New Delhi: The world is still a better place to live in and it still has a lot of kind-hearted people. An old couple, Kanta Prasad and his wife were on the verge of going hungry because their small food stall, Baba Ka Dhaba in Delhi's Malviya Nagar area had run out of business and the COVID lockdown had hit them hard.
Kanta Prasad - Baba Ka Dhaba
It was a double whammy for this old couple. First the COVID lockdown and then hardly any customer at the shop because either most people are still indoors or because people are being careful avoiding eating out and more so in such roadside tea or food stalls.
But things completely changed for the better for this old couple. Help started pouring in from all quarters after a video of the couple facing tough times went viral. The story was picked up by several media houses and food bloggers and as the photos show, there are long queues outside the food stall and the couple are busy serving and feeding people.
The octogenarian couple have been running the stall since 1990 in this South Delhi locality.
Kanta Prasad and his wife's story is just one story. There will be so many Kanta Prasads across India who run small tea stalls or small business and now must be starving already or on the verge of starvation and disease.
The government does have a Street Vendors Act to protect the rights of urban street vendors and help them do their business with dignity and live respectable economically self-sufficient lives. The law has been in effect since 2014. But like most laws in the country, clearly very few people are aware of the Street Vendors Act.
Meanwhile, after the couple's video went viral and help poured in, social media is now flooded with positive messages about the power of social media and the fact that this medium when used properly can do more good than harm.
There are scores of stories where police have been able to prevent people from committing suicides because of social media posts and prompt action from police.
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