ThePrint talks to a Delhi-based paanwala in light of Deb’s much-criticised ‘career advice’ for the jobless. While he’s proud of what he does, he wants a different life for his educated children.
New Delhi: Birbal Chaurasya, a paanwala based in Delhi, has a message for Tripura chief minister Biplab Deb: He took up the job out of necessity, but has bigger dreams for his children.
In a highly controversial statement last week, Deb had advised youngsters looking for a job to not waste their time, and either open a paan shop or take up dairy farming to build a bank balance. “Instead of running after political parties to get government jobs and wasting the vital time of their life, the same youth could have had a bank balance of Rs 5 lakh had they set up a paan shop,” Deb had said.
A paanwala’s story
Chaurasya ran away from his house in Pratapgarh, Uttar Pradesh, at the age of 12. He came to Delhi, and has since been selling paan at a stall on Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg.
“A man named Rajkishore Singh, who was from my area back home, sold paan two lanes behind these offices,” Chaurasya said, pointing to Express building. “He took me under his wing. At the time, paan was also the cheapest and easiest business to get into,” he added.
However, while this was his journey, he made sure his younger brother and children’s was different.
With Chaurasya’s help, his brother pursued LLB and LLM at the Banaras Hindu University, and today serves as a public prosecutor in Uttar Pradesh. Of Chaurasya’s three children, the eldest, a daughter, is a chartered accountant. His second daughter is a cost accountant, while his son is currently pursuing his graduate studies.
Chaurasya is proud of what he has achieved, but bristles at the idea of his children following in his footsteps.
“Why should my children run a paan shop? In my hometown, the parents would sell paan, but their kids became judges. You always have to see how far your steps can reach,” he told ThePrint.
“An uneducated man won’t get a government job and I am proud of the work I do. But my educated children shouldn’t have to do this,” he added.
Deb’s remarks had attracted ridicule and anger, with many accusing the Modi government of failing to deliver on his pre-poll promise of creating two crore jobs a year.
What’s in a job?
Chaurasya is among the lakhs who migrate to Delhi each year from rural areas, driven here by the dearth of employment opportunities back home.
“I slept on the streets outside this very Express building for many years,” he said, pointing to the building that stands opposite his stall. “Delhi was foreign to me then, and I lived a very tough life.”
Now, however, he says the choice worked out for him, affording him freedom to plan his day. “The people in the offices around work 16 hours a day. Despite fancy degrees and quality education, they still have to work like donkeys, sometimes even on Sundays. But I am so free that I can close my shop and leave whenever I want,” he added.
Chaurasya, who owns a house in Noida, has been to Ooty, Munnar, and Corbett on family trips. If he ever gets the chance to go abroad, “Mauritius will be the first place I go.”
“I worked hard. Tell your (chief) minister I am content and most of all, independent,” he said.
Family business (but only for some)
The paanwala is quick to point out, however, that one needs skill to survive in this profession too. “You have to know how to make paan that stands out, and that’s why customers tend to stay loyal to me,” he added.
Referring again to Deb’s remarks, he said selling paan – a job that requires the seller to fashion the delicacy with his bare hands – couldn’t be suggested as a default career option for youngsters in a society like India’s, where caste discrimination is very real.
“If people won’t drink water from cups that are held by them, why will they eat paan made by them?” he added.