Flying into Oblivion

Sitting at a corner of the entrance of Sambhaji Park at JM Road,Bashir Usman Sayeed sits with a distant look in his eyes. “I started selling balloons some 15 years back and since then,there has been a big change in the market. There is no public in the garden anymore to buy my balloons or toys. People prefer to buy toys from shops or rather malls now.” His father,Usman Sayeed,who too used to sell balloons and small plastic toys in park some 40 years ago,fondly recalls the olden days. He says,“I used to sell the same number of balloons and toys in one day that I now sell in 15 days or more. I blame the current state of my business to many factors,the prominent ones being the rise of the mall culture and the reducing time that people spend at gardens with their kids. The rapid change in the society is affecting our livelihood as there are days when we go empty handed,without selling a single balloon or toy.”

A similar story is of Sunil who stands at the entrance of Chatushringi Temple with a bamboo stick full of colorful balloons tied to it and an array of plastic toys ranging from small dolls to cars. He has been in the same area for the past 15 years and feels that the business has gone down a lot since the time he began. “People no longer buy toys from the roadside vendor. They want to go to big shops and pay more for the same thing that they would get here at a cheaper rate,” shares Sunil who has toys ranging from a mere R10 to ones priced at R 100.

Ganesh,who sells balloons and toys at Kamla Nehru Park,backs the opinions of his peers. “I began selling toys 25 years ago at the age of 20,and at that time I was the most prosperous person in my chawl. Now I am the person who has to struggle the most to feed my family.” Ganesh attributes the decline in the sales of balloons and toys to the fact that the children are so engrossed in television and computers these days that they hardly come to play in the park.

“People nowadays prefer to roam in air-conditioned malls rather than walking in parks,” says Shanshuddin Sheik,a 65-year-old balloonwalla who stands at the Bund Garden gate everyday till 9pm. “This is our family business. My brothers and I are the third generation sitting at Bund Garden in this trade. When malls weren’t so popular and people would still visit parks,our sale was around R 1000 to R 1500 daily,but nowadays earning even R 500 at the end of the day is difficult,” he laments,as he sells a ‘hammer’ balloon to a kid for R 8.

Nawaz Hussain stands at Kamla Nehru Park with baloons and a collection of plastic Chinese toys. “ The Ben10 toys sell the most but I also sell various types of toy guns and cars and dolls. I usually close the day with sales between R 250-500 but some days I have no sales at all. However,I come here on my off days as well,as I consider it my duty to sell toys and balloons to children,” he says.