"We're very happy, god has blessed us," Kanti Prasad said.
The elderly owners of Baba Ka Dhaba, a street-side food kiosk in Delhi, today made a fresh start after social media users helped pull them back from the utter destitution to which the COVID-19 lockdown had pushed them.
Eighty-year-old Kanti Prasad and his wife Badami Devi today inaugurated their brand-new restaurant in New Delhi's Malviya Nagar, the same locality where till a little over two months ago, they sold dal, curry, parathas, and rice at Rs30-50 a plate.
After decades of barely making ends meet, the couple was suddenly pushed off the edge by the lockdown during which their business plunged badly - their children, two sons and a daughter, have been of no help. So much so that when food blogger Gaurav Vasan spoke to them about their earnings one day in October, Mr Prasad broke down into tears showing a few Rs 10 notes as his day's collection.
Mr Vasan's video soon began spreading on social media, particularly Instagram and Twitter. It moved so many people that by the next day morning, the kiosk in Malviya Nagar was being thronged by Delhiites.
Today, all that social media support seemed to have fructified into something concrete as Mr Prasad and Ms Devi kickstart their new venture.
"We're very happy, god has blessed us. I want to thank people for their help. I appeal to them to visit my restaurant. We will serve Indian & Chinese cuisine here," Mr Prasad old ANI.