Ram Pal from Gonda in Uttar Pradesh has decided to stay put in Delhi at least for the time being. The owner of the restaurant he works for has suspended wages but is providing food to the workers.
“It [providing food] is better than nothing...what pay will we get when we are not working at all?” he said.
Many of his friends had left the city out of fear. Also, they were out of work and running out of money. But Ram thinks it is a bad idea to leave the Capital. “Some people who left yesterday [Saturday] and that too on some expensive bus tickets have only reached Lucknow till now...that’s only half way home,” he explained. Besides this, the task of getting to Anand Vihar bus station itself is difficult, he said.
“They are all now in the middle of nowhere without food or water..at least here there is a roof over our heads and some food,” he said. “Now there is another friend who says he wants to go home but we are telling him to stay put,” he added.
Besides this, Ram is also concerned about transmitting the virus to the people in his village. “What if I take it [virus] to my village and give it to people there...if I fall sick here at least I can stay in the room, there might be some facility,” he added.
While he doesn’t mind staying on for a little while, he isn’t sure how long he would be able to sustain.” If this is just for twenty days or may be a month, I can stay on for sure...but if it goes beyond that I will have to leave,” he said, insisting that he had to be with his family who are already quite tensed.
“I don’t want to stay in Delhi for too long anyway,” said Ram, who was collecting money to eventually return home and fix up his house. “When my family used to live here I liked this place. But now I don’t,” he said. However, he believes that the restaurant will start functioning soon.
