Street peddler out of step due to inflation

ISLAMABAD:

Muhammad Razzaq has walked the narrow and maze-like lanes crisscrossing across the Rawalpindi’s cantonment areas for the last thirty years. The 55-year-old from Azad Kashmir has strapping legs and an equally strong neck supporting the ‘mobile bakery’ strapped to it.

The iron tray jutting out at his waist has an assortment of sweet and savoury treats. They include cream rolls, biscuits, pastries, cakes and other items.

He starts from railway station early morning with his regulars. The walk then takes him through Chota Bazaar, Bada Bazaar, Massey Gate, Bank Road, Adamjee Road, Saadi Road and the labyrinthine streets of inner Sadar.

While he covers a limited area, he is constantly on his feet and travels over 20 kilometres daily. It ends around the evening, as some shopkeepers and residents have gotten used to eating biscuits sold by Razzaq with their evening tea.

He would then return to the inn next to the railway station, where he and his friends from Kashmir have spent the night for as long as they have been in the city.

Razzaq came to the garrison city 33 years ago. He started as a helper at a bakery near the railway station. It fetched him Rs2,000 a month.

After three years, he decided to go his own way. He had cobbled together enough to get an iron container (a tray) to store the bakery items. This way, he hoped to earn and save more for himself and his young family in the village in Bagh Ganga Choti in a cold region of Azad Kashmir.

“I was not aware of the routes in the cantonment area but a friend of mine helped me. I have been doing this ever since.”

He has three children of school-going age and his only concern now is their education. “But in this era of runaway inflation, it has become impossible to manage,” says Razzaq while he wipes the sweat of his brow.

“Thirty years ago, I used to sell cream rolls for Rs2. Pastries were Rs3. Biscuits were Rs10. It wasn’t heavy on the pocket and people didn’t mind treating themselves,” says Razzaq of the change in buying behaviour.

“The cream roll is now for Rs100. The pastry is for Rs80. Now, people think twice before buying themselves a treat,” he continues.

But some of his regulars have persisted. “Many shopkeepers and children wait for me. They like to eat the bakery items I bring with their evening tea.”

He says that he acquires items worth Rs2,000 to Rs3,000 daily. He saves a couple of hundred daily but on a good day it could go as high as Rs1,000.

Of this, Rs60 goes to the inn as the cost of the bed he gets there. He has stopped spending on food and relies on the public meals offered by charitable organisations.

He says every penny saved would contribute to the brighter future of his children. But he worries about falling sick and not being able to go out on his daily walkabouts.

“We don’t have good public hospitals or access to healthcare,” says Razzaq.

While he has been on the street for three decades, the recent uptick in street crime has him worried. “The situation is so bad that people are becoming desperate,” he continues.

His suggestion is for the government to ensure that its uplift schemes help those who need it the most.

 

Published in The Express Tribune, July 3^rd, 2023.