A BROTHER and sister who came up with an idea to sell a popular street snack in India have revealed how they were inspired to launch the business.
Debajyoti Saha and his sister Jyotirmoyee, both engineers by training, started selling golgappas, called fuchka in Bengali, to provide for their family during the Covid-19 pandemic.
When India went into a strict lockdown in March last year, the Saha family of Khardaha in the eastern state of West Bengal started experiencing financial difficulties.
Debajyoti’s salary was cut by a big margin because of deteriorating market conditions and the family was worried about their expenses.
Debayoti Saha with his sister Jyotirmoyee at a wedding ceremony where they supplied golgappas (Credit: Debayoti Saha)
“We have so much financial responsibility on our shoulders, such as home loans, education expenses. When my salary got slashed, we started losing our sleep. How to manage the crisis became our prime concern,” Debajyoti, 26, who has studied printing engineering and was in employment since 2015, told the Eastern Eye.
“Our father (Sreedam Saha) has not been earning as such. He has a kirana store (grocery store) but that has been lying almost unused for many years now. It is our mother (Sushila) who has been the mainstay of our family. As an anganwadi (rural care) worker, it is she who brought us up and looked after the family till I got a job,” Debajyoti said.
However, with no other option to deal with the challenge, Debajyoti and his sister decided to act.
“It was pointless if we remained nervous. We felt that something needed to be done and so we decided to start the fuchka business. We considered using our kirana store in the local market. That shop was of no use. Why not utilise it instead of selling it,” the brother said.
They named the shop ‘Fuchkawala’.
Though the business didn’t solve the middle-class family’s financial problems altogether, it gave them some respite.
“In a good month, we earned as much as Rs 10,000 (around £100) and that was enough to support the family when the chips are down,” said Debajyoti, who continues with his day job.
The siblings also took on contracts to serve the popular snack at wedding parties.
The business has not been the same after the recent lockdowns meant people were not going outdoors much.
But the siblings, who have now garnered the confidence to run a business, ensured they did not have to close shop.
They started selling their snack through online platforms such as Zomato.
The story of Debajyoti and Jyotirmoyee, who is five years younger, soon spread to other parts of the state and they got an invitation from a popular Bengali television reality show named ‘Didi No.1’ in Kolkata, the state capital.
How has been the journey so far? For the Sahas, it has been a mixed experience. Some people questioned the siblings' wisdom to sell fuchkas after studying engineering, while others praised them for their spirited fight against the odds.
Debayoti and Jyotirmoyee's street food shop (Credit: Debajyoti Saha)
Physically, too, it has been taxing for Debayoti who has to look after the business after a day’s work at the office. But the duo have some help at home who provide support in running the snack business.
What inspired them to start a fuchka business of all? “It is a very popular street food item and easy to prepare. But we did not want to keep our business restricted to normal fuchkas. Instead, we started experimenting with chicken fuchka. It is not available everywhere. We experimented with 30 to 40 items at home before we zeroed in on seven,” Jyotiromoyee, a Bachelor of Technology undergraduate who aspires to be a computer engineer, told the Eastern Eye.
The pair knows that the battle is still far from over. “Our problems are not over. My sister is studying engineering and we need to arrange for her college fees. She has applied for a state scholarship, but is yet to get it. The fuchka business has definitely given us relief as of now, but our struggle is far from over. We aim to grow this business more,” Debajyoti said.
