Key Points :
- Gaurav Vasan, the food blogger posted a video of an old man wiping his tears was received with thousands of retweets and likes.
- After several appeals made by the social media influencers including Gaurav and Vasundhara Tankha on Instagram and Twitter respectively Baba Ka Dhaba gains huge number of customers and overwhelming love and support from all of them .
- Many celebrities took it to their social media handles asking for the exact address and contact of the old man i. e Kanta Prasad in order to financially help him.
Within hours, visuals of the old man wiping his tears was received with thousands of retweets and likes. Many people on social media offered to help this old couple financially and others announced and suggested plans for lunch and dinners at Baba Ka Dhaba.
In south Delhi, an elderly couple sells delicious home-cooked meals from a tiny startup known as THE BABA KA DHABA , making just enough to buy for the next day’s menu or not even that sufficient. They have done this for 30 long years.
Last night, the story of their struggle and the hardships they faced in the coronavirus crisis went viral, moving thousands of people, including youtubers , social media influencers , celebrities like Sonam Kapoor too, cricketers and even companies.
This all started with an Instagram post and a late night tweet.
Vasundhara Tankha Sharma posted a video by a food blogger featuring the couple and said it “completely broke my heart”. She urged the people of Delhi to “please, please go eat at Baba ka Dhaba in Malviya Nagar”.By morning, “Baba Ka Dhaba” was among the top trends on Twitter. And a constant crowd of customers could be seen at this little food stall.
In the video posted by blogger Gaurav Vasan yesterday had shot the hardships and pitiful situation around this 80-year-old Kanta Prasad and his wife Badami Devi who shared their story where they usually started cooking at 6.30 am and were ready with the day’s meal by 9.30 am. Dal, curry, parathas and rice were kept in large dishes to be sold for around ₹ 30-50 a plate.
Kanta Prasad, in an orange t-shirt and a mask hanging from his face, ran a ladle through what looked like mouthwatering dal , matar-paneer and white rice.
When the blogger asked Kanta Prasad how much he had earned, he broke down and produced a few ₹ 10 notes from a box. He mentioned it as the scraps they have earned after hours of relentless hard work.
The while scenario was about how they hardly ever made huge profits, but the pandemic has been devastating for their little enterprise. The couple also mentioned that they get no help from their children – two sons and a daughter.
Within few hours, the pictures and a heart-breaking emotional video of the old man wiping his tears racked up thousands of retweets and likes. Among those who tweeted are actor Sonam Kapoor, cricketer R Ashwin, IPL team Delhi Capitals and food delivery app Zomato.
After an overwhelming support Kanta Prasad received, he beamed at the queues at his stand. “It feels like the whole of India is with us,” he told news agency ANI.
It could be seen people posing in front of the dhaba holding up placards with the address. Contributions poured in for “uncle and aunty”.
Whereas, there was a heartwarming comment on one post that said,
“I am sure today #BabaKaDhaba will have more visitors than any other restaurant in Delhi. I don’t know about the money, but Baba will definitely need a waiter this week.”
Along with Gaurav Vasan, whose video was the turning point , the NDTV team was present there too at the time of such a positive effect and opinion social media had created where they were told by Kanta Prasad that ,
“When I came here yesterday I had goosebumps listening to their plight. They had earned barely ₹ 70 the entire day. They had come at 6:30 am to set up the shop and had spent ₹ 500 but even after lunchtime they had earned only ₹ 70. So I decided to record and share the video to help them. I am overwhelmed with the kind of support that he has received since then. It is great that there are so many people who want to help this man struggling due to poverty,” he told NDTV.
In the time of such a crucial and difficult situation this pandemic , its rare of how social media brought a smile to these old faces.
