Till a fortnight back, customers used to crowd around R. Ganapathy anna’s push cart near Central vegetable market at Mattuthavani to gorge on tasty food, says S. Gayathri, a regular customer. “Steaming hot idlis and dosas are served with different varieties of chutneys. They were as good as home-cooked food and available even till 3 p.m.,” she says.
But, since the announcement of the 21-day lockdown, Mr. Ganapathy is without work and the only source of income for his family has stopped. “The past few days has been challenging to run my family of six with no source of income. We used to prepare food to feed the hungry, but now we are forced to ration the remaining foodgrains,” he says.
Like Mr. Ganapathy, hundreds of push cart food vendors across the city, who depend on their daily earnings to run their families, are deeply impacted because of the lockdown. The push cart eateries are integral to Madurai’s food scene. These eateries, which are very affordable, help to feed hundreds of migrant labourers, bachelors and daily-wage earners.
For J.S. Vimal, who sells idlis every evening at Tirunagar and earns ₹300 a day, the loss of earnings would affect his payment of college tuition fee. “Because of the lockdown, the houses where my mother works as a domestic help said they would not pay her for the next month. We are feeding ourselves with commodities distributed through public distribution shops. But I do not know how I will pay my tuition fee once the college reopens,” he says.
Syed Jamal, who sells biriyani near Mariamman Teppakulam, says that the current crisis has forced him to borrow from local vendors, thus increasing his total debt. “We understand the gravity of the current crisis and hence will not set up shops as we protect ourselves and others, following the disease outbreak,” he says.
But, the push-cart vendors will recover after the crisis, as they have always learned to remain positive, says Koil Kani, who sells vadas at S.S. Colony. “Uncertainty is part of our business and through the years we have learned the skill of sailing through it,” he says.
