‘Move. Run. Disappear,’ he shouted as he ran from one end to the other, ‘Municipality is here.’ There was a major ruckus and I saw footpath empty itself of roadside vendors in less than the time it took me to blink. Some were still there and when I looked at one who stood there, he calmly pointed to a piece of paper in a plastic sheet and said, ‘I have a licence.’ This happens quite often on our streets in all our cities. Those who are caught have their stuff thrown in the back of an open truck and they then have to pay a fine to get it all back. But they’re back on the street soon. Economics has its own definitions as you explore the bottom of the pyramid.
Despite such scenes, our roads welcome everyone with a smile and a call, ‘Come and buy!’ There is nothing clinical and made-up about them. They are populated by pedestrians, shoppers, and vendors alike. The truth is that many of the people you see walking on the roads in any city in India may never have entered a big fancy shop and have spent years buying all they need from these roadside vendors. Delhi is no different… at least most of Delhi.
On a stretch of less than the length of a football field I once spotted twenty vendors with all of them selling something different. There was one sitting with old coins right next to one who was selling seasonal fruits like phalse and shahtut that one normally doesn’t find often in the bigger stores or malls. Further ahead was one with his mobile box of cold water ready to serve you lemon-soda if you desired. From bangles to bread, peanuts to datun, brassware to tea, and from paan to newspapers they are all there on the roadside. Even hot tea or coffee carried on a stove in a tin can is there on the streets. Jugaad can be seen all around.
‘Isn’t this a creative interpretation of entrepreneurship?’ I murmured. No one was listening, so I had the liberty to answer my own question. Well, interpretations that work and feed families are interpretations that add value to a society… and I guess there wouldn’t be many wanting to refute this observation.
Did I forget to mention that these roadside vendors also sell copies of the most well-known brands at a fraction of their original price? This includes shirts, tee-shirts, CDs, music cassettes, gutka, and even games and software for the PC. Not everything being sold on the streets of Delhi is legal and a necessity… so yes, even raids to throw them out are essential. After all, no government is going to issue permits that convert streets into illegal hell-holes. Most of these vendors dream to graduate from selling illegal stuff to being a permit-holder doing business with dignity.
Yes, the streets of Delhi have their own aroma, colour, noise, and there will always be someone who will stop you and say, ‘Buy this pen. I haven’t eaten since morning.’ Business is any day better than begging.
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Vendors on the streets of Delhi – the old coins seller
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – the peanuts seller
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – The mobile tea-seller
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – The tea stall
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – Mobile cold water and lemon-soda
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – Paan-wala and cigarettes
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – the Datun-seller… neem or kikar sticks used as a tooth-brush
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – Paan-wala and cigarettes
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – Seasonal fruit seller
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – At India Gate late in the evening
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – the early morning vendor who does business only until the shop opens… sells bread, eggs, milk etc
Vendors on the streets of Delhi – the brassware seller
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Arvind Passey
19 May 2016
