus would never perish from this world, but we have to take timely precautionary measures to be protected from the virus.

Introduction

I. INTRODUCTION

The Covid-19 has disrupted the life and livelihood of people all over the world. The door-to-door sellers and small scale entrepreneurs have suffered a lot in different phases of the pandemic. This study is based on the interviews of thirty one (31) respondents out of which thirteen (13) respondents are door-to-door sellers and the rest eighteen (18) are small scale entrepreneurs. Among them two (2) are female respondents and the twenty nine (29) are male respondents. The data is collected in a compact area of CDA, Cuttack, Odisha.  The cases are presented in the following manner.

1. Case: 1- Mr. Pankaj Sahu aged forty seven (47) years passed Matriculation, is living at JhangirMangala, Cuttack, Odisha. He has been doing Grocery business for last 25 years. His family consists of five (5) members: his mother, wife, son and daughter. Mother is the older adult and she needs special care and his wife contributes to make the home-made products. The son is studying in standard nine and daughter is in class five. He has to visit door-to-door by his bicycle with different types of Grocery products along with homemade products. He has very good demand for the hand-made products like: pickles, sweets, namkins etc. But the waves of pandemic has severely affected the livelihood of Mr. Sahu. As he does not have any side business it is very cumbersome for him to run his family. To bear the family expenses like: rent of house, food, clothing, medicine and education of children he has to spend his entire savings. During the crucial period of partial lockdown when his movement in the town was restricted to run his family he has to take orders from his close community and delivered the hand-made products. According Mr. Sahu minimum Rs. 20,000 per month is required to manage the family for basic necessities of life which he has earned in normal situation, but the pandemic has severely reduced his earning capacity. On the other hand he is thankful to the Government for providing Ration which is very helpful for his family members to survive during pandemic. Mr. Sahu has also been adequately vaccinated through the scheme of the Government.    Life after lockdown was not very suitable for Mr. Sahoo as the fear of risk of second wave of COVID across the country affected him a lot. Many customers have avoided to purchase with the fear of contamination as he has been using door-to-door visit with his cycle. A few regular customers have purchased, but not a very huge amount because of the reduction in purchasing capacity as such the chances of potential customers is also very negligible.

2.  Case: 2- Mr. Shikhar Panda who is sixty (60) years old is living at Sarpesware, Cuttack, Odisha and engaged in selling of vegetables door-to-door from his young age. He with his few friends are farming different types of seasonal vegetables. The only way to run his family is cultivating and selling seasonal vegetables like: potato, tomato, nuts, bins, cabbage etc. His family consists of five (5) members, but his elder son is physically challenged by an accident and does not able to work. Therefore, the entire responsibility of running the family is on the hands of Mr. Shikhar. During COVID period he has suffered a lot and spent his entire savings to fulfil the basic necessities of life of family members. He has also borrowed money for the health issues of his son and to run the family.  Now after lockdown again Mr. Das restarts his business to sell the vegies door-to-door by his bicycle. But the situation is not normal like the prior pandemic period. He has to work hard with a nominal income. He leaves home from early morning and comes back at evening. He and his family is going through the financial crises. His monthly income has been reduced to approximately Rs. 5000 from Rs. 14000.  He is very thankful to the Government for providing ration in the crucial period of hunger and poverty. He is also vaccinated of two amounts. Mr. Panda is expects that the lives will become normal gradually and the happy days will come soon.

3. Case: 3- Mantu Behera, aged fifty (50) years is living in Behera Sahi, Cuttack. His family consists of five (5) members. He is engaged in selling of coconut from door-to-door by his cycle. He is also facing the same problem as Mr. Panda and Mr. Sahu during the pandemic period. His business has ruined down and his sons also lost their jobs due to COVID lockdown. To run the family was very crucial for him and he was bound to borrow money from his friends and relatives. In post lockdown period he comes back to his profession. Previously there was heavy demand for his coconut and he has earned approximately Rs. 700 per day. But now he has lost many of his customers due to low purchasing capacity of people and presently his earning is limited approximately Rs.250 per day. The sons of Mr. Behera are not re-employed which creates a big financial crisis for him and his family. He is much stressed to run his family and payback the debts. But he is also thankful to the Government for providing ration during this period of pandemic and vaccine to protect his life.

4. Case: 4- Mr. Ali, aged nineteen (19) is living at Purighat, Cuttack, Odisha and selling silver utensils from-door-to-door. His study has been stopped in 5th standard due to poverty. He is in this profession under a contractor since five years. His family consists of twelve (12) members who are living at Kolkata. During normal time he earns approximately Rs.600 per day out of which he has to pay the commission of the jobber and bear family expenses. But lockdown has stopped his livelihood and he has spent all his savings. Now to survive and to spend for family Mr. Ali returns his profession back. But after lockdown period it is very difficult to sell his silver utensils. He has to cover many areas of the city by his cycle, but does not get even the nominal profit. His contractor has increased the price of products and commission also. At the same time, his daily income is reduced to Rs. 200 as many consumers do not opt to purchase due to hike in prices. However, he is striving hard to normalise his business expecting a good future.

5. Case: 5- Mr. MD Asraf who is thirty five (35) years old is living at JholaSahi, Cuttack. His family consists of six members and they are staying at Bihar. Mr. Ashraf has experience of twelve years of waving of cotton for pillow and bed. He visits door to door for his profession. During the first wave of COVID-19 he was home arrest in Cuttack due to sudden lockdown. He had to manage his life with scanty savings which was finished within few days and he remained without food for two-three days. With the special arrangement of transportation by the Government he reached in Bihar. Like Mr. Ali he also faced the problems on his ways of returning with stressful life of quarantine. Many of his relatives also made him isolated due to fear of pandemic even after completion of his quarantine period. During this phase of life his family members provided him morale support which helped him to reduce his anxiety and stress. His family did not allow him to comeback Odisha for his livelihood even after release of lockdown. They were in heavy fear of the attack of the virus and for this reason Mr. Asraf was in Bihar during the second wave of COVID. But his family condition day-by-day has gone down as he is the only earning member of his family. He has decided to come back to his livelihood after the release of lockdown and shutdown of the second phase of the pandemic. He is also facing the problems like Mr. Sahu and Mr. Behera as he is now earning approximately Rs. 250 which was Rs. 600 per day in normal time which is quite insufficient for him to bear the family expenses. Hence, Mr. Asraf is thankful to the Government’s provision of ration and vaccination on time.

  6.  Case: 6- Mr. Alam who is thirty one (31) years old is living in Cuttack, Odisha for the last two years. His family resides in Uttar Pradesh which consists of six members: elderly mother, wife, school going two daughters and a son. He and his family members have suffered heavily during different waves of COVID-19. Mr. Alam was working in a textile industry Delhi and earning Rs. 20,000 per month. But due to pandemic this industry was shut down which was the only source of his livelihood. He lost his job and income and it was very difficult for him to fulfil family responsibilities. He borrowed approximately Rs. 70,000 from his relatives and friends to manage expenses on basic necessities, medicine of mother and children. He also shared his experience of lockdown which prevented his entry to his village and how he faced different huddles to reach to his family. He and his family members all were in fear and stress because of the dangerous Corona Virus.   With the help of a friend Mr. Alam has joined a stole making and selling organization in Cuttack, Odisha and he is getting Rs. 9000 per month. He is selling stoles from door-to-door by walking. He states that as the contractor bears his expenses on food and shelter, it is helpful for him to send money to his family members. He has also redeemed approximately Rs. 40,000, the borrowings from his relatives and he tries to save a few amount to redeem the rest. Mrs. Alam is engaged in the stitching of dresses and other related materials which add income to the family.  Mr. Alam is very thankful to God for the protection of his family from the pandemic and he is also thankful to the Government for the provision of ration and vaccination.

7. Case: 7- Mr. Uttam Biswas, aged thirty four (34), lives in Cuttack, Odisha. His family consists of five members who are living Kolkata. He sells brooms from door-to-door for last ten years in different localities in the Silver City, Cuttack. During the first wave of COVID lockdown and shut down he was home arrest in this city and he lost his daily earnings. With the little bit savings he tried to manage his basic needs and after that the borrowed money from his friends and with lots of huddles he reached to his family. He was also depressed in quarantine centre because of loneliness and the fear of the virus. Hence, after the over of quarantine period he met his family, but the poverty and scarcity put him down. He borrowed money of Rs. 20,000 with interest rate of 5%. During the second phase of the pandemic Mr. Biswas was in Kolkata as his family members did not allow him to leave. He is very thankful to the Government for the provision of ration which is helpful for the survival of his family members. Now he comes back to his profession, but he faces the problems like: increase in the price of brooms by the contractor, reduction in the number of consumers and fall of income with the spread of virus also. During the third phase of the COVID-19 by using all precautionary measures he is continuing his door-to-door selling.

8. Case: 8- Mr. Jitu, aged forty seven (47) is living at Gopal Pur, Cuttack, Odisha. His native is Kolkata, but he is staying at Cuttack with his family for his profession of selling plastic made products. His family consists of five (5) members. He has three (3) daughters who are reading in schools. Mr. Jitu is working under a contractor and collects plastic made toys along with home accessories. During pandemic he has suffered a lot like Mr. Ali and Mr. Sahu. As there was declaration of lockdown to control Covid-19 waves, he did not continue his occupation and completely stayed at home. As he is a daily earner and does not have any other source of income he and his family members have faced lots of trouble to arrange even basic needs of life. At this time he and his family members could survive as the Government has helped him by providing ration: rice, wheat, kerosene etc. After lift of lockdown Mr. Jitu again stats his occupation. But his earning is very low like Mr. Panda. In normal days he was earning approximately Rs. 600 per day, but now- a-days he is getting approximately Rs. 200 per day. It is very difficult for him to manage his family with this limited income. At the same time he has lost many consumers because of low purchasing power as many of them have lost their jobs. Now he is gradually developing in his business, but the fear of recurrence of COVID still exists in his mind.

9. Case: 9- Mr. Manjur Layak who is thirty three (33) years old consisting of twelve members in his family. His native is Medinapur, West Bengal, but he is staying at Jhola-Sahi, Cuttack, Odisha for his profession of selling Bed sheets and pillow covers. He purchases those from West Bengal and sells in Cuttack. He has to take care of his elderly parents, wife, three daughters who are studying in school and younger brothers and sisters. During Covid lockdown and shut down period Mr. Layak has faced financial constraints as no business could run. He is thankful to the welfare measures of the Government who provided ration to his family members who are staying away from him. After the lift of Lockdown Mr. Manjur again starts his livelihood of selling bed-sheet and pillow covers from door-to-door by his cycle. But he is earning approximately Rs. 80 per day which was Rs. 300 during normal period. He also shares that he has to purchase the same material at high price and while he tries to sell those the customers hesitate to buy.

10. Case: 10– Mr. Ashok Kumar Senapati, aged Sixty five (65) lives in Bidanashi, Cuttack, Odisha. His two daughters are married and one son is working as a casual worker. His mother expired during Covvid-19. Mr. Senapati collects Vegetables from farmers and sells those from door-to-door. He has also faced the same problem like: Mr. Jitu and Mr. Behera during lockdown period. There was no business and no earnings. The Government Ration scheme has helped to survive his family members. His son has also lost his job due to lockdown and he has spent all his savings to fulfil the basic needs of his family members.  Life after lockdown is not normal for Mr. Ashok. He is the only earning person to run the family. His young son is not engaged till now and the couple does not let the son go to other states for job because of fear of Covid waves. In normal days Mr. Senapati has earned profit of approximately Rs.300 which has been reduced to Rs. 70 after lockdown. Like Mr. Sahu and Mr. Panda he has lost many customers and the regular customers also purchase less amount. It is very difficult for him to run the family. However, by the passage of time both father and son are resorting to their job, but they are afraid if the pandemic recurs in future they may suffer in future.

11. Case: 11- Mr. Somanath Das who is thirty (30) years old living at CDA. He is a seasonal business man. This picture is taken during the festival of floating of boat in “Kartika Purnima”. This is also known as “Boat Festival” and this day is the beginning of the day of famous “Bali-Yatra”. Similarly, in different festivals he prepares images of God and Goddess, candles and mud pots etc.  During COVID-19 lockdown period there was strict regulations on celebration of different festivals. No single festival was celebrated with crowd. Therefore, his business was completely shut down and he was satisfied with very little orders of mud pots and candles by specific temples. But his earing was limited and borrowings were increasing. It was very difficult for Mr. Somanath to run his joint family. At the mean time he got the ration facility from the Government which has helped his family to survive. But after over of second phase of the pandemic he has continued his business again and he gradually tries to attract his regular customers.

12. Case: 12 – Mr. Govinda Behera aged sixty (60) is living at Bidanashi, Cuttack. He is working as pot maker.  His family consists of four members. Mr Govinda has two sons who are working as driver in a private firm. During COVID period he and his sons remained unemployed. As there was restrictions on observing festivals no mud sculptures were made and no mud pots were required. After release of lockdown and shutdown restrictions he comes back to his profession, but it is a tough time for him to face hike in price of inputs like: the mud, sand, colour etc.to make sculptures, pots and other mud related products. He has to limit the size of sculptures of God and Goddess due to the Government restrictions on large size. It also limits his income as bigger the size, higher the price. Two sons of Mr. Behera are now assisting him in their family profession and they are also searching for jobs. Due to the pandemic the family has suffered a lot and borrowed money from nearer and dearer. It is very difficult for him to redeem the loans and to run the family in a balanced way. Hence, Mr. Behera is thankful to the Government for the timely provision of ration and vaccination.

13. Case: 13- Mr Bikram Sahu (60) lives in NayaBazar, Cuttack, Odisha. He sells sweets (Bundi) from door-to-door by his bicycle. He belongs to a joint family of twelve members who live in a village in Banki. During pandemic Mr. Sahu and his two sons have lost their services. It was a tough time for his family as they have spent all the savings on household expenses and also borrowed money with high interest rate. Both first and second phases of the COVID period has put them in social, economic and psychological pain. The family had to manage with a little money. Mr. Bikram has also shared that his two sons help him a lot to redeem the debt of burden. His sons are doing retail business and contribute to the family. He is thankful to the Government for its timely ration and vaccination. He is also thankful to his customers who help have helped him with money and food items during the lockdown period. Mr. Bikram has continued his business in the third wave of the COVID and even in this fourth wave he is running his business without any fear as he is completely vaccinated and using precautionary measures.

14. Case: 14 – Mrs. Yosoda Rout, aged fifty six (56), runs a vegetable shop of her own. She lives with her daughter and son in law n C.D.A., near her shop. Her native is Banki, Odisha. She started her business ten years back and it is the source of her livelihood. Her son in law also helps her in this business. She buys vegetable from market and sells in her store regularly. During the period of COVID-19 lockdown Mrs. Rout and her family suffered a lot as she could not continue her business. She is very thankful to the Government to provide timely ration during the pandemic period which is very helpful for the survival of her family. After opening of stores with COVID guidelines Mrs. Yosoda is back to her regular business. But as many casual workers who bought regularly vegetables from her are limited in numbers as they have lost their jobs. She has earned approximately Rs. 1000 per day which is reduced to around Rs. 400 which put her family distress. Mrs. Yosoda is apprehending about future occurrence of COVID-19.

15. Case: 15- Mr. Nagen Kumar Sahoo who is thirty seven (37) years old running a restaurant named “Moon Light” in C.D.A. Sector-6. He belongs to a joint family of eleven members. During COVID-19 lock down his business was the worst affected as all the snacks items, sweets and beverages were destroyed. He also faced the damage of ingredients to produce foods. During his fifteen years’ experience Mr. Sahoo did not face such type of loss of business along with psychological pressure. His father Mr. Nanda Kishore Sahoo passed away during the COOVID period which gave a high shock to the family members. His father with dynamic personality guided him and his brothers who are engaged in the hotel management. During the pandemic Mr. Nagen has spent all the savings to manage household expenditures along with educational fees of children and medicine expenses of elderly family members.   Mr. Sahoo is very thankful to the Central and State Government to provide him loans from bank (UNION BANK) with the scope of repayment of EMI after 6 months moratorium period. As an employee welfare oriented person Mr. Sahoo contributed 50% of salary to his workers during the period of pandemic with the help of this loan along with house rent. He is also sharing that after the opening of restaurant by obeying COVID-19 guidelines his income gradually goes downward and the business runs with normal profit only. His welfare mentality has helped him at present for running the business with same staff who express their loyalty for the past help of Mr. Sahoo.    

16. Case: 16 – Mr. Nirmal Kanta Samal thirty one (31) years old is living at Bidanashi, Cuttack, Odisha. He has his own betel shop in CDA, sector-9 which was shut down during the lockdown period of Covid-19 pandemic. Mr. Samal belongs to a joint family of thirty two members and his father, uncles and elder brothers are engaged in different types of business like: hotel, variety store, beverage stall, grocery etc. During the period of complete lockdown all the employed persons remained jobless. At that time they spent their savings to fulfil the needs of family members such as: day to day requirements, medicine for elderly parents, educational fees of children etc.  Mr. Nirmal contributed approximately Rs.900 per day in normal situation. But after lockdown he has lost many customers like Mr. Jeetendra and Mr. Ali. His daily income is limited to Rs. 350 approximately. He is thankful to the Government for providing timely ration during the period of pandemic. Mr. Samal is a very optimistic people as he is hopeful to expand his business and increase his earnings. Now he is working hard with the hope of getting back his previous status.

17. Case: 17- Mr.Jeetendra Parida, aged thirty eight (38) lives in CDA, Cuttack, Odisha. He has a cosmetics shop in the market complex in CDA, sector-9. He runs the family of five members. During Covid-19 lockdown and shutdown period Mr. Parida has gone through a tough phase of his life. As belong to the middle class group he does not have any Government ration card facility. He has given rent of Rs. 7000, electricity charges of average Rs. 300 and monthly EMI for his closed shop. There was no source of earning, but occurrence of the normal necessary spending. Mr. Jeetendra has paid the monthly school fee of Rs. 6000 of his child who is studying in Standard-5 and Rs. 1000 for medicine of elderly parent. All the savings were being spent on the fulfilment of basic needs of life and Mr. Parida has borrowed money from his friends to run his family. Mr. Jeetendra again re-starts his business after lockdown period. But his earnings are limited with approximately Rs. 400 which was approximately Rs.1000 before pandemic. He shares his feelings that the most sufferers are the middle level people as they neither have the support of the Government aid nor are they financially very sound to bear the lockdown. Mr. Parida also shares that due to the advancement of technology many of his customers prefer online-shopping even nose-pin and rings which is a threat to his business. He is also expecting that the Corona virus may again become a threat to the people in some other shape as it is variable and mutant in nature.

18. Case: 18- Mr. Rakesh Jena who is twenty-one (21) years old is running a variety store, “Yoga Maya Variety Store”. After completing his 12th exam he has joined the family business. His native is Phulnakhara, Cuttack, Odisha. He belongs to a joint family which consists of eight members. Mr. Jena sells products like: biscuits, chocolates, cakes, mixtures, beverage, snacks, tea and coffee along with other FMCG products. During Covid lockdown and shutdown his business has suffered a great loss because the products remained in the closed store and there was also laps of the expiry date of many products. At the same time, Mr. Rakesh had to pay rent of the store and electricity charges also. During this period his elder brother has financially supported the family as he has the business of trucks. The savings of family members have almost exhausted for the survival during pandemic. Mr. Jena is very thankful to the Government for providing ration during the period of pandemic. In normal situation he earns approximately Rs. 800 per day which has reduced approximately to Rs. 300. It is very difficult to run the business in the normal profit zone, but Mr. Rakesh positively thinks that the things will be normal and he will again touch the previous range.

19. Case: 19- Mr. Vijaya Muduli, aged forty two (42) is living at C.D.A., Cuttack. .He belongs to a joint family of seven members. Mr. Muduli has twenty years of experience in his tailoring profession. During the period of COVID-19 pandemic he has lost his source of income and gone through a very tough phase of his life. It has been very difficult for him to arrange expenses related to medicine of elderly family members, education of children and other day-to-day needs. He is very thankful to the Government for providing ration and vaccination. After the second phase of pandemic Mr. Vijay has again engaged in his occupation, but the earning is very low as compared to the normal working days. He has to repay borrowings to his friends and relatives who have financially supported him during his bad days. It is very difficult for him to run his family along with borrowings. Mr Muduli suggests that if the Government provides finance in terms of short term loans with low interest rate or without interest it will be of immense help for him and the small scale entrepreneur.          

20. Case: 20 – Mrs. Shanti Lata Sahu thirty five (35) years old is living at Petanala, CDA, Cuttack. Her family means a son who is studying in class ten. Prior to the pandemic period she has worked as a maid servant in her locality and earned approximately Rs. 9,000 per month. But due to social isolation she has lost her job and managed her life with the scanty savings. She has not got the ration facilities due to lack of ration card. After the over of pandemic restrictions Mrs. Sahu has not back to her profession and worked as a floweriest. She collects flowers from the contactor and sells those to customers. She monthly earns approximately Rs. 5000. It is very difficult for her to manage expenses related to her medicines and education of her son and to pay off the borrowings she has made in pandemic.

21. Case: 21 – Mr. Narendra Kumar Sahu forty three (43) years old is living in Alisha Bazar Cuttack. He belongs to a joint family of eight members living in Nayagarh. He has a sweet stall in Sector-6, CDA, Cuttack. He lives with his wife and two children. Mr. Sahu has twenty years of experience in this business. He provides employment to four persons who are helping him in this sweet stall. During pandemic his sweet stall has closed, but he has to provide assistance to his employees. He has managed his family expenses with savings and some borrowings. His family members living in Nayagarh have benefited with the Government’s scheme of provision of ration and Kalia Yojana etc., Mr. Narendra again comes back to his business after the second phase of COVID-19 and shares that his profit margin is low as compared to the normal days. Because, there is increase in price of sweets and namkins and people are willing to buy less. He is also apprehending that the pandemic may appear in future to put the people in trouble.  

22. Case: 22 – Mr. Bhagirathi Bai, aged forty seven (47) is living at C.D.A, Cuttack. His family consists of four members. His younger son is studying in college and elder son has completed his study. Mr. Bai has fifteen years of experience in his profession of driving. During COVID-19 due to the social isolation he suffered a lot as he does not have any other source of income. He has managed his household expenses along with the education fees within his scanty savings and borrowings from his friends and relatives. After the release of lockdown and shut down period Mr. Bhagirathi has started his journey, but his present monthly income has reduced approximately to Rs, 15,000 from Rs, Rs, 35,000. It is very difficult for him to manage all his family expenses and pay off borrowings. He suggests that if the education fees would be relaxed or reduced during COVID period it would be very helpful for the parents. Mr. Bai is very thankful to the government for the provision of vaccination and timely ration.

23. Case: 23 – Mr.Subas Chandra Mohanty, aged fifty two years belongs to Nayagarh District. But he is living at Krushak Bazar, Cuttack for his profession. He belongs to a joint family of eight members. Mr. Mohanty has faced the same problem like Mr. Bai. It was very difficult for him to arrange educational fees of his children along with household expenses. As there is not any other source of income he has managed all his expenses within his limited savings and out of these he has to contribute to his family members residing in his village.. His daughter is a science student and her tutorial expenses are very high. Therefore, Mr. Mohanty suggests that it would be helpful for all parents if the Government has schemes for exemption of education fees during pandemic. Mr. Mohanty is thankful to the government for timely ration and vaccination. He has expressed his views that the Covid virus is unique in nature and there is every possibility of recurrence.       

24. Case-24: Mr. Sana kalia, aged thirty years resides in Bidanashi. Cuttack with his family. He and his brother are running a tea stall in market complex of Sector-9, CDA. His tea and snacks items are very famous in this area. Both youngsters and elderly people make crowd in his tea stall in morning and evening. During COVID-19 pandemic due to shut-down and lock-down he had to close his stall and become unemployed completely. In that phase he and his family members suffered a lot. He had spent his scanty savings and borrowed from relatives. Even after over of the second phase of pandemic due to isolation people have maintained distance and very few people came to him which hampered his business. Mr. Sana has also stated that many of his regular customers give order of parcel of tea and snacks. Hence, the third phase has covered by him and he is fully vaccinated, but still it will take time to cover his losses. While talking, tears rolled down his cheeks that he expressed about the sad demise of his mother during Covid period.

25. Case: 25- Mr. Purna Chandra Singh (49) and his associate Mr. Kalia (35) are running a grocery store, “Chadi Variety Store” in CDA, Cuttack. They belong to a joint family consists of eight members. During COVID-19 the grocery shop was opened, but it was very risky for them to sell products to customers along with maintaining social distance. Mr. Singh states that as there was the fear of spread of the virus, it was really a great challenge for them to manage crowd of customers. As compared to normal time selling of products during pandemic was very time consuming as there was the maintenance of distance. He has to suffer a little bit loss during the complete shutdown and lockdown period. He has to pay rent, education fee of children and normal household expenses. He has also faced a threat to online shopping with added feature of home delivery.

26. Case: 26- Mr. Kala Majhi (50) and his associate Padan Behera (55) are living at Bakharabad, Cuttack, Odisha. Both the friends are fisher men and continuing their parental business of selling of fish for the last many years. During the period of pandemic they have suffered a lot. As they belong to the lower income group and they do not have much savings they have to borrow money to run their house hold expenses. At that time they were completely dependent upon the Government ration scheme. After the overcome of that period the business is running well, but it is also difficult for them to manage the lives with the little amount of money after paying off a lion’s share of income on the redemption of borrowings.

27. Case-27: Mr Bharat Kumar Sethi who is forty years old is working as a technician in installation and repairmen of cooking gas. He belongs to a joint family of sixteen members who are residing in Kendrapda. Mr. Bharat is now staying at CDA with his associate, Swayam Prakas Prusty (nineteen years old) for his profession. Mr. Swayam works as a trainee and gains practical knowledge from Mr. Sethi. During COVID lockdown period Mr. Prusty was working in Delhi. Due to shut down he had lost his job and faced very difficulties while return to his native. He was hungry for two days as no hotel was open and he even did not get medicine for his ill health due to the exhaustion. Another fear was to be infected if he did not maintain proper social distance. It was again difficult for him to enter his village. He was completely down by socially and psychologically. Life after COVID runs well. He has to repay borrowings and manage his family to put it up. Because during pandemic period he has suffered from financial crises and now he is trying to uplift his family. Different waves differently ruin down both Mr. Prusty and Mr. Sethi. And now another wave is knocking the door. They have a view that the pandemic will never be vanished from the earth. It will come by different shapes and names.  But both are fully vaccinated and keep a strong thought that if they are properly follow COVID guidelines they will protect themselves from the virus.       

28. Case: 28- Mr. Kumar Behera who is thirty years old is living at Bidanashi Cuttack. His family consists of four members. He is selling the Cuttack famous “DahiBada”, Aludum and Ghuguni along with Idle. He is engaged in this business when he was twenty years old. During COVID-19 lockdown and shut down he has lost his income completely as there was restrictions on shops. At that time he has to pay the tuition fee and school fee of his children which was very difficult to manage. To run house hold expenses Mr. Behera has to borrow money from his relatives which he has repaid after the re-occupancy of his business.

29. Case: 29- Mr. Rohit Kumar Rout, who is fifty years old belongs to a joint family of ten members. He lives in CDA, Cuttack. He runs a shop at Lord Jaganath temple in CDA locality and sells fruits and other worshiping articles to the devotees from morning till night. His wife and daughter help him particularly in festive occasions. The people who come to him are very pleased with his behaviour. During pandemic he has to stop his shop as per the Government order and to manage the family he has selected an alternative way of only selling fruits to the general customers as the temple was closed. But this scanty income could not be sufficient to manage his family. So he has to borrow from his relatives to meet the educational expenses of children and day-to-day expenses. However, as the normal time prevailed Mr. Rout has tried to repay the loans in easy instalments.

30. Case: 30-Mr. Budhiram Rout, aged forty six (46) has started a variety store just prior to the first phase of COVID-19. He belongs to a joint family of ten members which consists of elderly brothers and sister in-laws, four children who are reading and his wife who helps him in his business. His store has been shut down during complete lockdown period and he was able to run the shop when there was relaxation of lockdown for a certain period. But Mr. Rout could not get the desired income due to shortage of customers who occasionally visited the shop only for essential commodities. He was with fear in his mind that the customers were maintaining distance, but still there was fear of infection of Corona virus. He is thankful to the Government for vaccination and provision of timely ration. Eve in third phase the business was running with reasonable selling of commodities. At present he is satisfied that he is fulfilling the needs of his customers and thereby managing his family well.

31. Case: 31- Mr. Debadutta Biswal (42), the organizer and Mr. Jaga (38) are managing the functional activities of Sri Rama Nigamasware Temple, Chahata, Cuttack along with their associates Mr. Pankaj Sahoo (64), Mr. Harmon Barik (52), Mr. Shankar Barik (54), Mr. Nityanda Das (58) and the pictures of all the members are given above. Mr. Bansidhar Das (48) & Mr Raichandan Das (75) are managing kitchen (Rosa Sala) in the temple. They take orders for parties and functions like: marriage, birthday, thread ceremony, and other family functions and prepare “Prasad”. They with their team members prepare food and serve both in afternoon and evening on the basis of orders. There is also a daily meal system for persons who visit the temple and take Prasad. During complete lockdown period the temples were closed and restrictions imposed on functional activities. At that time it was very difficult for them to run their family. They have borrowed money from their relatives and friends. Now life becomes normal, but due to increase in the prices of vegetables it is also difficult for them to satisfy the customers. They have shared their sorrow feelings that they have lost one of their co-ordinator, Mr. Sanjay Kumar Barik (Litu Bhae) who is a man of empathy became prey to second phase of COVID-19. The picture of Mr. Sanjay Kumar Barik is presented below.

Conclusion

This face-to-face interview reveals the difficulties and crisis these people have faced during pandemic. The Covid-19 has made “haves and have not” in the same zone of isolation and causalities. The interviewees are very common people of society and they perceive that the Corona virus will never be vanished permanently and it may spread again and again as these are different from other virus like: chickenpox, smallpox and Tuberculosis. They have also given a strong message to the society in a simple manner that this virus may change its shape from time to time and therefore, we have to follow the precautionary measures among which the most important is to use mask, sanitizer and all be fully vaccinated. Hence, this piece of study is dedicated to all Covid warriors.

References

Case 1- Mr. Pankaj Sahu ((12/12/2021), Odisha Case 2- Mr. Shikhar Panda (12/12/2021), Odisha Case 3- Mantu Behera (20/12/2021), Odisha Case 4- Mr. Ali (22/12/21), Odisha Case 5- Mr. MD Asraf (22/12/21), Odisha Case 6- Mr. Alam (28/12/21), Odisha Case 7- Mr. Uttam Biswas (03/01/22) Case 8- Mr. Jitu (03/01/22), Odisha Case 9- Mr. Manjur Layak (15/01/22), Odisha Case 10- Mr. Ashok Kumar Senapati (21/01/22) Odisha, Case 11- Mr. Somanath Das (22/01/22), Odisha Case 12- Mr. Govinda Behera (02/02/22), Odisha Case 13- Mr. Bikram Sahu (15/o2/22), Odisha Case 14- Mrs. Yosoda Rout (23/02/22), Odisha Case 15- Mr. Nagen Kumar Sahoo (23/02/22), Odisha Case 16- Mr. Nirmal Kanta Samal (03/03/22), Odisha Case 17- Mr.Jeetendra Parida (05/03/22), Odisha Case 18- Mr. Rakesh Jena (04/05/22), Odisha Case 19- Mr. Vijaya Muduli (04/05/22), Odisha Case 20- Mrs. Shanti Lata Sahu (03/06/22), Odisha Case 21- Mr. Narendra Kumar Sahu (04/08/22), Odisha Case 22- Mr. Bhagirathi Bai (10/09/22), Odisha Case 23- Mr.Subas Chandra Mohanty (10/09/22), Odisha Case 24- Mr. Sana kalia (05/10/22), Odisha Case 25- Mr. Purna Chandra Singh (02/11/22), Odisha Case 26- Mr. Kala Majhi (05/11/22), Odisha Case 27- Mr. Bharat Sethi (07/11/22), Odisha Case 28- Mr. Kumar Behera (12/11/22), Odisha Case 29- Mr. Rohit Kumar Rout (02/12/22), Odisha Case 30- Mr. Budhiram Rout (02/12/22), Odisha Case-31- Mr. Debadutta Biswal (30/12/22), Odisha

Copyright

Copyright © 2023 Dr. Debajani Palai, Mr. Ramesha Chandra Palai. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.