Following photo appeared in the daily Dawn of May 18, 2008. It sohws a small business stall in Rahimyar Khan, Pakistan. What caught my attention to this photo is the sheer diversity of business being caried out from this small stall. The Urdu words written on the stall advertise for ‘desi’ Eggs, a public telephone call office and EZ load Cellular phone SIMs. All of these products and services are available here. And as if this was not diverse enough, the stall is also selling smuggled Iranian petrol at a rate much cheaper than Pakistan State oil’s prices. Note funnels and bottles full of cheap Iranian petrol on top of the stall.
ATP’s Related Post on Business Diversity: Technology and Health Go Together
Azhar, in my original post, I didn’t mean that the cell phones could be the only cause of ignition of the petrol on the table, sorry if it came across that way. The obvious omnipresent smokers of Pakistan would be the primary concern.
Regarding Rafay’s reference to Nigeria, where 100+ ppl died, check this out:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/7403525.st m
In this case, the fire was caused by a bulldozer damaging the pipes, but occasionally, people make holes in the pipes to steal fuel.
Sadly how true are the other examples a few of you gave, such as the poor riding on the roofs of minibuses :-(
But please, Owais, don’t take these comments to mean criticism against you for having posted that picture. I think it is not only newsworthy but also necessary in order for us to stay aware about our streets and what peop;e have to do in order to make ends meet. And it is quite entertaining in the broader sense :)
I agree with Razi’s comment here that is most likely an exercise of survival. People are likely to experiment with any business that can fetch them money.
I chose this photo because inspite of its underlying tone of economic woes it still brought a smile to me.
Never before have I seen domesticated chicken eggs (a primitive product) being sold at a Public telephone Call Office which by the way was also sells smuggled petrol on the side as well as sells mobile SIMs. This all diversity of businesses carried out for the world all together on a roughly 5’x2’x4′ table.
To the people who have safety concerns about this: you have spent way too much time outside of Pakistan :P
This a country where buses often carry three times the number of passengers they are designed for. Safety shimafety!