Covid-19 update: Neighbours think I can bring coronavirus to colony, says Delhi pharmacist

Coronavirus update: Immediately after reaching his workplace, which is barely 2km away, Ganpati Pharmacy, the 40-year-old, with other staff members, first arranges the shelves and then ties a rope on both the gates of the pharmacy to ensure social distancing from the customers

The eerie silence in East Delhi’s Trilokpuri locality is punctured by the sound of a man cycling to work.

Coronavirus update: While everyone in the city is staying indoors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Dinesh Kumar Yadav comes in direct or indirect contact with around 400 to 500 people daily. (HT Photo)

Dinesh Kumar Yadav, who works at a pharmacy in East Delhi’s Vasundhra Enclave, cycles through the empty streets of his locality to report for duty everyday at 10am.

Although his family members and neighbours are staying home in view of the 21-day lockdown announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to contain the spread of Covid-19, Yadav doesn’t have that luxury. He says he is among ‘frontline soldiers’ in the battle against the virus and hence has to step out.

Immediately after reaching his workplace, which is barely 2km away, Ganpati Pharmacy, the 40-year-old, with other staff members, first arranges the shelves and then ties a rope on both the gates of the pharmacy to ensure social distancing from the customers. “We are not sure about the rules and regulations on how we should operate amid the outbreak. So, we have created our own rules. We have put cartons and tied ropes on both the entry-exit gates of the pharmacy. We also wear masks and gloves all the time,” he said.

While everyone in the city is staying indoors due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Yadav comes in direct or indirect contact with around 400 to 500 people daily “When Prime Minister Modi announced the 21-day lockdown on Tuesday, my wife had asked me if I can also take leaves from work. I told her that if people like me stop working, many will not get medicines and die due to other diseases. We are among the frontline soldiers working despite the lockdown. We have to continue serving the people,” he said.

By noon on Saturday, Yadav had already attended to around 250 people. Every time a customer came, Yadav took the order from the other side of the rope. He put the packets carrying medicines on cartons placed at the gates and asks the customer to keep the money or card for payment there as well. He finally manages to take a quick lunch break around 2pm, before resuming work. Whatever little time he gets in between attending his customers, he manages to squeeze in a call or two home to check on his family.

“There is no spare time at work these days. It’s not that we are getting more than the usual number of customers. The queues seem longer before customers standing outside are to ensure social distancing among themselves. We have drawn circles at a distance of one metre from each other outside the pharmacy for them (the customers). We have to keep checking that no one is stepping out of those circles,” he said.

Yadav, a native of Uttar Pradesh’s Allahabad, said that in the last few days he has noticed some changes in the attitude of his customers and neighbours towards him. “Many customers start shouting at us when we tell them that we are not getting fresh stock of some medicine due to the lockdown. We do not have sanitisers in stock for the last few days, and we receive at least 200 customers everyday asking for sanitisers. However, there are still some who thanks us for counting to work in the lockdown.”

He said that some neighbours have also started greeting him with taunts. “They think I am continuing the work in the lockdown out of greed. They also think that I can bring the virus to the colony,” he said.

At around 8:30pm, he wraps up his work and leaves for home. Since the last ten days, Yadav says he has been trying to maintain a ‘social distance’ with his wife and two daughters (6 and 9-year-olds) in their one-room rented accommodation in Trilokpuri. He maintains a distance of at least one metre with the family members at all times he is at home. “We have only a one room set. I do not have any other option but to live there with the family. However, I take all precautions. I do not enter the house without washing my hands. After entering I immediately take a shower and change my clothes,” he said.

The family then have dinner and watch TV for a while. Yadav goes to sleep by 11:30 pm. “Every night before going to sleep, I thank god that I have not developed any symptom of the virus yet despite stepping out of home,” he said.