Namita and Tapan are a middle-aged couple with two children in a hamlet in 24 South Parganas district in the backwaters of Sunderbans, West Bengal.
The couple and their children were previously engaged in daily-wage jobs but they decided to leave it behind and set up betel leaf farming in their 1/5th acre land a few years ago. The family was slowly improving their lives and the children were getting educated. However, in March 2020, Namita and Tapan suffered a major setback when the nation went into a COVID-induced lockdown in March, and economic activities were halted. The increased prices of logistics, and farming necessities, and uncertainty took a toll on the family as they could not afford to sell the betel leaves. And then in May, cyclone Amphan ripped through their village and destroyed everything they had built.
