DHAKA: A hawker calculates business on the basis of its running time. Sohel, a youth from Noakhali, has learnt this through his 10 years’ experience of selling goods in footpath shops.

Sohel could earn nothing during last 71-hour blockade enforced by the opposition alliance, 18-party. He failed to display his goods for customers and while asked Sohel placed a reversed question to Banglanews, “The shop was closed, how could I earn money?”

Banglanews met Sohel at the footpath market in front of Ideal School and College on Friday afternoon.

Sohel, at his late 20s, has also had the knowledge to calculate his losses due to such closures, from an economic point of view.

The capital of this business is BDT 30,000. Normally I can earn more than 2000 taka in three days. But it was not possible. We have to buy foods and give house rent, so the expenditure is there. Now I will have to spend those from my capital. That will make my business weaker. I will be poorer, explains Sohel.

He terms strike or blockade as an arrangement of sending poor to the peril.

Rafiq was selling plastic shoes next to Sohel’s shop. Majid is a daily basis labourer of Rafiq’s shop. Both Rafiq and Majid were eating biscuits with water. The Friday marker was a little bullish. But they spend less for lunch to maximize the losses they incurred last 3-day due to blockade. Rafiq is highly confident on the mercy of  Almighty Allah and said, He (Allah) will make his life easy.

The same faith and confidence on Allah was also with Sultan, a cobbler at the Kamlapur Railway Station. He was sitting at the platform edge with his small box full of ink pots, colour boxes, broken paint brash and badly used shoe-brash. Last three days Sultan’s business was so low and could not earn enough he needed to run the 5 member family. Sultan, who has mastered indifference amid shortages, was telling Banglanews that the Allah would help him to run his family.

But Sujon,14, a newspaper hawker in the railway station, was not at all ready to take it easy. On Wednesday and Thursday he could not sell half of the regular target. He travels all the way from Keraniganj to Kamlapur for selling newspapers. Keeping a bundle of newspaper on the top of his head Sujon was displaying different brands of dailies on his both arms to attract customer. I could not sell good numbers of copies and two top newspaper organisations are not ready to take the unsold papers back. So its a total loss, Sujon expressed his rage. Newspaper is the most rotten good in the market, Sujon knows.  

Nazmul sells fruits like apple an orange. These do not rotten. So I can sell it anytime. But losses are still there. You must calculate my own labour. I spent two days and earned very insignificant amount of money from my business, Nazmul tells Banglanews.

Many of these poor people have worked out their ways to bring them out of  poverty. They always prefer to try a second job to earn more. Shukkur Ali is one of them. He was selling sunglasses at Kamlapur station. He told Banglanews that he could make a little money from his business during the blockade days. But to overcome the losses he sells Chatpati during the evening hours.

Selim, a chanacur seller at Tejgaon station brought another version of loss in business during the blockades or strikes. Once there is a shut programme the prices of tomato, cucumber, green chili, lemon, onion all go up. So the expenditure increases but the sell decreases.

When the goods remain unsold, the footpath hawkers get depressed. Banglanews found such a hawker at Airport station of Bangladesh Railway. Sohag,14, sells boiled eggs in the station. He could not sell over a dozen of eggs due to blockade. Finally he had to go back home with the eggs and cook those for eating.

Hartal, blockades are so bad for poor people like us, it should be stopped, said Sohel.   
       
BDST 2045 HRS, Nov, 30, 2013