A thirty- five-year-old woman was seen hawking cigarette, betel leaves and other items on a tin-made box suspending from her neck at Shapla Chattar in Motijheel on Wednesday.

As this correspondent became curious about her she (reporter) approached her and asked a few questions.

She identified herself as Jesmin Akter and said she had been a domestic help working in a house at Gulshan.

"My landlady asked me not to go to her house anymore three months back fearing coronavirus infection. As I found no work to run my families I became a cigarette vendor, "she said.
Jesmin said she borrowed Tk5, 000 from a friend just a month ago as the deadly virus changed her life.

Her employer promised that she would pay salary until the situation got normal but unfortunately she did not keep her promise, she said.
"If I call her up, she says she will send the money. Sometimes even I find her phone switched off. If I get to her place, the gate keeper says madam is not available now and so on," she added.
"It took a few days for me to realize that they wouldn't need me anymore," she said with a sigh.

Jesmin is currently staying at Basabo in a tin-shed rented house which she used to share with another woman.

The cruel reality of life has never let her go as she lost her husband in a road accident eight years back leaving behind two children.
Jesmin said she was from Chandpur where she has nothing at present. "I have a friend living with me. She was also a domestic help. After she had lost her job she went back to her village home but I have nowhere to go."

After my friend left the full rent amounting to Tk3, 000 is now a big burden on her. She said at least 15 people took her ID cards saying they would provide her with some financial support but still no help came.

This correspondent found another woman named Tahera Khatun (32) who like Jesmin used to work as a domestic help but lost her job after the coronavirus broke out in the country.
Tahera now sells vegetables on the pavement next to the City Centre at Motijheel.

She also said she found it difficult to survive when her landlady forbade her not to go to her house to work as a domestic help.
"I have two children - one is four and the other is eight. I started this vegetable business with my savings to save my children," she said.
Tahera's husband Tamim left her and got married again when she was in advanced level of her second pregnancy.

Every morning she goes to Karwan Bazar to buy vegetables and then sell them at Motijheel.
There are many more like Jesmin and Tahera whose lives have undergone a big change with the coronavirus breaking out in the country but they have not been included yet in the government safety net programmes.

When asked what would happen next if this virus continued to ravage their lives they just gave a blank look saying nothing.