“This lockdown forced us to starve to death” – Jaanvi’s father

9 year old Jaanvi resident of Gulzar Nagar in Lucknow has been visiting shelter home since May, 2021 so as to arrange food for her family under the ‘Khichdi Dhaba’ initiative, which aims at providing food to those who were unable to arrange food for themselves and their family due to covid-19 lockdown. Jaanvi shares, “पापा टेंट हाउस में लेबरी का काम करते थे जबसे कोरोना हुआ उनका काम बंद हो गया। अब खाने के लिए पैसे नहीं हैं तो यहाँ से लेने आ जाते हैं।” Jaanvi is second born amongst her three sisters and her mother is differently able; her father also has some difficulty in his leg as a result of which he cannot do work which requires extensive physical labor. He used to work as a laborer at a tent house, however when covid-19 wreaked its havoc his only source of wage was lost. Now he does not get daily wage labor work easily and whenever he is fortunate enough to get work, the money earned is utilized in incurring other household expenses. Jaanvi’s father says “अगर ये खिचड़ी ढाबा न होता तो हो सकता है हमारी भूखों मरने की नौबत आ जाती। अभी इससे कम से कम परिवार को भरपेट भोजन तो मिल जाता है।”