Chin has a mask, what are we afraid of ?
Jestha 26, Kathmandu. ’10 rupees, come on ‘Bal Krishna Dangal is calling customers at the Kalimati Fruit and Vegetable Market with spinach and rye greens in his hand. Customers come, some are brokered and taken at a lower price, others at a fixed price.
This is the scene seen in Kalimati on Monday morning. The mask worn by Bal Krishna has reached Chiundo. “Give me only 50 rupees,” said Bal Krishna, handing over six handfuls of spinach to the customer. Balakrishna gets up early in the morning and reaches Kalimati carrying vegetables. The vegetables have already been sold, otherwise he takes them back and returns home before 8 o’clock in the morning.”I have grown it in my own field. I buy it and sell it when I don’t have it,” said Bal Krishna. “I stayed there for six days a month after the logging, but I can’t do it all the time.”
Many traders like Balakrishna have started their own business. “Corona caused a lot of stress for a while, but not always with stress,” the traders say. Everyone is worried about income.How to survive if you don’t care about income to avoid disease? This is where the merchants ask questions. All traders know about Corona. Everyone knows that high security vigilance should be adopted. Many are wearing masks. A small number are also wearing gloves.Some have neither gloves nor masks on their faces. Even those who go to buy vegetables are walking smoothly. “I don’t think Corona should be aware of the compulsion to do business,” he said.
He remembers reaching for his mask. “It’s scary when other people come near you, but it’s not easy to do business,” he said, pointing to the mask in his chin.Upendra Karki, who is selling vegetables sitting next to Bal Krishna, is also wearing a mask. Upendra also knows that a mask should be worn to cover the nose and mouth. ‘I know, but, what to do, what to do, it falls down,’ says Upendra.Not everyone is as alert as Bal Krishna and Upendra. Some of them are walking wearing masks. “I woke up, I forgot the mask at home,” said a man who met the crowd at the vegetable market.
“In the beginning of the lockdown, we used to see if the police were wearing masks. Now it doesn’t matter,” said Bhola Yadav, a businessman. “We are also scared because of them.””I have come to wash my hands. I used to wear gloves till yesterday,” said Bhola. “I will never get rid of the mask. Everyone else will also wear it.”The driver and co-driver of the truck carrying the mask wear the same style as the trader. General information about corona infection has reached the public level. But some of the co-drivers in the middle of the crowd at the Kalimati market pretend to wear masks for others.”We are transporting vegetables like this every day. After unloading here, we will go,” said a young man who was unloading vegetables in a vehicle in Kalimati. “I wear a mask, but I don’t always wear it.”
During the conversation, he took out the mask from his pocket. Wearing a mask that reached as far as the nostrils, he went about his work. The driver of another mini-truck loaded with vegetables says he is embarrassed to wear a mask.”I slept at home for about a month after the lockdown started. I didn’t have to wear a mask until then,” he said.Most of the customers of Kalimati are also traders. Because of the wholesale market, traders arrive early in the morning to buy vegetables. The situation is similar for those traders. They are wearing masks.Many traders who reach Kalimati before dawn leave the masks at home. Some carry it in their pockets, while others carry it on their backs.Should we stay safe or not?Along with security, we were also interested in trade. He said trade had fallen sharply. They are worried that if they do not do business now, they will not be able to do business later.
Anuj Pandey says that the traders who bring and sell the farmers have to trade in the vegetable fields of the farmers so that they do not rot. He said that the farmers would not give their produce if they did not buy regularly.”A farmer sells to three people, I am one of the three,” says Anuj. “If I go today, the farmer’s vegetables are not sold.He said that he was running the business regularly as customers would not come without regular business. He said that trade has been declining in Kathmandu recently due to shortage of people.
Balakrishna also says that he is worried when business is not good. He says that he has to sell the vegetables brought from the field today. “It has to be sold today, it will rot tomorrow and it will spoil,” he said.Another trader Nuniram Magar also says that it is difficult to raise investment. The market, which came to a standstill after the Corona terror, has just started. He said that despite the increase in activities in Kalimati, the business was not happy.Despite the fear of losing business and corona.