Floating traders come alive

FE Report
 Floating traders in the capital came alive after weeks of political volatility largely thanks to the ICC T20 World Cup 2014, which began here on March 16.
The traders said the global event came as welcome blessing for the community which suffered much because of the immediate past political impasse over formation of caretaker government for holding general elections.
Bangladesh is hosting the fourth edition of shortest version of the game with the participation of top 16 cricket playing nations of the world.
"Now, we're passing good time with the products, specially those of sports items, as our sales have gone up by 40 per cent over the last several days," Abdur Rahman, who sells sport products like t-shirt, country flags and colourful hats around the premises of Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium.
They can sell products worth Tk2000 a day on an average during match days, he said, adding that they did not make business for days because of the frequent countrywide shutdowns and political violence.
The floating traders are regularly travelling from venues to venues in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet with varieties of the products to overcome the losses they had incurred since October.
Abbas Uddin, another trader, said he came to the capital from Chittagong in the morning (Friday) to catch the cricket fans of India and Pakistan, who met at Sher-e-Bangla National Stadium, the home of cricket on the first day of Super10 matches.
According to them, the traders charge Tk150 for a t-shirt, Tk100 for a medium-sized flag, hats and Tk20 for a hand band.
Like them, seasonal or occasional painters are also earning well because of the 22-day cricket extravaganza which will conclude on April 6.
Talking to the FE, Shuvo, a law student of Dhaka International University (DIU), said students of many private and public universities thronged to the national stadium for painting parts of cricket fans' bodies.
He said they decorated the faces and other parts of the fans' bodies with flags, names of favourite cricketers and other designs.
"We can earn Tk1200 on an average by doing the part-time jobs," he said, adding that they use poster colour in painting the bodies so that the cricket fans can easily remove the paints with water after the match.