nCov throws lemons, musician starts juice biz

Rajkot: Pandemic threw lemons at this 27-year-old musician from Kutch. But Jaimin Thacker didn’t get sour — he patiently gathered all of them, opened a lemon juice shop and changed his track to make sweet melody out of his lemonade business. And what’s more, he didn’t even miss a beat in the transition!
Ever since Thacker played the tabla in a Navratri event in his native Bhuj town when he was 17 years, he hasn’t stopped his melodious journey for almost a decade now. He had been playing several instruments professionally — be it roto, tabla, or the keyboard in an orchestra. But the Covid-induced lockdown left him with a flat key. But this Kutch varsity graduate didn’t lose the note and soon developed a new rhythm of the situation and today, he is leaving the townsfolk humming in joy with his sweet lemonade.
He brought a table from a scrap dealer, painted it himself and put up a banner for his lemon juice shop christening it as ‘Govinda’.
Such is his popularity now that Thacker says he won’t shut shop even when the situation gets back to normal. “Since the lockdown happened, all musical performances stopped and income shrunk. Sans any other expertise, I started selling lemon juice for the past one year and it has given me sweet returns,” Thacker told TOI.
“I got a chance to become a part of several musical bands and I performed in Mumbai, Hyderabad and Surat,” said Thacker, who became a member of the local Langha community which has been playing folk music for generations. Here he came into contact with several musicians in Mumbai and he soard high on the musical charts. He was part of every function — from marriage to religious and social functions or even temples during Navratri and Ganesh Chaturthi festivals.
Thacker said that he now earns around Rs 10,000 per month from this shop and is happy to get regular customers and regular income. “There is no fixed income in music. I, therefore, have decided now to continue with my shop even if the situation gets normal. I will play in Navratri and other functions, but the shop will go on,” he added.