COVID19 has changed the way we all work. For more than 2 months straight, the entire nation was under lockdown. During this time, some were working from home, some were waiting for the lockdown to end. There are also people, who lost their valuable job to this widespread Coronavirus!
This COVID19 situation has affected the lives of each and every person in the country. Mumbai is the lifeline of the country for centuries. In its age of existence, Mumbai has witnessed a lot of ups and downs. When there was a widespread plague across the world in 1896, half Mumbai got empty out of either fear or death.
Union Leader
JR Bhosale (79) is a six-decade-old veteran with Mumbai Railways. During his career, he has witnessed the world’s largest recorded industrial action a 20 days strike of Railways. And a 24-Hour stoppage of railways due to bomb blasts in 2006!
However, due to this COVID situation, Mumbai Railway is on halt for more than 2 months now. No one even knows when it will start! Because it’s impossible to maintain a safe distance in locals.
Banker
Commercial Head of RBL Bank Ltd. Vincent Valladares (48) was traveling daily to his office in Central Mumbai. His main challenge during the lockdown was getting flagged down by police while traveling and multiple changes in policies by RBI in this period. They were working tirelessly for people, while there was no business coming up!
Food Delivery Guy
Nitin Sawant (32) is one of the world-famous Mumbai Dabbawallas. They’re delivering food to officegoers since 1890. He speaks about this situation,
“People of this city never sat at home even after bomb blasts, riots, floods. “Now they will be scared. Many may not resume the tiffin service fearing the risk of infection.
Till now more than 5000 dabbawallas have returned to their villages. They’re in a no mood to return back to Mumbai by Diwali 2020.
Maid
Kalima Mujawar (29) is one of the thousands of Maid serving lakhs of households in the city. Due to lockdown, she like many other maids have lost her job. Currently, only one household is paying her salary! She says,
“Even after the lockdown lifts it doesn’t seem like people will want maids to visit their houses for the rest of the year.”
Stock Broker
However, Whole-time Director at Arihant Capital Market, Anita Gandhi (56) sees a lot of opportunities during the COVID era. In March & April, new 1.2 million stock-trading accounts were opened with Central Depository Services (India) Ltd. While the score was 900,000 in the first two months of the year. On this situation, Gandhi says,
“Those who are tech-savvy realized that this is another way money can be made. They started to see investing in the market as a good alternate income stream.”
Actor
A theater and screen actor, Alistar Bennis (24) is also looking for an alternate career. Bollywood has come to a standstill because of this COVID situation. Although the government has given permission for shooting, there are a lot of restrictions!
“The spirit of Mumbai seems very dead if you wander the streets at night. People in business are frowning, shops are closing, but if you take a step and talk to people, they will say: ‘I know a guy, who knows a guy, who will get your job done.'”
We hope this spirit of Mumbai rejuvenates soon and we see again Happy people and a Happy Life!
