Girdhari Lal said: “I have not seen something like this in my lifetime. I have many customers who would come to me for twice or thrice in a week to eat halva. I will also have tourists. But now local customers are also not coming. So sometimes, when I am left with Halva at closing of the stall, and then I try to call some of my permanent customers and request them to buy the remaining halva. Most of them buy it from me due to our personal relations of years but still it is very tough time for all of us. I don’t know when it would end and normal business will resume.”
The famous ‘Kesar Da Dhaba’ in the narrow lanes of the walled city in Amritsar was closed for two weeks last month after becoming part of containment zone. The kitchen fires have been lit again at the dhaba, but customers are a rare sight.
“Whenever anyone comes, we ask them to sanitise their hands and then we sanitise the table. We again sanitise table when customers are done eating. But not many customers have been coming. We are not sure when it is going to be normal. We have been selling online, but overall sales have been impacted,” said Ramesh, owner of Kesar Dhaba.
In normal times, customers would struggle to find a table at the Kulcha Land, the famous Amritsari Kulcha makers in Ranjit Avenue. However, things are different now. Half the tables have been removed to maintain social distancing, and still the occupancy is not 100 per cent.
“Our Kulcha is famous in the world but now the world cannot come to us due to coronavirus. I have reduced my workforce to half as most of them have gone back to their villages. I think this year is already wasted and we hope that we will start recovering from next year,” said owner Pawandeep Singh.
“We are left with 25 per cent of our business. Tourists are not coming. School and colleges are closed so students are not coming. Our labourers had gone to their home states through Sharamik trains and now they are also not able to return due to unavailability of trains,” said Mohinderpal Thakur, owner of Gian Di Lassi.
“Our business will improve only if Delhi will recover from the coronavirus because only then airports will open and tourists will be allowed to come from the other states and countries. Most of our business comes from tourists and they are not coming to the city right now. I don’t think government can do much to help us,” said Ashawani Vaid, manager Bharavan Da Dhaba, another famous food joint in the walled city.
Another stall owner, Surinder, added:”It’s very difficult to change food habits but coronavirus has shown that fear of death can overpower the love for food. I have been selling puri and aaloo-cholay for last 20 years. It is a kind of breakfast for many locals and shopkeepers in the walled city. They cannot live without it. But now very few people come. Some of my customers told me that they would again start eating after coronavirus is over.
Harjeet Singh, owner, Makhan Fish, blamed the government policy for adding to their woes.He said: “I do not understand what government wants to do. It has allowed buses to run with at least 60 passengers each. But government has permitted only 50 persons that too in restaurant of at least 5,000 sq feet. Do you find any logic behind these two parameters related to Covid-19? Also there are orders that shops should be shut down by 8.30 pm when it is time for people to start coming out of their homes to have dinner outside.”
Dr.Gurdeep Kaur
Associate Professor
Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College
University of Delhi
