Ruma, owner of a small shop, survived her days in lockdown by spending money she had saved during the last seven years for her daughter’s marriage.
She is one of the thousands of small shopkeepers who earned their living by selling tea, coffee, biscuits, cigarettes, and the like to office goers and others on the streets of Dhaka. But she could not open her shop in the three months of lockdown from March 26.
For 18 long years, Ruma has carried her shop on a small van on different roads of Mohammadpur in the capital. She came to Dhaka from Bhola when she was only 14 years old. Her family became penniless due to river erosion as their house was washed away by the river. Ruma also lost her two elder sisters in the floods.
Also Read- The man who survived lockdown by selling his autorickshaw
Ruma was saying all this while making a cup of tea for this correspondent. Asked about her full name, she said: “You can choose anything from Begum to Akhter because the only name I have is Ruma. But I prefer Begum.”
“I have three children. The lockdown period for us was almost like the time when we lost everything due to river erosion.
“My husband and I survived the period by spending the money we saved for the last seven years. Otherwise, we would have starved to death along with our children,” she said.
‘Covid-19 is a rich man’s disease’
“The storm can be seen with your eyes but Covid-19 is a danger that cannot be seen. It’s a rich man’s disease. Poor people like us do not go to hospitals, we don’t even wash our hands every few minutes,” Ruma continued.
During this conversation, Ruma served 2-3 people. “We used to sell products worth Tk5,000-6,000 every day before the pandemic arrived. Now we can’t even sell products amounting to Tk2,000.
Along with her husband, she manages the shop from 9am till 10pm every day. Her 13-year-old daughter helps her to take care of her six-month-old and her shop after finishing school-work. Her other child — a son — is a third-grader.
Ruma said: “Our business was doing well for the last five years, we earned a good profit. Our primary target is to provide good education for our children and then I will marry off my daughter — I saved money for that, working day and night.
“But all that money is now gone as we could not open our shop for a single day during the lockdown.”
On top of all this chaos in her life, she still owes three months’ rent. Her house rent is Tk8,000. She said the rent is a little on the higher side as she wants her children to grow up in a moderately good environment.
In addition, she spends Tk3,000 per month for her children’s education, while the money spent on food is around Tk10,000. She also sends money to her in-laws every month.
“People who are loved by God are sent to earth as poor people. He does not afflict them with diseases like Covid-19,” Ruma commented.
“I’ll marry my daughter off when she is 18 but I may not be able to get her married to a good man if I can’t save enough money.
“I still have a few more years but now I’m unable to gather money to buy goods for my business,” she lamented.
She continued: “We did not receive any relief material from the government. As I carry myself in a somewhat polite manner, I can’t walk around the streets asking for rice or money.”
“I couldn’t even buy TCB’s rice or anything because I was registered as a voter from my village home,” Ruma said, as she became busy with another customer.