Tale From A Lost World

The pandemic has impacted our lives heavily. Many lives have lost. All economies across the world have got disrupted. But still, people have learned to adapt to a new-normal world. Here I’m going to share a story of how an old couple has changed their business after the lockdown.

There is an old couple, husband and wife, in their seventies, who used to sell cutlet fritters before the pandemic. They used to open their shop in the evening. A high percentage of their customers were the workers who used to return home from the office. Bengalis like to have fritters with puffed rice as their evening snack. The tiny garage-turned shop was a hit. They started their business selling vegetable fritters, but soon they diversified. They started selling chicken, prawn, and fish items. They used to attract a lot of customers. The establishment was almost ten years old. And to be honest, they were doing well.

But then the pandemic hit. Lockdown forced the couple to close their shop. However, post-lockdown, they didn’t open their fritter shop. They have started selling vegetables. Yes, they have turned their garage shop into a place where people can get potatoes, onions, garlic, and more. Interestingly, they don’t open their fritter shop in the evening. They open the vegetable shop in the morning; they don’t operate in the morning anymore. The idea is to sell fresh vegetables, possibly Covid-free, to the people. They have understood that they won’t get office-returnees like before. So the shift. Bengalis like to go to the market in the morning for the love of fresh vegetables. They wanted to tap into this notion.

This is a complete change. They used to sell by-products of vegetables and livestock, but now they sell vegetables only. It means people don’t prefer buying fritters because of safety issues. Now, most people buy packaged food. Streetside food has taken a hit because of the pandemic. The buying pattern of the people has changed.

But the Durga puja has changed the scenario completely. I saw people having fritters on the streetside. Hence, I would like to end this with a question- did the couple make the right choice by changing their product?