The many nuances of hawking by roving hawkers

Nilratan Halder | Published: January 23, 2026 22:44:29

While living in Kolkata, Syed Mujtaba Ali, a versatile genius, once asked one of his followers and regular visitors, if he could correctly follow what the many roving hawkers shouted to offer as commodity or service. Barring a few of their calls, the majority gave their signature calls not understandable at all. It is not any different in Dhaka. The two cities meet at a point in this respect. The seasoned hawkers' calls are quite audible but not readable. So multifarious and distinctly different are their calls with a special stamp on each one of those and yet they are not intelligible. Nor are they like the famous song "Putul Nebe Go" sung by Shyamal Mitra in the 1958 film, Bhanu Pelo Lottery.
There are different types of voice modulation for exposition of their wares and services. But if the articulation is queer, lengthy or shortened by the hawkers in a trademark form, it is the customers who have to familiarise themselves with the door-to-door offer. Mostly they cater to a special group comprising children or housewives who have to manage the domestic affairs and cannot leave home for some reason. Quite a number of such special categories of hawkers are on the way out in urban space. For example, the 'lace fita' hawkers seem to be on the verge of extinction. Although, they shouted only 'lace fita', they had bangles, eyeliners, lipsticks, tips and an array of cheap imitation jewelleries in their big bundles and a glass-covered wooden case.
Their close cousins are 'Hari-patil feriwallah'(hawkers of kitchen utensils). Who would shout the ha---ri---patil in a manner with a long tonal vibration to the first word and then bringing the second word to a sudden pause. But where they make the mistake is to call their utensils made of silver. This they do unknowingly and not to cheat customers because the common people call it so. In fact, their wares are made of aluminium. What is interesting is that some of them do not accept cash but exchange their wares with used clothes.
If this is somewhat strange, there are creative hawkers stranger than fiction. A few years ago, there was a genius of a hawker who catered to the general public with a wide variety of seasonal and off-season fruits in Mohammadpur area and used to mention the source of all the fruits not available with others. So, to create a greater impact he used to shout like this: Narasingdir peara, Barishaler aamra, Gazipurer lotkon, Faridpurer jam and so on. His presence was regular but for some years that young hawker no longer appears. Surely, his customers miss not only his fruits but also the inventive hawking style he introduced.
There appears, however, yet another stylish hawker who would remain silent till noon and take his position at a strategic street corner. But in the afternoon he starts moving and making his special statement by announcing that there are these and those vegetables. But then he adds, 'there are some commodities on special offer' like the superstores often practice as a strategy of business. Hawkers like him bring something new to the trade. That is important for them to stay in business.
Some of them have taken advantage of technology. As if they would not damage their vocal chords; so they have recorded voice that do the calling for them. The same message gets repeated such as 'dui keji onion ekshow taka' (Two kilograms of onion for Tk100). Many now use this device to announce their wares and prices. These are van-wallahs who can afford such voice recording for trade.
When hawkers are exploring such advantages of modern device, there are others who do not at all care for calling loudly. They produce sound from their wares--- such as a keyman just jerks a bundle of iron keys with or without a lock together and the sound attracts his customers.
There are scores of such hawkers who have special ways of drawing probable customers' attention. Umbrella fixers or repairers, quilt-makers look forward to seasonal occupation but a cobbler has all-season business. Now the quilt-makers and umbrella repairers are rarely seen to hawk their services while the cobbler's presence is few and far between for different reasons. If the first two occupations are less rewarding, the last one is in high demand. But a cobbler now does his job from a fixed place where his customers go instead of him going to announce his service from door to door.
Similarly earthen pot hawkers of different categories are becoming a vanishing species. They have cups, pots for milk fermentation into curd, dice for traditional cake and even flower pots. Some even hawk live flower plants in such pots. But the fact is that earthen flower pots are being replaced by like-alike plastic pots. So hawkers are also disappearing fast. In trade or business, adaptation has been the mantra. It brings new opportunities for some and disaster for others.