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 medium84229111Subhan 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. medium84229145A student of Anjuman Islam School, CSMT, Subhan is set to begin class 9. But he’s not sure if he’ll find the time for classes. The one smartphone at home is shared by his sisters. Also, Subhan’s focus is on how to juggle his new job of selling tomatoes with selling tea. One of Subhan’s customers to whom he delivers tea had this to say: “In the one year that he’s getting me tea, I’ve seen him grow tall.” Well, he’s also grown in maturity, way beyond his years. medium84238073After dad died of Covid, 11-year-old joins mom to sell fish medium84229237 Until the pandemic broke out last year, 11-year-old Vaibhavi Khartamol’s home was a happy place. And then, in April last year, her father, who used to sell fish, died of Covid. Her mother, a home-maker until then, was forced to step out of their Dharavi home to sell fish. With the help of other fish-sellers, she is learning the ropes.But little Vaibhavi has sensed that her mother is lost in this unfamiliar world outside. So, the class 6 student of the BMC-run Sadhana Vidyalay, Sion, tags along. “I clean the fish and do the talking with customers ... ,” Vaibhavi says animatedly.Now, as online school has resumed, Vaibhavi is at the market from 8am to 10.30am, then she rushes home for virtual classes. Her younger sister gets ready with their only smartphone, while a relative from the neighbourhood lends her phone to Vaibhave to log into classes.These days with a ban on fishing, there is little fresh fish to sell. “My aai (mother) needs work. She hopes to find something,” says the girl.Dharavi's kabbadi player sells masks outside ground medium84230513Aishwarya Vijapurkar, an amateur kabaddi player from Dharavi, fears she’ll lose the game to this pandemic. These days, the 12-year-old sits outside the kabaddi ground to sell masks, garbage bags, cutlery items and other knick-knacks.Until last year’s lockdown, the family had a smooth life. Aishwarya’s father worked as a security guard on contract. But now, with offices shut, he has no job. So, Aishwarya has to be at their roadside stall right outside the ground where she plays kabaddi under the tutelage of a state-level player. medium84230528Aishwarya is up around 5am to go play kabaddi with other kids. By 8am, she is back to the ground to sell the household items while her father goes scouting for odd jobs. By 9.30am, Aishwarya rushes home. She and her sister, students of Our Lady of Good Counsel, Sion, take turns to use their dad’s cellphone for online class. After class, Aishwarya joins her father again to help him at the roadside “shop” .The girl says she is ready to work hard and study too. But she is very keen to put her best foot forward on the kabaddi ground and doesn’t want to lose. Time alone will tell if the girl will emerge victorious.Tea-seller dislikes work, is keen to resume school medium84230456Danish Khan has a boyish, warm smile. As warm as the tea he pours out of a flask into tiny white paper cups for customers. The 14-year-old, who looks younger than his years, had to stop school after the pandemic last year.His dad lost his job at a shoe-making company, where he earned Rs 15,000 a month. Now, the father takes up whatever comes his way at cottage industries around their Dharavi home, but there isn’t enough money that comes in. The teenager’s mother looks after his brothers aged two, five and seven. 84230477With little income to keep the home fires burning, Danish had no choice but to sell tea that his mother gives him in a flask. From 9am till noon, then again from 4pm until sundown, he does the rounds of Sion-Dharavi, calling out “chai, garam chai.” It fetches the family around Rs 300 a day.The parents want the boys to study, but the only smartphone in the family is used by the second son. Does Danish miss school? The pained look in his eyes is telling. “I don’t enjoy work,” he whispers. “I want to study.”9-year-old sells books all day, sits for e-class after work medium84233419Akshay Vijay knows that his “pappa is now with god”. But the nine-year-old has no clue how and when he died. Actually, the kid has little time to ponder over anything. Every day around 9am, he leaves home in Matunga (east) with his mother Sangeeta who sells lemons like her husband used to. Akshay then moves around the Dadar-Sion stretch, selling tissue paper packets and colouring books.The little fellow has learnt a thing or two about selling stuff. After all, he’s been doing this for almost a year now. Initially, during the pandemic, the family from Kathiawar in Gujarat faced hard times. With their only earning member no more, Sangeeta had to borrow for survival. She’s still repaying the debt.Amid all these hard lessons of real life, Akshay loves school. But earning for the family is top priority. So, the class 3 student of Matunga Hindu School mustered some courage and asked his teacher recently: “I have to work during online school timings. Will you help me with my studies?” The civic school teacher willingly obliged. Akshay now attends a special class in the evenings after he’s done with work.Untitled Carousel 84034580