An entrepreneur on how a virus shaped his life decisions

CK Sunil Kumar leaves Chennai for his hometown to make ends meet, only to return, home-sick and with renewed dreams

In June 2020, when CK Sunil Kumar, his wife Jolly Sunil Kumar and son Arjun Surya “fled” Chennai in their Swift, they could not have anticipated the challenges that lay ahead of them. Coronavirus cases were then surging in Chennai; Jolly had co-morbidities; for Sunil, running the diagnostic centre (a stone’s throw away from their home) in Ayanavaram was out of the question. The combination of these factors pointed in one direction — towards their hometown, Haripad in Alapuzha district, Kerala. Having done the emergency travel registration, they were off to Haripad, hitting the road with their hatchback. “Fear of the virus and the economics of the situation dictated our decision. Obviously, under the circumstances, staying alive was more important than anything else,” says Sunil, who is 48 years old. “I did not want to take any chance by opening our centre, which offered sugar, ECG and other regular tests. With a raging pandemic, most people would avoid taking these tests if they can, and so the centre was not going to get us now the kind of income we required to meet our daily needs.”