Malda (West Bengal): Amid the surfacing of 'MBA Chaiwala' fame across India, two engineers from West Bengal's Malda district have started weaving their dream of self-sustenance along a similar pattern.
Alamgir Khan and Rahul Ali, both former students at Gani Khan Choudhury Institute of Engineering and Technology, Malda and residents of Kaliachak, kickstarted their tea-stall 'BTech Cha Wala' at Jhaljhalia area of the city on January 1.
The cold, January-morning opening took place without much ado on Tuesday, as the duo opened their shop, assisted by a third pair of hands from a common friend. While Khan holds a B.Tech degree, Ali has completed a Diploma in Computer Engineering. In a conversation with ETV Bharat, Alamgir noted his ordeal, explaining the whys and hows behind the move.
“First I did the certificate and diploma course from GKCIET. Then BTech in Mechanical Engineering from a private engineering college in Kolkata. The journey was very difficult for me. At one time, we had to stage agitations to GKCIET for the certificate. When I eventually got the certificate, I was too old. I got several job offers after passing BTech. But all were in the range of Rs 12,000-20,000 per month, that too in other states.
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"Recently I got a job offer of Rs 12,000 in an organisation in Rajkot. But it was impossible for me to go and work in Rajkot with this much money. In the meantime, we got to know of MBA Chai Wala in this state. We got inspiration from him, so the two of us also opened a tea shop," Khan said.
"There are almost no government-run factories in the state. The few factories that operate at the moment are all privately owned and have very limited openings. There is a vast over-supply, almost every other street is lined with engineers. The companies very much look to hire three engineers at a total cost of Rs 30,000 than providing the same amount to a single one. Almost 47 percent engineers across the country are unemployed at the moment," he observed.
In Ali's words, meanwhile, uncertainty and lack of economic prospects were the main catalysts behind the drive which produced 'BTech Cha Wala'. “In 2017, we both passed Diploma in Engineering from GKCIET. There was a problem there with the B.Tech curriculum. My studies abruptly stopped due to financial constraints" he said.
The final push, the former says, arrived at a job camp organised at a polytechnic college a few days back, where 'no one offered more than Rs 10,000-11,000 of monthly salary'.
"I and Alamgir started thinking about opening a tea shop. If MBA Chai Wala can succeed, so can we. We could not open that shop until now because of COVID. Finally, we rented this place and started that shop from January 1" Ali stated.
When asked about plans going forward, the duo detailed their plans to spread out operations. "For now, only a single type of tea is available. This will change very soon. We will be selling 15 to 17 different tea variants. Prices will range anywhere between Rs 5 and Rs 20 a cup" they said.
