With no income due to COVID, Maths teacher sells bags for living
New Delhi: Mohammad Faizi has not received his salary since March and is unable to pay school fee of his two daughters. The mathematics teacher has now taken to selling cloth bags at a weekly market in Delhi's Dilshad Garden.
Weekly markets in the national capital, which remained shut since March-end due to the coronavirus lockdown, reopened on Monday after the Delhi government allowed it till August 30 on a trial basis.
A resident of Shahdara, Faizi lives in a two-room house with his elderly parents, wife and two daughters, aged five and 10.
The 30-year-old teaches mathematics to students of classes 6-8 at a private school and has been taking online classes but without any salary since the lockdown started.
"My friends have helped me financially, but I cannot ask them for more," Faizi said. "We have been managing somehow. I could not pay the school fee of my daughters, so I am teaching them myself now."
Faizi, who took online classes during the day, reached a weekly market in Dilshad Garden on Tuesday evening to sell cloth bags made by one of his friends.
"My friends manufactures these bags. He suggested I could sell them in the market and keep the profits," he says, as he waits for customers.
Faizi says he can understand the fact that the school would not be able to pay his salary for sometime.
"Many families have been rendered jobless due to COVID. Many people like me are unable to pay their children's school fee. So the schools, too, are finding it difficult to pay their teachers," he says.
Faizi underscores that he wants to keep teaching his students.
"I want to teach during the day and do something else in the evening to make ends meet. That's why the weekly market seemed a better idea," he says.
One his first day, Faizi could not sell anything as police asked the vendors to vacate the space after it became overcrowded.
"The coronavirus pandemic has affected millions of lives, I'm one among them," Faizi, the only child to his parents, says. "I just hope that my family remains safe. I cannot afford medical expenses."
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Rickelton's ton in vain as SRH beat MI by 6 wickets
Mumbai (PTI): Ryan Rickelton's whirlwind unbeaten ton was overshadowed by Heinrich Klaasen's unbeaten 65 as Sunrisers Hyderabad defeated Mumbai Indians by six wickets in an IPL match here on Wednesday.
Chasing an imposing 244-run target, Travis Head (76 off 30) and Abhishek Sharma (45 off 24) shared 129 runs for the opening wicket to set the platform for SRH.
Klaasen (65 not out off 30 balls) then displayed his all-round hitting abilities to guide SRH home with the help of Nitish Kumar Reddy (21) and Salil Arora (30 not out off 10) in 18.4 overs.
Earlier, Rickelton's knock powered MI to 243 for five.
MI rode on a 93-run stand between Rickelton (123 not out off 55 balls) and Will Jacks (46 off 22) in 7.1 overs for the opening stand to power the side.
MI skipper Hardik Pandya scored a valuable 31 off 15 balls before being dismissed.
Praful Hinge (2/54), Eshan Malinga (1/29), Sakib Hasan (1/39) and Nitish Kumar Reddy (1/31) were the wicket-takers for SRH.
Brief Scores:
Mumbai Indian: 243 for 5 in 20 overs (Ryan Rickelton 123 not out; Praful Hinge 2/54).
Sunrisers Hyderabad: 249 for 4 in 18.4 overs (Travis Head 76, Heinrich Klaasen 65 not out; AM Ghazanfar 2/51).
