Selling tea, masks, fish: How children are trying to help families recover

The past one-and-a-half years have been incredibly trying for everyone, but it has been even more so for children. The pandemic has uprooted lives. Among the worst-hit are kids from needy homes, many of whom are being forced to abandon studies and work, or juggle the two.

He picked up kettle to sell tea, may have to drop books

Subhan Shaikh (15) knows nothing about the pandemic’s global impact on the economy. But he knows all too well how it has left his family in penury. These days, he sells tea at scrap shops in Chor Bazaar from 8am till noon, and from 5pm to 8pm. His father abandoned the family when Subhan was three. Before the pandemic, Subhan’s mother worked on school buses, chaperoning kids. She earned Rs 7,000 a month. Now, online school has left her jobless. So Subhan had to pick up the kettle to sell tea his mother prepares at their tiny home near Byculla railway quarters. It earns them Rs 300 on a good day.