Queue For Meal Lengthens: Jobless And Elderly Wait For A Handout

It was one of those days when Kunal Tewari woke up in his one-room tenement at Sion Koliwada and found he had no work. The lockdown has reduced him from a cable TV technician to a handyman on daily wages. His monthly income has dwindled from Rs 15,000 to about one-third.

- Sunil Nair

The ‘kholi’ he shares with three others costs Rs 1,000 in rent every month. He picks recyclable waste, cleans toilets, sweeps the parks, doing anything that will take care of meals and incidental expenses. But today the 36-year-old migrant has to cover the 2-km distance from Koliwada to Aurora Theatre on foot and wait for the food truck to arrive.

The cherry-red BEST minibus comes to a halt in the parking space opposite the defunct cinema hall at high noon. A couple of young men dressed to look like office staff step out and ask the stragglers to form a line. Someone inside begins handing out the ‘puri bhaaji’ packets. Women are allowed an extra pack or two for their children. Kunal asks for an additional one, but is denied. He walks away, softly growling about the unfairness of it.