Varanasi: A devastating fire at a pub in Mumbai's Kamala Mills on December 27, 2017, changed Kashi-based Vijay Shankar Pandey's life forever. A street-food vendor, who used to sell bhelpuri at the Mill's gate number 3, went jobless after the local municipal corporation removed all the vendors from the entrance. Pandey's chaat business used to support his family in Mumbai and an ailing mother in Varanasi. Finding it hard to get an alternative place for setting up shop, Pandey and his brother Shrinath, with whom he lived in Mumbai, were forced to return home.

While Pandey managed to get a driver's job in Varanasi, his brother struggled hard to find a permanent job but failed to get any luck in it. However, even Pandey eventually lost his job and couldn't find another one. So he started selling tea at Assi Ghat.