Far away from his home in UP, he makes Paanipuris for Mangaloreans

Life has been defined by many scholars. But life is in living, not in definitions. Struggle is a part of everyone’s life. For some, it may be for a short time and for some others it could well be a never ending one. The world runs on these shoulders. They have something in them, a never ending confidence. Even after a tiresome day, they would return to carry out the same struggle again, without a complaint, with a smile on their faces.

Sanju Kumar Yadav is one such name among many in Mangalore from Uttar Pradesh. His story is similar to that of a majority of Indians. Had some serious financial problem at home, left his studies after his 8th standard, came to Mangalore, worked with one of his relatives in a Panipuri shop, saw and learnt the art, and became an independent Panipuri seller. Now, he has his own small outlet near Balmatta.

He has been striving for his daily bread in Mangalore for almost four years now. He does make money, not much, but still saves and sends some of it home. He is occupied with making puris and other items the whole day. Their day starts after 3 pm and goes on till late night.

Friends, lovers, kids are his customers. He has some regular customers who he managed to attract with his economical and tasty puris. He greets them with a smile or by raising his hand when he sees them. He says Mangaloreans don’t know how to prepare panipuris. ‘They get puris from the market. They won’t be as tasty as the ones we prepare’, he says.

He did face some problems in Mangalore. 'Once, the traffic police asked me to shift my outlet to some other place. I did so but then again he came to that place the next day. It repeated for 3 to 4 times and finally one day as the police came near my outlet I wished him raising my hand with a smile. The policeman too smiled, and left. Even he got tired, how many times will he come?’ Yadav says.

About the Hindi of Mangaloreans, he says it lacks fluency. The way people address others here is very different and not a pleasant one, he observes.

Now things financially have improved back home but to go back and start studying again doesn’t look feasible to him. They have a land of 6 acres where his father carries out farming but he feels some side business which can fetch money so that he can invest on the land, is necessary. In agriculture, the cases of investment are very low. It’s not a profitable activity, thereby making it necessary to depend on some other source of income which would help in investment or any other economical activity, he says.

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