Tales of footpath badshahs!

REMEMBER AMITABH Bachchan in Muqaddar ka Sikandar? He did every menial job on the footpaths to finally amass wealth.

Lucknow has it’s own share of these rags-to-riches tales… Rajkumar Gupta is one such ‘king’. He started from a small readymade garments shop which he puts up on the roadside in the weekly markets of  Sadar, Alambagh and Nishatganj. With his savings, he has constructed his own house and educated his five children. They all want to help him today.

Similarly, Zameer Ahmed Khan sells sarees on the footpath in Maulviganj. He is a regular tax payer and own his own house now.

Anil Kumar has spent 20 years on the footpath selling women’swear and sarees. He has used his savings to own a house in the posh locality of Rajajipuram and a Wagon R. Needless to add, he’s a regular income-tax payer too.

Mohammad Moin has spend 10 years on the footpath selling footwear. He has educated his two sons and a daughter in a convent school and has purchased a vehicle for himself. 

“By the grace of God, Lucknow footpaths have given us daily bread but now, we want to earn some butter too. For that, we have to change our selling strategies and add variety to our wares. Yes, we have to face a number of problems as we don’t have a regular shop in the city. We put up our makeshift shops in the weekly markets,” says Zameer.

“I am an Arts graduate from Lucknow University. I wanted to do  a respectable job like anyone but I was unlucky and never got one. That’s when I decided to put up a shop in Aminabad but I had no money to pay the advance so, I started working on the footpath and selling stuff in the weekly markets of Aminabad, Sadar, Alambagh, Nishatganj and Nakkhas. By the grace of God, I started earning. My family opposed this in the beginning but when I started earning more than my brothers, they relented. Now, all my children—two sons and two daughters—are in good schools. I have a mobike and every household item like fridge, oven, washing machine, grinder etc. I am paying income tax too.”

Anil Kumar says, “The footpaths have given me everything. Today, I have a three-bedroom house in Rajajipuram. I am proud too of my hard work.” Anil adds, “I even set up a shop in Pratap Market and Aminabad but that was not so profitable. In fact, the losses I incurred were recovered when I returned to do business on the footpaths.”

Mohammad Moin says, “I have all varieties of footwear to offer customers. I am sure I can match any big showroom. All my children are studying. I don’t want them to follow in my footsteps because it’s tough. You’ve got to brave all kinds of weather. Sometimes even the police extort money from us. I don’t want my children’s to face all these things, that’s why I have got them admitted in the best of schools in the city.”

But all said and done, all these footpath ‘millionaires’ don’t want their children to go through what they have “suffered”. All of them want their children to get into government jobs or get an MBA degree and do bigger business.