“I have family but I don’t know how long I can run on my savings. That’s the key. I have a mortgage to pay back home.”
These are the words of Abdul Samad, an Indian barber who has been running a four-seat shop in Muttrah for the last 18 years. Samad is now living on a razor’s edge.
The coronavirus pandemic had caused almost all businesses including barber shops to shutdown since March forcing Samad to close down his only source of income. He is now trying to piece together loans to make ends meet.
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“Things have become very difficult ever since I shut my salon on March 18,” Samad said standing in front of his shop as his eyes welled up with tears.
While the authorities have allowed most of the commercial activities to reopen, amid the pandemic, barber shops and beauty parlours remain shut. “After these many months without an income and my savings all dried-up, I borrowed money from my friend,” said Samad.
Most salons in the city have not just lost businesses in the last five months, but have also been paying rent, salaries, water and electricity bills during this period, and are now left broke and helpless. “Situation is really bad in the case of other barbers. Some of the expats have already shut their shops and left home in repatriation flights because they couldn’t simply survive the struggle. We really hope to reopen business soon,” said Samad who hails from Kollam in Kerala.
However, Samad has his concerns too. “This virus may have a long-lasting impact on how we make a living. We need to take utmost precautions when we reopen business. I am sure in few weeks time, we will be able to reopen the shops. Let’s keep our fingers crossed,” he said.
“I used to make a good living. I have a son and a daughter and both studied in Indian schools here and now they are in college back home (Kerala). The situation is grim there too. We just hope the world is back to normal,” Samad added.
The pandemic has brought many lives to a standstill but most of them are keeping hopes that life will be back to normal in the near future.
