My chacha has a shop in the Janta market in Dadar. The building is called the Hawker’s Plaza, where it is a different kind of a mall, a mall where hawkers come to buy goods, which they then sell on the streets. As obvious as it might seem, the business has been in a slow decline since a while now, but during covid, it has experienced a massive shock.

But the interesting thing that is happening is that the areas around the major markets in Dadar have experienced a new rental demand by men, who, since the shutdown of the railway, have rented beds in small chaalis around the area, where they could come and sleep, and keep their shops open for any small opportunities that they might have, to sell.