This is the story of Ashish Kumar.
Until late March, he was making boxes for Ferrero Rocher chocolates.
Now, he is jobless and stuck at home - among the millions of young Indians whose lives have been upended by the virus.
@Saurabhsherry and I report.
in.reuters.com/article/health…
In school, Ashish was obsessed with plastics.
But his aspirations were a far cry from his father's early years in Dutta Nagar, where the family often didn't have enough food or clothes to wear.
“I thought that the children shouldn’t fall into our rut," his father, Ashok, said.
Stuck in a tiny village without internet, Ashish would find locals with smartphones and ask them to Google stuff.
By the end of school, he cracked a test and family somehow raised funds to send him to Gujarat to study plastic mould technology.
Last summer, he got a proper job.
His job at a factory in Maharashtra, which makes boxes for Ferrero Rocher, brought the family financial stability after years on the edge.
They built a proper house, and enrolled Ashish's younger brother at a nearly law college.
It was smooth sailing, till the #coronavirus hit.
Ashish was among the millions who trekked back, scared, hungry and unsure of how they'd survive an extended lock down.
He got home safe.
But his parents are now in a dilemma: let him go and risk the virus, or let him stay on at home and risk their younger child's education.
Ashish, though, is determined to follow his dream: to recycle plastic and make day-to-day products at his own factory.
“I will do it,” he told us. “No matter what it takes."
He still hasn't tasted a Ferrero Rocher chocolate, btw.
Full story here:
in.reuters.com/article/us-hea…
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