“Welcome, sir! Would you like a pair of slippers? I do have all varieties of slippers for you. Most of my customers seem to prefer flip flops but they aren’t available in the market these days. I buy these chappals from the Hanumanpet wholesale market and sell them here. My day starts at 7 in the morning. By 9 a.m., I get my stock arranged and work till 7 p.m. Earlier, I used to sell shoes and chappal near the Benz circle main road but now because of the COVID 19 protocols, I was asked to relocate my stall here at Ajit Singh Nagar.
I grew up in Kurnool in a small agricultural family. I had never gone to school, to be honest. I used to work in farmlands for livelihood while my wife would take care of household chores. Life moved on and over time we had three daughters. But things slowly changed from bad to worse as we suffered huge losses and my younger daughter’s health started to deteriorate completely when she was in class 10. The doctor’s adjudged that her cardiovascular functioning is failing and she needs treatment immediately. That’s when I decided that I would do everything in my power to get her out of this situation. I started to work extra shifts by doing odd jobs after the agricultural work. We had to shift her to a multi-specialty hospital in the town and by god’s grace, we were able to save her from the danger. But that wasn’t a full stop for our problems. I was asked to leave my work the next day because of some issues with the landlord and I had no backing at that time. It was an earth-shattering moment for me I had three young daughters to look after and no financial assistance from my family. I was all alone and heartbroken. Eventually, I gathered some courage and decided to start something on my own in life. That’s when I moved to Vijayawada to start a shoe business on my own.
It’s been more than 20 years now and with the help of friends and relatives, we were able to settle here in Vijayawada. I had managed to get my older daughter married a few years ago and the only thing I hold on to in life is the fact that my daughters are doing well in their lives!”
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