Fly Kouzina

‘Reopening Our Restaurant Needed Courage & Caution’

Saurabh Jalan (36), a restaurateur in Kolkata, used the lockdown period to set new safety and hygiene standards in place. When Unlock 1.0 came, Jalan was ready to reboot

I own three restaurants in Kolkata and have been in this business for last five years. The business was running smoothly till Coronavirus pandemic struck. People in Kolkata love adda (loosely, a hangout buzzing with debates and discussion), and long social meetings are an inherent part of the city’s culture. Coronavirus and the ensuing lockdown brought an abrupt end to this.

The hospitality sector has been the worst hit and we didn’t know what the future would hold for all of us. The first lockdown had been announced so suddenly that many of our employees were not able to go back to their home towns in other states, especially our housekeeping staff and chefs etc. on duty that night. The first thing we did was to tell them not to panic and keep their morale high. We provided them shelter in the restaurant itself and took care of their needs to make them feel they were not alone in this crisis.

Realising that the pandemic will change the way we would socialise in future, we trained our staff to set new hygiene and sanitation standards in place.

ALSO READ: ‘How I Turned (Dining) Tables On Lockdown’

I then sat with my partners to draw a plan to provide food to the needy. It had twin purpose: we served our society and also kept our employees engaged in work. Every day, we sent out around 1,000-1,500 food packets. We thus we got better equipped against Covid-19. When the Unlock 1.0 was announced, we were cautious but ready to be back in business.

Our patrons’ safety was paramount. So we kept only one of the three restaurants fully functional while other two were turned into take-away or home delivery setups. The dining in facility was kept limited to our veg multi-cuisine restaurant called Fly Kouzina (Kolkata’s first airline-themed restaurant in Salt Lake area).

I would be lying if I said we are not scared. But we have a solid team which brainstorms every morning about how to make things safer, more hygienic and yet enjoyable for both customers and employees.

Saurabh Jalan (middle) at his restaurant

There are paper envelopes for guests to keep their masks while they are eating. We share the menu via WhatsApp so there is minimum need to touch anything except the food we eat. If customers want to order food from their cars parked outside, we make sure we provide them with as good a service as we do inside the restaurant.

ALSO READ: ‘Some Work From Home, I Workout From Home’

The surfaces are regularly sanitized. Excessive care is taken in keeping the washrooms sanitized after every single use. We also take out the time to address each and every query the guests might have related to our preparation against Covid-19.

Based on our experience on Fly Kouzina, we hope to open our other two restaurants pretty soon. Both the public as well as restaurant owners are showing courage with caution. Each day brings with itself new challenges and newer solutions to keep the fight against Covid-19 going.

We have only about 30-40 people coming in to our restaurant every day but we hope things will begin to pick up slowly. Flying is still very risky but people can get a little feel of travel at our airline-themed restaurant.

Chinese In India

‘We Chinese Are Like Marwaris, We Value Business’

Alfred Lee, 50, a hotelier at Puri of Chinese origin, says Chinese people are businesspersons who don’t bother much about what’s happening on the international front. For him, Puri is the most beautiful place on the planet

We Chinese, are more like the Gujaratis or the Marwaris. We are attached to our roots and language but we also have a very sharp insight and ability to settle anywhere in the world if it makes business sense. Thus, you can find Chinese immigrants running businesses everywhere in the world.

I will refrain from commenting on the current relationship between India and China as this is a sensitive issue. All I can tell you is that I am a proud Indian with a Chinese origin; so is my extended family in other parts of the world. There is no place like Puri in the entire world to live. It is the most beautiful place on the planet. It is my home.

ALSO READ: India China Standoff Will Linger On

During the British rule, people who lived in Hong Kong did business in India freely as there was no need of passports back then. Most of these Chinese nationals had business links with Kolkata via Hong Kong. The earliest Chinese settlers in India are those who came to Kolkata to do business and never returned. Many of my extended family members are in Canada doing the business but we chose to stay in India. 

Our family’s story is really beautiful. From Kolkata, my grandfather migrated to Puri and started a little eatery. He learnt the local language and mingled with the local people. We later shifted to a better place and now apart from running the most popular Chinese restaurant in Puri, we have a 32-room hotel. The Odiya people never treated us as outsiders as there was never a language barrier between us.

WATCH: ‘I Will Not Stock Chinese Products’

All of my family, including the youngest one, speak very fluent Odiya. Our mother tongue is Cantonese, which we speak within the family but our second language is Odiya. We can also speak English and Hindi fluently which is required for our business. 

Every Chinese living in India or Hongkong or Singapore has two names – a Chinese name and a local name. The local name is easy to pronounce and helps us communicate better. So my local name is Alfred Lee, while my Chinese name is Lee Chung Hsing. This is how generations of Chinese people have worked – they aren’t much bothered about what’s going on the international front between India and China and other countries.

You can find Chinatown or Little China where a number of Chinese business people live in many of the large western cities like New York, Chicago, Toronto and others. This is the spirit of the people with Chinese origin. They are somewhat religious and do business very precisely. Our focus is on growing our business across the globe.

Zumba

‘Some Work From Home, I Workout From Home’

Pranjali Bhu, 29, a Jaipur-based Zumba instructor, did not stop sweating even when all fitness centres had to close down due to Covid-19 pandemic. Her story

I was always inclined towards dancing since childhood; I even hold a degree in Kathak. But Zumba caught my attention seven years back, in 2013, when I was overweight and was trying every possible workout. For me, Zumba worked wonders as I shed 20 kg. This played a key role in finding my sweet spot in Zumba. I got training and then got myself licensed to become a professional Zumba instructor.

I am licensed multiple forms of Zumba, such as toning, aqua, strong, core, glute training and more. I started taking Zumba classes six year ago with my studio in Jaipur, Abhikalp Dance and Fitness Studio. 

The classes had to be paused as Covid-19 started seeping into our lives and fitness centres had to down shutters. But fitness does not know any bounds. Just like any entrepreneur would do, I decided to talk to my students if they would like to ‘workout from home’ along with ‘work from home’.

ALSO READ: ‘How I Turned (Dining) Tables On Lockdown’

Their zeal to do it online was infectious. It enthused me, and without much ado, I started the online session on Zoom, immediately after the lockdown was announced. Earlier it was a party in the studio, and now it’s a virtual party. In terms of challenges, for some specific classes, people do not have special equipment at home. So, I made them use water bottles and towels, easily available at every house, for strength training classes.

To my surprise, the students are just loving virtual classes as they loved studio classes. 

Amidst such a pandemic, it is really important to keep ourselves fit, both physically and mentally. And that is why my students are loving the idea of virtual classes. Just like a studio, we also talk and discuss besides doing Zumba sessions. Sometimes, it is about diet, sometimes about forms of Zumba, sometimes it’s just motivation and other wellbeing practices.

ALSO READ: ‘Creating Jobs, Making Profit Amid Covid-19’

Since the lockdown, I do two batches a day, and the number of students are growing. Each batch has 20-25 women. Earlier my classes had women from Jaipur, now there are students from Gurugram, Mumbai, Chennai, Indonesia, and London. It is really good to see the growing awareness of fitness amongst women.  No matter how busy they are, the students also take out time for my classes regularly and that is motivating.

The Covid-19 had put a spotlight on how people have begun to feel stressed and unhealthy. Some of the common Coronavirus-related concerns are irregular dietary habits leading to higher calorie consumption, body aches due to long sitting hours, mental stress, depression, anxiety and so on. The ‘immunity’ is playing a major role in this situation as well. This is now the time when people should make fitness a lifestyle.

‘Class 10 & 12 Students Staring At Uncertain Future’

Swapnil Pal, who gave Class 10 board exams in March, is anxious about his future but lauds the role of teachers for continuing to take (online) classes. Pal says these teachers are also Corona warriors

I just gave my Class 10 Boards and what a year it has been. Everyone except Class 10 and Class 12 students have their regular online classes going on and yet the students of these two classes are staring at an uncertain future. Our education is on hold for the time being. The only semblance of certainty and structure in our education right now comes from the online Engineering coaching classes conducted by an institute called Scholar’s Den.

Even though we have adapted to online classes now, there’s a certain feeling of learning in classroom. One learns while having fun with friends. The engineering entrance syllabus is quite a handful and friends help one break the monotony. Also, there is a sense of camaraderie. Now we are all studying alone in our homes.

ALSO READ: ‘Anxiety In Students, But Online Mischiefs Continue’

We are around 60 students in one class and classes are conducted through Zoom. Every day around 1.5 GB data gets used to attend the classes and the rest for assignments. Only a little data is left if one wants to play games or watch videos. Our classes are conducted between 3 pm to 8 pm and in the mornings we are supposed to complete our assignments given in these classes.

The teachers are also getting used to new ways of teaching. Many of them are still themselves learning about handling technology perfectly. A few days ago our one and half hours Inorganic Chemistry class got cancelled because of a technical glitch. One didn’t when the glitch would be solved so we didn’t really know what to do. Then other problems occur too, like user id and password not matching when tests are about to happen. I was locked out of a test recently because it happened with me. I wish I had been able to take that test, but it is ok, one needs to be prepared for unforeseen circumstances and glitches in these times.

ALSO READ: ‘Few Smartphones, So We Used SMS, Voice Data’

The group feeling isn’t there, that we are all preparing for these exams together, but we make up for it by sometimes calling each other when we get time between classes and assignments. I divide my time between topics wisely and make sure to ask questions if we don’t understand anything. We have something known as DCC (Doubt Clearing Classes) everyday in breaks between online classes and we are encouraged to clarify the minutest of our doubts before moving on to the next chapter or topic. That’s something that has helped us students a lot. While studying on my own also I ask myself if I have really understood the topic and can explain it to someone else easily.

I don’t know when schools will reopen and we will be able to get admissions in Class 11, but I am sure of one thing that our education won’t stop. There are so many people working to set things straight, especially we see news of so many teachers working dedicatedly. Teachers can also be called corona warriors. They are fighting to keep ignorance at bay and are fighting to keep hope in the future alive.

Boycott China

Watch – ‘I Will Never Stock Or Sell Chinese Ware Hereto’

With blood of 20 soldiers on China hands, the call to boycott Chinese products finds favour with common Indians. LokMarg speaks to a cross-section of people from shopkeepers to working professionals, who display a growing anti-China sentiment in the country

Yoga

‘Online Yoga Helped People Keep Calm Amid Lockdown’

Poonam Singh, a Yoga instructor from New Delhi, had to suspend her classes after the virus outbreak. However, with help from her son, she launched online sessions to beat the lockdown blues

I have been teaching Yoga since 2006, and I have taught Yoga across groups, from pregnant women at hospitals, the elderly, even children. As co-founder of Yog Manthan, I wish to take Yoga to the masses across forums.

Then in March, due to the Coronavirus pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns, I had to suspend my classes.  However, it also made most entrepreneurs adapt and improvise their operations. My 23-year-old son suggested that I should get going with online classes. With his help, I set up an online yoga class platform; within a week after Holi my sessions were back on track.

ALSO READ: ‘How I Turned The Tables On Lockdown’

I must disclose that many women approached me that lockdown was getting to their nerves and they needed Yoga classes to see through the stay-indoors period. There are news reports that domestic discords are on the rise; people are on a short fuse. So I consider yoga classes as my contribution to the fight against Coronavirus.

I teach two online batches during weekdays hold meditation and chanting sessions on weekends. For the classes, I use Google Duo which allows 12 people at a time while on weekends I use Zoom which can accommodate larger groups.

One added benefit of online classes is that earlier people who couldn’t drive and come to my classes early morning to take classes can now do it from the comforts of their home. However, it is difficult to teach people the exact correct poses online if they are going wrong posture wise. It is said:  Sadhe to Yog, nahi to jeevan bhar ka rog (If one is able to do it well, Yoga is super-beneficial, but wrong postures can negate these benefits).

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In the pre-corona world I could simply walk over to the student and ask them to maybe straighten their backs a little more or to lift their chin up correctly or breathe correctly. But I take really good care and watch my students carefully and teach them the current postures. I wish we can go back to real-life classes because in Yoga the guru-shishya parampara is very important, one needs to have complete faith in the guru’s teachings.

You would be surprised to know that my own two kids haven’t learnt Yoga from me. And I don’t believe in forcing them. Force karna Yog nahi hai (You can’t force someone to practise Yoga). Learn Yoga only if you are truly inspired to learn it, for it requires consistency and self-discipline.

And I would also like to mention here when personal hygiene is being given paramount importance in these pandemic situation, that Yoga has something known as Shat karma (six actions) that focus on hygiene before any asanas are done. These process cleanse our respiratory and internal systems. As the International Yoga day approaches on June 21, I would urge people to take a deep breath and think about reaping the benefits that Yoga provides, be it offline or online. Even after the whole thing subsides and we can get back to teaching Yoga normally to large groups of people, I don’t think I will stop taking online classes. It has its own merits.

Online Classes

‘Anxiety In Students, But Online Mischiefs Continue’

Parth Kamra, a Class 12 student in Delhi, says even though there is worry among students about their term, Coronavirus hasn’t been able to stop classroom mischiefs

Currently, I am in Class 12 studying Commerce and our batch is right in the middle of major confusion and uncertainty caused by Coronavirus. There is much anxiety over the fate of our term amid the reopening of schools. Yet, neither our education nor our mischief has stopped. Be the classroom real or virtual, children always find ways to pull a trick or two and keep the class in high spirits.

Our generation is so adept at technology that we find solutions to almost anything. Our teachers recognise this. They say: “Beta, we might not be as good as you when it comes to technology but we are getting there, slowly and steadily. Every day, we are reading and learning more about online classes.”

Meanwhile, until the teachers manage to keep up the pace with students when it comes to technology, we hear so many funny stories all around. One of my classmates told me how she recently managed to attend the classes of another school using their password for Zoom (a web meeting zone). Once inside the (virtual) classroom, she had a little fun with the female teacher conducting the class, by asking her a series of silly questions and taking her by surprise. Before the lady teacher could realise the reality, my friend left the class. Poof!

ALSO READ: ‘We Used Voice Data For e-Classes’

Right after the first lockdown was announced in March, our teachers used to teach us using the Google Classroom app and we simply used to take notes. Later, we shifted to classes on Zoom but it took at least four days to get things right. The students were quicker to find their way around Zoom. A few of us would simply split their screen and use social media on one side while the teacher would be teaching.

Some would simply put the teacher on mute or would just log in their attendance and go away. Some would keep changing their usernames so that the teacher wouldn’t know who is who. So one day the teacher would find that none other than “Narendra Modi” was attending her classes while on other days there would be Katrina Kaif in the classroom.

ALSO READ: ‘Online Classes, Pubg… Lockdown Is Cool’

In the last case, the teacher figured out and shifted the classes to Google Meet (another web meeting application). Her, one cannot just make up any username and one can login only by using valid email IDs.

However, our tuition classes still run on Zoom, and students are having fun there. The teacher there too has disabled chats and one can send messages only to the teacher for getting one’s queries cleared.

While most of us are having fun, we haven’t lost touch with the real situation ahead of us. We hope our schools reopen soon after the summer vacations end. Interacting in real life is always way more interesting and fun than in the online world.

Janta Delivery

‘Creating Jobs, Making Profit & Keeping People Safe’

Shiv Bansal, 25, a finance professional in Bengaluru, went to Siliguri to look after his parents when Covid-19 struck. In a week, he launched a start-up

I was born and brought up in Siliguri, West Bengal. But after my honours graduation from Shri Ram College of Commerce, Delhi University, I took up a job in Bengaluru with an investment bank. When the Covid-19 broke out and a lockdown was imposed, I lost no time in travelling to my native place to see my parents are not inconvenienced during this crisis; both are above 60.

I had been asked to work from home, and therefore Siliguri was as good as Bengaluru with the help of an internet network. Being at home for three days during the lockdown, I realised that procuring essential groceries was a difficult task in towns like Siliguri.

This happened when my parents asked me to get groceries from the local kirana store. Used to online delivery apps, I looked for home delivery services in my location on the Internet but, to my surprise, I couldn’t find any.

ALSO READ:  ‘How I Turned (Dining) Tables On Lockdown’

I made a list of things to buy and went to the local grocery store. There I found myself surrounded by a small crowd of buyers who had laid seize to the small shop, completely defeating the purpose of social distancing and putting the buyers at a contagion risk.

This is where the idea of a hyperlocal home delivery system popped up in my head. I searched the internet and news sites to find out that multiple delivery agents in Siliguri had been dealing with unemployment due to reduced food orders. Many were contemplating going back to their villages. 

This is where I saw an opportunity. The skilled manpower was available and so was the demand for home delivery. I only needed to setup a network with logistics. I seized the moment.

I pulled together a five-member team and sorted out operations. I named this start-up Janta Delivery, a hyperlocal doorstep service that would take care of the last-mile logistics of groceries and other essentials.

ALSO READ: ‘My Kids Turned Chefs During Lockdown’

In small towns, the network of kirana stores is very strong. People have confidence in the quality of products supplied by their selected stores in their locality. Hence, to source our supply we collaborated with a few famous stores of the town who had the goodwill of the residents here in terms of the quality.

The model is quite simple. Customers place their order by sending a WhatsApp text on a number (+91-76022-50045, in our case) or through our website. Once the order is received, it is sent to the respective store and our team coordinates with them for order preparation. Once the order is prepared, the nearest delivery agent is informed to pick up the order along with the bill and pays for it upfront.

The agent then reaches the customer, hands over the bill made by the network store, receives the payment along with a ₹50 delivery charge and hands over the ordered items to the customer. All the coordination is done over phone calls or Whatsapp texts. 

We are currently doing more than 40 orders per day. We expect this to increase as the word spreads and those who wish to stay indoors during the pandemic join our customers list. The best part is I can handle the team along with my assigned work-from-home assignments.

No, so far I have not thought about any future plans once the things return to normal. But, right now my team is focused on keeping the current operations smooth so that we can meet the needs of people in Siliguri and keep them safe. The work is monetarily rewarding as well as fulfilling. My aspiration in life is to use my skills and experience to solve problems that improve people’s lives. I love plugging existing gaps to build sustainable solutions.

Smartphones

‘Few Smartphones, So We Used Voice Data For e-Class’

Anuj Agarwal, the principal of a government inter college in Uttar Pradesh, says not all his students had smartphones at home. So, he devised new ways to conduct e-classes

I have been in the teaching profession for nearly 12 years now and I wish to take education to the outermost fringes of society. I teach Social Sciences and English, and I want to impart knowledge to anyone who is curious and dedicated. However, when the Coronavirus struck and schools, colleges were shut down, it acted as a sudden dampener to my purpose.

Our government college, at Manpur in Moradabad, was established recently as the first inter college in the area. We were in the middle of fine-tuning paraphernalia when the virus outbreak happened. Since it was such an unprecedented crisis, it took us some time to figure things out.

Most of our students come from underprivileged background who either do not have smartphones or cannot buy expensive data plans. Nor could we allow them to huddle around a single smartphone for classes because of social distancing norms. We therefore realised we needed to innovate to be able to continue teaching them via distance learning methods.

ALSO READ: ‘Teaching My Daughter In Lockdown’

You will be surprised with what solutions small-town India can come up with to overcome hurdles. Video calls hog data. So we decided to break down school curriculum chapters into smaller topics, and then converted them into voice data.

Next, we disseminated the same chapters via various mediums. To explain some subjects, we made videos on the topic and put them up on public platform like YouTube. We ensured these videos were of short-duration. Those who had access to a basic smartphone and a basic data plan, could opt for the video format.

For those who could not access videos on their phone, we made small audio clips of a few minutes each. These audio clips were sent through both WhatsApp and as normal voice recordings. We also used standard SMS services to send written material. This didn’t require any internet connection or downloading.

Plus, we told our students that we were available on call to clarify any doubt they might have on a particular topic. It’s ok if a student can’t see us, at least they can hear us and learn. So basically we prepared the same knowledge into different formats.

Agarwal believes teachers also learn from students.

What prepared me for this was the fact that I had been a part of both Skill India and Digital India programmes of the government. Thus, I understood the technical aspects of e-learning.

ALSO READ: ‘Online Classes, Pubg And Web Series…’

Our students have classes from 8 am to 2 pm. We have around 60 students in our college and seven-eight teachers, and we keep brainstorming about how we can make learning more accessible. Since I serve as both the Principal as well as the Social Sciences teacher, I ensure that the children can come up to me regarding any query they have about the subject. I have kept some time aside to answer their queries related to Coronavirus or any other important social issues. Many a time students surprise me with their ideas. Some of them who have access to smart phones at times send us some interesting links and we learn from them.

Thankfully the electricity situation in UP has improved so the students face no problem in keeping their phones charged for classes.

A lot of people are currently praising the Kerala government’s idea of taking education to children who don’t have access to internet through television, but very few know that the HRD ministry had already taken this initiative like SWAYAM Prabha.

For many years (2008-2014), I was involved in teaching children of manual scavengers. Teaching is a deeply fulfilling task and Coronavirus has taught us the importance of being well-informed and adaptive in the face of uncertainty.