Expensive flea market

People do profess to love desi things but the popular prejudice is in favour of things foreign. Here the flea market came as a blessed opportunity for those on a budget so that they can create a good impression in society. This is no longer the case. Warm winter clothing items and other goods have now gone beyond the reach of even those with small incomes and large families, due to the rising inflation and increasing dollar-rupee parity.

Reports from Lahore’s and Karachi’s Landa Bazaars say this winter, used warm clothes have become expensive. Prices are now 20-25 per cent higher than last year’s. Now a coat is available for at least Rs1,000. An identical situation exists all across the country. With the onset of winter when families started to visit Landa Bazaars in search of inexpensive clothes they were in for a shock. Besides the rising inflation, cheaper new warm clothes imported from China are also affecting the sale of second-hand clothes. However, people still prefer second-hand clothes imported from the West, mainly because of their “prestige value.”

Traders say the government has increased taxes on the import of used clothes, which has driven up prices. “For Rs100,000 worth of goods, now we have to pay as much as Rs36,000 in taxes.” Warm clothing items and blankets available at cheaper prices at flea markets greatly help people from the low-income groups to pass winter months in relative comfort and ease. Now even this cheap source of warm clothes and blankets is losing its attraction for the poor. Long winter nights are too cold to pass without warm blankets even in places like Karachi where generally the day temperature is moderate. This situation can be countered through charity. Gone are the days when Tariq Aziz would say when he had newly arrived in Lahore he bought a second-hand coat for a mere 20 rupees. This also helped him keep up appearances.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 28^th, 2019.

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