But in the lockdown, when I didn’t eat for the whole week, I broke down in tears

#BabaKaDhaba of #Vadodara

Everyone knows Pradip, a humble guy selling books on the footpath of Fathegunj opposite Bank of Baroda for years. Loved by book lovers of the city and students of MS University.
In this lockdown, he covered his books and went home and could not get out of the house for months. All his income was sent to the family for help, he was left with no gas, no grain in the house. There were only potatoes. Pradeep spent the night eating raw potatoes. He sat in the darkness of the room for several days and just read the books.

… but one day he broke from the inside. When I just went to meet him, he said: “Jiteshbhai … I read so many good books that I thought nothing can break me, But in the lockdown, when I didn’t eat for the whole week, I broke down in tears. Mujhe laga ki main puri jindagi jitna padha aur samja wah sub mujhe kaam nahi aaya I cried for the first time ”

For the first time, the strong-hearted man, living in this weak body of four feet, may have leaned against the darkness of life. His name is ‘Pradeep’, it burns like a lamp in the darkness and suddenly the darkness increases so much that this lamp gives up.

A police officer on Corona’s duty saw books lying on the sidewalk for days. He found Pradeep after searching for a long. The policeman took biryani for him. Pradeep ate biryani that day. Thanked the police. And sat down to read the book again. Later police personnel kept delivering food to Pradeep.

This is an excerpt from the original Facebook post shared by Jitesh Donga