The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Patharghatti hawkers relieved as MCH allows them to do business

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Sunday, Oct 01, 2006
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Patharghatti hawkers relieved as MCH allows them to do business

J.S. Ifthekhar

Municipal Corporation issues biometric identity cards to them

CHOOSE YOUR SIZE: A hawker selling `namaz topis' near Charminar. --PHOTO: P. V. Sivakumar

Hyderabad: They are a relieved lot. The hawkers at Patharghatti are back in business. With the MCH breathing down their necks, they were worried whether they would be allowed to do business on pavements during Ramzan. But now most of them have obtained the biometric identity cards to carry on their trade.

"I am happy the authorities have agreed not to shift us," said a beaming Munawwar, selling garments on the footpath for the last two decades.

The Patharghatti-Charminar stretch is a beehive of activity. Ramzan has cast a charm around the monument, the heart of old city. The day dawns here with the calls of "Rozadaro sahri karo utho" while the dusk ushers in a different ambience altogether. The month of piety stirs the religious chords among Muslims like nothing else.

Exotic touch

The usually unhurried pace of the city has picked up momentum with the bazaars teeming with activity. The gusto and passion of shoppers is to be seen to be believed. Dry fruits, caps, surma are up for grabs. So is `semiyan', the silken strands that goes into making of sheer-khurma. There is an exotic touch to Ramzan this time. Dates from Iran, caps from Bangladesh and Thailand and prayer mats from Turkey have flooded the market.

The shops are awash with nutritionally rich dates, the preferred choice at `iftar'. Besides Saudi Arabia, dates from Iraq, Iran and Oman have flooded the market.

The `kala khajoor" of Iran priced at Rs. 50 a kg is the hot favourite. So are the `Kimia' dates of Iran and `Taiba' dates of Madina. In spite of the high cost, Hyderabadis are lapping them up. There is also an ordinary variety of dates costing just Rs. 30 a kg. "On an average we sell dates worth Rs. 3,000 a day," says Nayeem, a push-cart vendor at Charminar. Come Ramzan and the sale of caps skyrockets. The white Bangladeshi `topi' comes at Rs. 50 while the Thailand cap costs an additional ten rupee. While a large number of people go for them, the rich prefer the traditional Jinnah cap. It can be had for Rs. 200. The Salar Jung cap and Rumi topi are also in demand. But very few go for the Kashmiri Kharakari cap priced between Rs. 450 and Rs. 1,500.

"But there are some who come asking for this particular cap only," says Jaleel Khan of Mohammadan cap mart, Patherghatti.

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