LAD NONGKREM: Iba Kurkalang is in the second year of BA (English) in Nongthymmai College but the lockdown has changed everything. With no college now, Kurkalang is helping her parents in farming and selling the farm produce.
On Monday, Kurkalang was selling organic bananas, cauliflowers and other items at Lad Nongkrem on the outskirts of the city.
“These items are from our garden in Laitlum and no chemical has been used even for ripening the fruits,” she said.
Kurkalang usually comes out on days when markets and retailers are allowed but “the fruits were already ripe and I needed to sell them today”, she said as she desperately tried to get buyers. She even agreed to reduce the price when two customers came to buy bananas and vegetables.
It was beyond 4 pm when this reporter met Kurkalang and the local market was empty.
But she was adamant to stay for some more time.
“These are perishable goods and I did not make much money today. So I have to wait for customers and sell these items,” she added.
Business is tepid, she admitted, adding that hiring a taxi to reach Nongkrem from Laitlum is expensive and sometimes unaffordable, “especially when there is no profit now”.
A major part of the family’s farm produce is being “wasted” because of lack of buyers during lockdown.
Her parents are farmers and now she too has joined them “because we are poor and we need to survive”.
On tourism in Laitlum, Kurkalang said it has completely shut down and locals are incurring losses.