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Camera: Sumit Badola & Zijah Sherwani
Video Editor: Prashant Chauhan
Probably for the first time, we are seeing countrywide implementation of ‘work from home’ thanks to the novel coronavirus pandemic. But not all have the privilege to work from home; the cabbies, for example. Their livelihood depends on driving strangers around, and since people are taking to social distancing, they say their daily earnings have plummeted by more than 50%.
Stutee Ghosh spoke to the cabbies to understand their fear, how the business is effected, how are they dealing with the situation, what they know about the virus, the precautions they are taking, etc.
Other cabbies said the same thing about their business being affected and for a change, it was easy finding cabbies to talk to as most of them were sitting idle just waiting for a ride.
We also asked them about the fear of getting the disease and if they would consider sitting at home.
Cabbies were well-informed about the precautions like washing hands frequently, not touching one’s face, using sanitizer, keeping a one-metre distance etc. Still, some did say they feel distinctly uncomfortable when a passenger coughs or sneezes.
We enquired about the WhatsApp forwards claiming all kinds of things to cure coronavirus: lemonade, cow dung, camphor, gau mutra, etc. But it seems none of the cabbies we spoke to are falling for fake news.
The sad reality is that people in the unorganised sector and others like our cabbies who can’t stay at home are the most vulnerable.
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