Sidewalk hawker sets an example for self-reliance

10-year-old Ravi has been enrolled in a government school in Ambawadi area. As schools are closed due to COVID-19 pandemic, he has more spare time to help hs grandmother in the business. However, the shut-down has impacted everybody and even this family is witnessing a slowdown in the business.

Ahmedabad:Thousands of workers and daily wagers live on sidewalks, at construction sites, or in slums in open plots on main roads in metropolitan cities like Ahmedabad. Ravi’s parents were one among those migrant labourers. Ravi Meda's parents came from Dahod to Ahmedabad in search of work. They used to do menial jobs or labour at various places. However, Ravi’s parents fell seriously ill and died while working on the city streets. Ravi was barely five years old then.

Now there was no way back to the village, so his grandmother decided to stay in the city and they made their home on the footpath near IIM-A. There are many such poor families who made this footpath their home - among them Ravi and his grandmother Bhanubahen.

Ravi has become a loving boy among people around and even staff from the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and Police, who routinely come here to remove the illegal structure, take care of this little boy. As the grandmother and boy are destitute, the staff members from authority let them do their little business.

Ravi has been enrolled in a government school in Ambawadi area. As schools are closed due to COVID-19 pandemic, he has more spare time to help hs grandmother in the business. However, the shut-down has impacted everybody and even this family is witnessing a slowdown in the business.

At such a young age Ravi has become like a grown-up. He is worried about how to survive and says maybe they will go to their village for a few months to survive.

However, he is confident about his future. He says he will come back to Ahmedabad once schools are open and business becomes usual. At such an age he understands the meaning of becoming self-reliant and hopeful of coming out of the crisis.

Just behind the wall of their make-shift home, is the prestigious institution of management and business administration studies, but on the footpath, this little boy is living the life of a real struggle and how to manage life and business as well.