Qissa Khwani bazaar feeling the heat

Militancy has not spared even the fabled abode of story-tellers.

PESHAWAR: Locally known as qehwa, green tea has become synonymous with Pakhtun hospitality over the years. It has become the national beverage for Pakhtuns.

Qissa Khwani, the fabled bazaar named after story-tellers of yore, is a congested neighbourhood in the Walled City of Peshawar. Its narrow alleyways fill a visitor with nostalgia.

Qissa Khwani, or ‘Street of Storytellers’, used to attract flocks of Powendas, or Afghan gypsy merchants, to its tea stalls, in the past. However, over the years the Qehwa Khanas (tea stalls) have suffered at the hands of skyrocketing prices, labour shortages and unrewarding potential over the years.

Tea stall owners say that during the past decades, several Qehwa Khanas have closed down in and around Qissa Khwani, though numerous others have sprung up in nearby smaller alleyways. These new ventures are short-lived, however, as the trade is not as lucrative as it once was.

Mirza Khan from Mohmand Agency is running a Qehwa Khana in Mohallah Jangi adjacent to Qissa Khwani. He has spent the last 30 years treating his customers’ taste buds to aromatic green tea; first as a waiter serving customers and making deliveries to homes and hotels, then as a tea maker and now he owns his small stall.

“Green tea is a cultural symbol of Peshawar and its consumption has increased with growing population,” Khan told The Express Tribune. However, the surge in consumption has not done much to redress the economic feasibility of this trade as they charge only a nominal price for a pot of tea.

“We charge Rs12 per pot (Chainak) for green tea and Rs15 to Rs18 for small and large pots of tea,” he said. Khan explained that rising prices were hurting their business as the cardamom they earlier purchased at Rs180 a kilo now costs Rs2,600. And to make things worse, the price of green tea has also increased by Rs60 to end at Rs360 per kilo.

Water in a huge samovar is simmering at a gas burner with a heap of small tea pots and small china cups lying haphazardly around it. Khan’s escalating woes are not much different from those of his fellow countrymen, as he points out that “a pair of these brass samovars costs Rs 50,000.”

Pointing to two teenagers serving tea in his stall, he said that one of them was his son, the other his nephew, explaining that prices of gas, electricity and labour had seen a steep increase and most of the people are no longer willing to work as labourers.

According to him, the ongoing militancy has also impacted their business. Earlier during Eid the police sealed the area and they would do so again on the eve of Muharram. “People do not come out of their homes due to the fluid security situation.

Haji Rehman Jan runs one of the oldest tea stalls in the Shah Wali Qatal neighbourhood near Qissa Khwani. He said he was paid only 3 annas for around 14 hours duty back when he used to work as a waiter. The labourers at his stall work for Rs250 per day and the tea maker gets Rs350.

Zarjan Khan, owner of a stall in the main Qissa Khwani, says at least three stalls in the bazaar have shut down over the past few years. Reminiscing about the past glory of the bazaar, Khan said militancy has brought about a significant drop in their clientele.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 27^th, 2010.