A businessman, who has been living with his family in a tent away from the city amid the COVID-19 lockdown, said that his family was prepared to stay that way till April 30.

A resident of Sullivan Street near Gandhi Park, S. Pradeep Shri Ayyappan (31) was running a two-wheeler consulting service business and also owned a fuel station in Podanur. On March 23, before the lockdown, he along with his parents, wife and younger brother decided to move from the city to live in their own land, 25 km away, at Alandurai.

“We have groceries that will last for a month,” Mr. Ayyappan told The Hindu over the phone. The family utilises the vegetables grown in the land. “We will think about our next course if the lockdown is extended beyond April 30,” Mr. Ayyappan said.

The businessman said that it was his father, N. Sampath (62), who proposed the idea of moving away from the city. “The houses are too cramped on Sullivan Street,” he said, claiming that it would be “impossible” to practice physical distancing in their residence.

They have put up tarpaulin tent on the land and have tied up neem leaves at its entrance. They burn the dried neem leaves to ward off mosquitoes in the night. “At first, it was quite difficult [to live here]. Eventually, we got used to this,” Mr. Ayyappan said.