When Social Media trended “#BabaKaDhaba”
If you are active on social media, then you might have come across this story way before I am writing this feature.
This story of Baba Ka Dhaba that went viral a few days back touched my heart and I decided to write something for them.
In a world of chaos where elections and voting are held in the U.S. and Bihar while on the other hand scientists are trying to finalize a vaccine for THE VIRUS and we — the normal people are getting through one day to other. The lockdown was lifted and we caught up on our mundane lives pretty soon.
It was a pleasant phase, sitting at your couch and getting your work done in front of a laptop. Did you ever take a look at the streets and saw how difficult life had turned for the labour class? I am sure you might have seen at least one story of migrant labourers going on foot back to their village because of this pandemic.
It was a terrifying situation and still is. Social Media trended a whole lot of unnecessary things like “Dalgona Coffee” and “rasode mein kaun tha” so much that the show came back for a season 2 with the same cast!
But, it did something good too.
It is not long before when this tweet shared by Gaurav Vasan on Twitter on October 7 went viral overnight.
You can check the tweet here: https://twitter.com/gauravwasan08/status/1314028805556588544
The video showed how conditions worsened for this elderly 80-year-old couple due to the pandemic. A small shop named “Baba Ka Dhaba” in Malviya Nagar was unknown and lost until this video went viral in social media.
They sell home-cooked food to earn their living and the cost of each thali is Rs. 30 only! I can’t imagine having a thali that cheap!
But still, no one bought food from their dhaba in this pandemic and they made only a few bucks as you see in the video.
Within hours, verified accounts started sharing this video of the agony of the old couple and their difficult life. So many people started donating money across India and those who live in Delhi started visiting this dhaba to have lunch.
Akash Banerjee: https://twitter.com/TheDeshBhakt/status/1313894976703561728
Vasundhara Sharma: https://twitter.com/VasundharaTankh/status/1313881005179064320
Rahul Srivastav: https://twitter.com/upcoprahul/status/1314048286949478400
Pawan Khera: https://twitter.com/Pawankhera/status/1314136047232577536?s=20
Yasmin Kidwai: https://twitter.com/YasminKidwai/status/1314137674450522112?s=20
And so many more.
The response of this viral tweet was massive. There were donations up to 2 Lakh Rupees according to Navbharat Times.
The following night, Zomato made a tweet that they have started working with Baba Ka Dhaba for online deliveries.
Check out their tweet here: https://twitter.com/ZomatoIN/status/1314221017724641280?s=20
There was a long line of people wanting to taste the delicious homemade food of Baba Ka Dhaba.
Yahoo News shared this picture of the crowd at Baba ka Dhaba.
Despite the worsening conditions of the coronavirus pandemic, people turned up to the Dhaba which is a beautiful sign that humanity exists in some unimaginable ways and people care for each other in difficult times.
After this, I came across an article on October 28 where a Delhi Based Hospital performed cataract surgery on Kanta Prasad and his wife (owners of Baba Ka Dhaba) free after they heard about their devastating financial conditions.
Vasundhara who had shared their videos first tweeted this: https://twitter.com/VasundharaTankh/status/1320748232884940803
In an Indian Express article, Sharp Sight Eye Hospitals director, Dr Kamal Kapur said, “When our team saw their plight, we decided we had to do something about it,”.
In the same article of Indian Express, Prasad said, “Our economic condition is such that we could have never afforded cataract removal in this lifetime,”.
Source: Twitter
This is a popular example of people being kind to each other. There are so many couples like Kanta Prasad and his wife who struggle to live in India and in this lockdown, they have been hit even harder.
It is one of the million cases that came under the light because of social media. A place where random things go viral — it is safe to say that it is not brutal like television news where reporters and anchors shout at each other but bring genuine stories to light.
We can do little to help such people. So, I urge you to help people like them around you. Go and have food at their stall, it is a difficult time but if we can order food from big joints like KFC then we can also take precautions and have food at small stalls.