She Who Dares Wins

The initial 50 odd days of lockdown in India due to COVID19 was devastating to many people’s livelihood, especially to the skilled labor and daily wage workers who were left in the lurch, deserted by their employers. The reason could be indifference, greed, helplessness or lack of social responsibility.

Whatever help or arrangement came from the authorities was ill planned or utterly inadequate for the size of the mass caught in an unforeseen situation.

Hundreds of job losses were reported every day. The big businesses could continue their businesses by getting their employees to work from their homes. Some smaller companies and organisations offered to continue their businesses by paying reduced salaries to their employees. Some companies had to totally close down their businesses as they could not cope with the challenges of the lock-down.

There were heart rending stories of people driven to poverty, hunger, malnutrition and abject hopelessness and even suicides. 

But there were also many stories of the brave and lucky ones who did not succumb to the hopeless situation but found ways of eking out their livelihood, some in quite innovative ways.

This is the story of Sarada from Warangal, Telangana, India. Sarada was working as a software engineer in an IT company. She lost her job due to the economic downturn due to lockdown. Losing the job was a huge blow but she did not sulk in depression or lose her positive spirit. 

Considering the situation, she found selling vegetables was a viable solution for her and her parents. Though educated and fit enough to work in an IT company, she neither had any inferiority complex nor had any qualms about selling vegetables. It was the best solution for survival until the IT job market got better.

Her story became viral on the social media and an inspiration to many people who were caught in similar situations.

So far she has done well in her new endeavors of survival. I am quite sure with her grit and positive attitude, she will come out as a winner. Who knows, with her spirit of entrepreneurship, she could even turn out to be a very successful business owner. Wishing her the best of luck!

Source: https://english.sakshi.com/news/andhrapradesh/jobless-woman-sotware-engineer-selling-vegetables-livelihood-warangal-121914