After a long gap, small traders hawking vegetables in the inner parts of the densely populated and bustling city areas have staged a comeback. Amid the outbreak of Covid-19 throughout the country, to the hawkers of vegetables and fruits allowed to resume business, the permission to sell their products in Dhaka has arrived as a great surprise.
The imperative of complying with the present 'shutdown' order has prompted many neighbourhood families to stay at home without fail. Anxieties had gripped many of them in the initial days as they didn't want to defy the government order by visiting conventional markets.
Moreover, there was the fear of contracting the virus of the infectious disease. In an ironical twist, the prerequisite of maintaining 'social distance' at crowded places finally proved to be oxymoron in scores of markets in the capital. Desperate efforts to stand ahead of others on a queue and collect the preferred items at shops still rule the roost.
In such a depressing situation, the mobile vegetable, fish and chicken sellers have emerged as something 'godsend'. Apart from making small profits in the pervasive business deadlock, these hawkers have provided a great relief to the families without ready stocks comprising everyday food products. Indisputably, the vegetable, fruits and fish hawkers have been welcomed heartily.
Not long ago the view of manually operated vans filled with vegetables and related merchandise, and moving through localities, was a common sight in Dhaka. The ramshackle carriages were either pushed or pedalled by the vendors. In the middle and lower-middle class neighbourhoods, people one day found themselves dependent on the van operators for seasonal vegetable products. The hawkers' vegetable and fruit collection would normally be rich and varied. The clients, comprising mainly women, used to be drawn to the products in great numbers, thanks mainly to their fresh looks.
Undoubtedly, the vegetable deliveries through vans emerged as a great service for housewives residing far from the kitchen markets. The reason, apparently, was many women did not feel comfortable with shopping at the male-dominated and crowded markets. Women purchasing vegetables from the moving vans daily or every other dayremained integral to the shopping patterns in the city for long.
Meanwhile, the male family heads would visit the markets to buy larger volumes of vegetable, fish and meat on the weekly holidays. However, to the great shock ofthe residence-based female clients, the culture of buying vegetables from the mobile 'shops' was found at one time to have been on the decline. One fine morning the ubiquitous vans disappeared, apparently never to return. It dealt a great blow to the female customers in the 'muhallas' - with most of them finding themselves stuck in a maze of inconveniences and uncertainties.
The comeback of the vegetable and fruit vans, punctuated by fish and chicken selling hawkers, amply speaks of great relief of the home-based clients. With the Covid-19 shutdown order in place, males also constitute a large segment of the clientele.
There are a lot of benefits one can get from buying assorted vegetables from the vans. Apart from being cheaper than those at the markets, the products are fresh. The greatest convenience offered by the hawkers is they do their business at the main entrance of a residence. They are available on the lanes and by-lanes from morning to late in the afternoon.
For some phony reasons, these vegetable vans were prohibited in the neighbourhood roads and alleyways. Allegations are rife that the markets nearby had a role in making the residential areas off-limits to the mobile vegetable and fruit hawkers. Since the van-based shops are less crowded and, thus, help promote social distancing, they might be getting the support of the higher authorities - though by default.
