“This business of flowers was passed down to me by my parents. I have been selling flowers for close to 2 decades now. This was where my parents had a stall and now it’s passed on to me. I am not welcome to set up my stall near temples since those places are already reserved by other flower vendors. My husband runs the nearby fruit stall and we start our day at 7 and go on till late at night. Since we have our shops right next to one another, we take turns to take a break in between and have our lunch. Surprisingly we had a good sale during the lockdown period since people came in search of quality vendors and purchased from us regularly. Now that there are flower vendors in every nook and corner of the city, the sales have come down. Whatever I purchase in a day needs to be sold on that same day else the entire lot goes to waste. Same with our fruit stall as well. Nowadays, vendors have become innovative in the sense, that they take these matador vans and go calling their wares in all the neighbourhoods. This has helped the people greatly as they don’t have to travel much for purchasing flowers when it is door delivered to you. But it does put people like us at a huge disadvantage. In rain and shine, we toil hard to make a living with this business of ours. Our son is currently studying B.com in a reputed college in a city and our only goal is to ensure that he settles into a good job and uplifts himself in society. Education is a very important tool for people like us if we want to grow and progress in life. With the rising cost of living, our income is also getting stretched thin and it is a hard life here. But we wake up each day and come here with the hope of a bright life for all of us.”