Sameer Khan - Lighting People’s Lives with Hope and Promise

This article talks about the life of a 30-yr old who doesn’t like to call his struggles "struggles”. Having started work at only 7, Sameer has created a life for himself he’s

happiest living.

Sameer Khan’s day begins at 3:45 in the morning – that is when he gets up, it takes him about 15 minutes to get ready, then he goes to the nearby gole bazar – roughly an hour away where he gets his daily supply of vegetables. By 7 am he’s all set at his stall, prepared for customers. A tiny little space where he lays his rug and sits waiting for his regular purchasers, typically has a basic shirt and a pair of pants on, with tousled hair – anyone would guess he’s no more than twenty. People pour in with variety of demands and mostly followed by bargains. Most of them that show up are his usual, frequent customers and even when new ones appear, they end up being his new batch of regular consumers – this just sums up Sameer’s demeanour and overall disposition – he’s a warm and cordial guy, and knows his job perfectly well.

“This goes on until my stock is sold out, it could be 1pm, 2pm. And if it doesn’t, I offer the surplus vegetables to other sellers in the market”, he says.

Sameer has been working and earning for his family since the age of seven. He was about 8 or 9 when his father passed away and he had to give up his studies and school – he was in 4 th grade. He has his mother with him, a sister and an elder brother – all of whom are working in different fields. He himself is a young guy in his late 20s and when asked about whether he ever felt like he could have completed his education, he laughs and says “of course it feels like that at times – when some customers throw certain English terms at me”.

“Padhna kaun nahi chahta, sab chahte hain ki English mein bol sake” he says, with a bittersweet feeling.

CCD inside the IIT KGP campus where Sameer was earlier employed

Café Coffee Day inside the IIT campus is where Sameer used to work since 2012 but the Covid lockdown took a toll on his earnings and that’s when he decided to work as a vendor instead. He says that initially business wasn’t doing well and he was unable to make much in a day but eventually over the next 4-5 years it worked out. He admits that it did occur to him to give this up and try something else but his hope and perseverance held him back and pushed him to work harder. Later on, when things went back to normal with lockdown restrictions lifted, he was asked by the CCD operators to work for them but he refused. He was earning enough to support his family, was content and comfortable there which he wasn’t during his time at CCD – there were irregular hours of work, with little income. In the evening, starting around 6pm he goes to work at some restaurant and is back home by 10pm. This is what a day in the life of Sameer looks like – one that starts at 4am and goes on till 10 at night.

It’s never a choice for someone to give up their education, abandon all comforts of life and start earning for their family when one’s hardly ten. Sameer had a similar story to tell – it wasn’t his choice but it is no more a compulsion for him either. He now enjoys what he does, where he is. This place – Kharagpur is familiar to him (he was born here as was his father), the work he does daily – he’s happy with, the earnings he makes – allows him to run his house smoothly. He refuses to label his experiences in life as struggles. When he was asked about whether he had any 'dream' in his life, he lets out a small laugh and says

“No, there’s no dream now. It’s only about supporting and protecting my family, thinking about sustaining our future.”

He is very much at ease and extremely content here in this small town of Kharagpur. In his words, “everything functions nicely here – the people are great, starting from hospitals and schools to malls and market – everything is within reach.”

“Kharagpur jaisa jagah kahin nahi hai” he says proudly. Now with delivery apps like Blinkit just entering people’s lives here, business has slackened a bit for Sameer, but only slightly. He shares that the general behaviour of customers is usually good.

“Some are rude, some at times don’t pay, yet there are few others who’ll remember to pay even when I forget”.

When asked about whether he ever feels proud of how far he has made it in life, he tells with quiet pride,

“Yes, I feel very proud. Initially when I started off, I went with 600 rupees and got my supply but could only earn 300 in a day. Now I’m able to earn 5000 in a day by selling my entire stock. I feel proud of the fact that I didn’t give up even when I felt like it.”

Sameer has only one message to give to the world.

“Don’t steal, don’t cheat with your life. Work hard, earn for yourself, earn a life that makes you proud of yourself each day. Everyone’s working hard, so just go out there and give it your everything to achieve all that you want in your life.”

A note from the author:

When I took this interview, I had stepped out expecting a certain kind of answers that I was looking for; a preconceived notion that he would have some big bad tragic story to narrate with an outpouring of emotions. Not that he didn’t have struggles – he did, that too immense ones, events he went through that only one could imagine of – and this is the story of every person who’s struggling to earn two square meals for their family. But what stood out and what really inspired me about him is his positive outlook on life, his optimism – a perspective one rarely finds in people even when they’re gifted with everything. He acknowledges his past - but has learnt to move on, he wants to focus on today and carries on each day with hope and dedication. More than anything, people like Sameer set an example for people like us to be grateful, hardworking and appreciative.

Written by Shreyashree Patra, Grade 11, DAV Model School, IIT Kharagpur

Shreyashree wrote this article as a participant of the Media-Makers Fellowship's Nov'25 cohort.