The COVID-19 pandemic has affected everyone and among all the worst affected are the street vendors and small business owners who are struggling to make ends meet. Such is the case with this 80-year-old couple who were otherwise living a humble life by selling food by the street in Malviya Nagar opposite to a Hanuman Mandir for thirty years. They would earn their daily bread and butter by selling food on the street like chapattis, rice and different types of curries but amid the pandemic with people not leaving their homes and vendors not being allowed to continue with their business, they have been heavily impacted. The video, urging people to support local businesses, was shared by Twitter user, and it soon went viral.
The video was originally shared by a Facebook page called Swad Official and shows the 80-year-old couple selling matar paneer among other things at their stall. The Twitter video shows the elderly couple crying as the man recording urges them to stay calm. According to the footage, the couple have been working at the stall since 1988. The person then reveals that the couple, who runs Baba Ka Dhaba, have not been able to sell food, he also goes on to show the dish they made which looks delectable. He then discloses the location of the stall and asks people to visit them. After the video was shared, it instantly went viral on Twitter and managed to garner more than 1.7 million views. Netizens retweeted the video in large numbers and urged people of Delhi to not just go and support the elderly couple’s business, but also all the local businesses in their areas. Even Bollywood celebrities like Randeep Hooda, Raveena Tandon, Suniel Shetty, Swara Bhasker, Sonam Kapoor, and R. Ashwin.