After Delhi’s Baba ka Dhaba, comes Agra’s ‘kanji-wada’

Let’s hail this with a smiling ‘hmm’: social media has arrived in a big way, influencing opinion, and in some ways, helping people with their livelihood.

Some days back netizens united and helped an elderly couple whose roadside stall ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ in Delhi’s Malviya Nagar had almost been shut following COVID-induced lockdown. Kanta Prasad and his wife Badami Devi were in tears – yet they never dreamt what their destiny had in store for them.

A social media activist made their video viral, and behold, the next day, ‘Baba Ka Dhaba’ had a flood of customers – many buying the simple fare of ‘dal-chapati-rice-vegetable’ and others clicking the busy couple. Their video too went viral.

There is yet another story of an old man running a ‘kaanji wada’ stall in Agra who lost his earnings due to the pandemic.

An Instagram user recently shared a clip of the 90-year-old man selling his stuff in the City of Taj for 40 years. The post had it that the pandemic had forced his daily earning to crash to only Rs 250-Rs 300, making it difficult for him to make ends meet.

The Instagram user shared the video of the man, gave his exact location and asked her followers to help him. “My kanji wada wale uncle. He has been selling kanji wadas for almost 40 years and as of today, he is 90 years old. Because of this pandemic, he gets to earn only 250-300 in a day (sic),” the caption read.

Related news: #BabaKadhaba: A post that made an elderly couple smile

While sharing his exact location, she wrote, “His stall is in Professors Colony, Kamla Nagar, Agra, near Desire Bakery. I’ve been here earlier also and I hope you guys also come here, eat and help him as much as you can. You’ll find him here every day, from 5:30pm (sic).”

Netizens now hope the ‘kanji wada uncle’ would get the same patronage as ‘Baba ka Dhaba’ soon.

As a business corollary, the Baba Ka Dhaba has now been listed on Zomato for food delivery.