A red loose shirt over his black shalwar kameez with a rectangular white box stitched on it, reading '10', 50-year-old Muhammad Ismail can be seen balancing two, sometimes more, suitcases on a red turban on his head.
Hailing from Abbottabad, Ismail has been working on the same platform for decades, on the lookout for passengers with luggage. Not what he had hoped when he left his hometown: lost in the crowd, old and alone, he waits to assist others, even though he, himself, needs assistance.
Ironic, how he helps getting people off trains and board them, but he can’t it do it for himself.
Ismail earns a meager Rs400 daily. He charges Rs30 to Rs40 per client regardless of the amount of luggage. The bidding begins as negotiations are in order. There’s one bad thing about it, the client always wins.
Bagging the baggage: Been 30 years. Time has changed, but the weight hasn’t. Witnessing the coolie as he bases the heavy bags of passengers, taking them towards their destined vehicle.
Heavy heads & burdened shoulders: Ismail and his fellow coolie friends mount up all the luggage on their heads trying to balance it all together.
Ismail has done his job and takes a sigh of relief after getting his day’s pay. Though he still cannot make ends meet and he can’t collect enough money for a visit to his loved ones.
Ismail goes back to wait in the long line of porters, for a train filled with hopes of earning another wage of a meager amount of Rs40.
Ismail and his colleagues wait for the train...
... And when it arrives, they run.
This article originally appeared on coveringkolachi.wordpress.com
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