It’s not easy to explore into others lives. And it becomes even more difficult to know about those who themselves do not fully want to acknowledge their conditions of existence. In this precondition we began our journey to learn about the socio-economic condition of hawkers in Kolkata. As the night fell and we were done with our work in the institute, we went to Gariahat. It took us really long to reach the place but the drive was soothing as we moved seamlessly through the bypass. Gariahat streets are far cleaner than we had expected and it came as a pleasant surprise. As we took out our pens and papers we were welcomed by few surprising looks. But as we assured them that we don’t mean any harm, they let their apprehensions go and started answering our questions. Some questions were definitely uncomfortable but they were answered nevertheless. Along the numerous journeys, we came across different lives, which at the end touched ours to leave an everlasting impression.
The routine questions didn’t trouble them much as the ones which inquired about their income and their state of being. Though the sales touched the thousand mark ever day the profit touched only hundred or so. The despair was visible as they talked about it. Being in the business they could only make their ends meet. Any sort of luxury was a distant dream. Moreover, out of the meager income they had to give money to the union who in return protected them from the wrath of the bureaucrats. The story of Ayesha Biwi moved us. She had a proper stall earlier when government decided to remove them from streets and her stall was broken down. Afterwards they were allowed to set up stall, but she didn’t have enough money to put another one. So she continues to sell her products which are mainly posters of film stars and the likes sitting on the street.
Not that everyone is unhappy about it but most were. We met one magazine seller who is in the business for almost 40 years and has inherited it from his father and is now preparing his son to take over. Such tradition is hard to find among hawkers and it really warmed our hearts. When we asked him if competition bothered him he nostalgically quoted his father’s saying that if you have goods, which are saleable then people will come to buy it.
And then there were pirated VCD/DVD sellers. The piracy market is huge and earlier it was only Hindi films that dominated the Indian scene. Now the Hollywood films are more in demand as the price of Hindi film DVDs are as low as pirated ones. Still the newly released Hindi films definitely find their ways into the stalls. The competition is fierce among each other. Some even refused to answer our questions.
One fact we noticed that few were graduates or college drop-outs. We met one youth who studied till 2nd year in City College but dropped out due to economic conditions. The image of those watery eyes flashes into our eyes in periodic intervals to make us feel how fortunate we are. As they are educated individuals they could easily understand the jargons and were very helpful in surveys. It appeared that they weren’t strangers to this kind of surveys as they reassured their fellow hawkers about our motives.
However there is a flip side to this flourishing business. Wherever there is a considerable presence of hawkers, there is less space on footpath to walk on. It also adds to the car parking problem. At places, it harms the cleanliness of the place as there is no arrangement to dispose off the papers or other plastic materials which are used to serve eatables.
In a month long quest, we gathered a lot of information which was an eye opener for us. A part of which forms this report and the rest will remain within the deeper recesses of our mind
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