Baba and his fifty goats haven’t found a single buyer

ISLAMABAD:

Malang Baba came to Islamabad with 50 goats in tow. He came strung to high hopes, when someone told him that the market in Islamabad was more lucrative for his mountain goats.

But he hasn’t been able to sell a single goat. “I spent Rs50,000 to come here,” he told The Express Tribune. “I’ve spent three days at this market, along with three of my companions and now my only target is to sell at least five goats before Eid.”

He said he did not understand why people did not prefer mountain goats. “Their meat tastes so much better,” he said.

But people’s preference for non-mountain goats is not the only thing keeping Baba from selling his goats. Baba and his companions can’t speak Urdu or Punjabi, and many people in Islamabad do not speak Pashto.

Despite speaking a little Urdu, Baba was unsuccessful in bargaining with the customers like other vendors at the market, who could fluently speak local languages, he said.

Mushtaq Ahmad, a resident of Rawalpindi, said that mountain goats are not popular among the residents of the twin cities, and only a handful of customers would be interested in buying them.

Baba disagreed however. He said people did not have enough money to buy the goats.

He said that many people visited his stall, but they did not purchase goats because of limited budget. Baba’s goats are priced between Rs18,000 to Rs25,000.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 5^th,  2011.