Karachi’s bohemian allegory
The News - International
KARACHI: The desperate attempts of the downtrodden gypsies of Karachi to explore all avenues to earn a respectable living can be plainly witnessed in local ‘Sunday Bazaars’ and ‘Tuesday Bazaars’ where gypsy men, women and even children set up stalls to sell vegetables, fruits and other edibles. However, even in most of these makeshift marketplaces, gypsies appear to be no more than backbenchers occupying the last rows of stalls. Investigations reveal that the organisers of the Bazaars are not sympathetic to the plight of the gypsies and only constant persuasion and untiring efforts convinced them to allow gypsies to set up stalls initially only alongside the Bazaars and now, finally, in the main Bazaar itself. As a result, gypsies are seen selling different items in various locations of the city where these Bazaars are set up.
A gypsy man named Rohat told The News that there were some influential gypsies, who, having already set up their businesses, patronised their fellow community members in different markets. He said that these relatively clever and smart members did not exert pressure on anyone for the good of their fellow gypsies, but only acted when there was an explicit request from individuals from the community. They then use their influence to patronise these individuals in the business field. He also pointed out that gypsies could not expand their businesses due to inadequate set-ups, which meant less earnings chiefly because of the poor profit ratio associated with dealing in items of less importance.
A gypsy woman, Ranjn says, “We work hard for a few pennies and nothing more. Since we are unable to invest meaningful money to begin with, we don’t expect a lot of funds in return either. On the contrary, we only indulge in such activities to pass our time in these bad conditions.” Ranjn says that gypsies were also fed-up with price-hikes and the resultant increase in the cost of living. She said, “Although we don’t need electricity, costly water and other luxuries of life, we still feel that the cost of living has increased terribly with the depreciated value of the national currency.”
“Look, the value of a coin has lost all its validity. When it is given to a child, it is easily spent,” Ranjn commented.
An interesting aspect of gypsy belief is their concept of “good” and “bad” individuals and “good” and “evil” gypsies. An elderly gypsy laments that, “In the course of time, the gypsies’ values have been distorted and now there are many bad men who work for bad people such as the land grabbers.”
(MORE)
KARACHI: The desperate attempts of the downtrodden gypsies of Karachi to explore all avenues to earn a respectable living can be plainly witnessed in local ‘Sunday Bazaars’ and ‘Tuesday Bazaars’ where gypsy men, women and even children set up stalls to sell vegetables, fruits and other edibles. However, even in most of these makeshift marketplaces, gypsies appear to be no more than backbenchers occupying the last rows of stalls. Investigations reveal that the organisers of the Bazaars are not sympathetic to the plight of the gypsies and only constant persuasion and untiring efforts convinced them to allow gypsies to set up stalls initially only alongside the Bazaars and now, finally, in the main Bazaar itself. As a result, gypsies are seen selling different items in various locations of the city where these Bazaars are set up.
A gypsy man named Rohat told The News that there were some influential gypsies, who, having already set up their businesses, patronised their fellow community members in different markets. He said that these relatively clever and smart members did not exert pressure on anyone for the good of their fellow gypsies, but only acted when there was an explicit request from individuals from the community. They then use their influence to patronise these individuals in the business field. He also pointed out that gypsies could not expand their businesses due to inadequate set-ups, which meant less earnings chiefly because of the poor profit ratio associated with dealing in items of less importance.
A gypsy woman, Ranjn says, “We work hard for a few pennies and nothing more. Since we are unable to invest meaningful money to begin with, we don’t expect a lot of funds in return either. On the contrary, we only indulge in such activities to pass our time in these bad conditions.” Ranjn says that gypsies were also fed-up with price-hikes and the resultant increase in the cost of living. She said, “Although we don’t need electricity, costly water and other luxuries of life, we still feel that the cost of living has increased terribly with the depreciated value of the national currency.”
“Look, the value of a coin has lost all its validity. When it is given to a child, it is easily spent,” Ranjn commented.
An interesting aspect of gypsy belief is their concept of “good” and “bad” individuals and “good” and “evil” gypsies. An elderly gypsy laments that, “In the course of time, the gypsies’ values have been distorted and now there are many bad men who work for bad people such as the land grabbers.”
(MORE)
Labels: Gypsy, Karachi, Sunday Bazaars
posted by Allie @ 1:19 PM
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