new delhi things may not be fully normal on kasturba gandhi marg and only a few kiosks selling biscuits and wafers have resumed business though there is a small crowd at maurya tea stall popular for its brew with the alluring taste of ginger cardamom and saffron but a more reassuring hint of normalcy in delhis central business district is the reopened beauty parlour for shoes near antriksh bhavan after two months cobbler raj kamal is back on watch though he has as yet few customersthe 57yearold who calls himself a chamra chikitshak leather doctor and his trade the beautifying of soles continually catered to officer goers since 1988 until the novel coronavirus forced a twomonth break the cheerful cobbler is confident that the worst is now behind his face clearly smiling behind his mask raj kamal said the last two months have been extremely tough and i had to borrow money to sustain my family of five however this is an unprecedented event we have to move onfrom shankar market to shivaji stadium the arc of interconnected lanes and bylanes of connaught place is dotted with eateries stationery and photostat outlets grocery stores and cyber cafes garages and paan shops their clientele being the thousands of employees in the highrise office buildings the shops here like in the office hubs of nehru place ito rajendra place central secretariat among others fully depend on office workers for their livelihoodmost offices are functioning with less than half the staff and between 11 am and 4 pm as a result i dont have too many customers at the moment but things will improve raj kamal exuded optimism sanjay kaul who has run a stationery and photostat business near barakhamba road since 1998 wasnt so sure i dont think things will improve before december he saidthe usually popular roadside eateries arent functioning yet i have been staying near the food van this entire period because i couldnt return to my home in bihar said cook santosh kumar my employer has been providing me food theres no point going home now because shops are gradually reopeningon bahadur shah zafar marg the kiosk selling paan masala cigarettes soft drinks biscuits even pens and lighters used to be crowded with bankers marketing executives courier boys and media professionals owner rajendra name changed who didnt have the time to take a deep breath earlier today sits waiting patiently for a customer i have been trying to earn something after the relaxations were announced he said before the lockdown i was busy from 930am right up to 1030pm when i packed up for the day but few people are coming to the offices at the momenthe continued i have been desperate to open the shop having eaten into most of my savings in the last two months business is slow but i hope my regular customers are back soon he surveyed the normally choked lane taking heart in his shop at least reopening unlike the areas famous paratha