Photo by Nawami Gurung
Pradarshan Gurung is the Operations Manager and a delivery executive at Darjinc JHOLA. He rushed back home from Siliguri just a day before the national lockdown and has been ardently delivering essentials to households in Darjeeling ever since. He narrates his experiences to Simran Sharma:
I am originally a graduate in Hotel Management and was running another venture in Siliguri before all this started and I had to come back home to Darjeeling. The idea of JHOLA had already been conceived and fate had me become part of it.
The idea took the shape of a social venture as there were many people who could not come out of their houses during the lockdown. It was especially difficult for people who lived really far from town and households with older people. I feel happy that we were capable of helping them during such times.
Photo by Nawami Gurung
The pandemic has been a busy time and I’m really just focused on the deliveries as of now. From early morning, I have to take care of shopping and deliveries. The only day I get a little taste of rest is on Thursdays when the bazaar is closed and that too if there’s no delivery. Otherwise, all weekdays and even weekends are full. On such days, I like to stay home and take care of my dogs and my scooty.
My sister’s belief in this venture and her enthusiasm keeps pushing me to work hard. Even though I am from a different field, I am doing it to encourage and stand by my sister.
I mostly feel safe since Darjinc JHOLA takes all necessary precautions with its delivery executives and its partners. Moreover, there aren’t many cases in Darjeeling right now. When the lockdown first started, the Bazaar was mostly empty. As the procedure for unlocking the market has started, the town gets really crowded nowadays and there is no concept of social distancing. It’s the usual push and pulls from everywhere, I see people without masks and gloves dilly-dallying, and I don’t understand why they take it so lightly. This really disappoints me as those who are simply loafing around are putting the health of others, especially essential workers at risk.
I think we really do need to take the norms of social distancing and hygiene seriously if we are to get an upper hand at solving this problem. Even though the old normal is lucrative and we all miss it, at this point I would really discourage people crowding at the Bazaar without any essential purpose.
Darjinc and Mayukh Tea thank Pradarshan Gurung for his dedication and effort during this pandemic
DARJINC and MAYUKH TEA present Darjeeling COVID Heroes, a series to celebrate the unsung, often unnoticed heroes, who have truly served our community during this pandemic. Keep visiting this space for other such motivational and humane stories from the lockdown.