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Valentine’s Day inflates street vendors’ balloon business

Valentine’s Day inflates street vendors’ balloon business

The bulging bunches of red heart-shaped foil balloons beckoned all loving hearts to the Khayaban-i-Jami intersection.
15 Feb, 2025

Valentine’s Day despite coinciding with Shab-i-Barat had the same rush of customers gathering at florists, confectionery shops and around the balloon men.

The bulging bunches of red heart-shaped foil balloons beckoned all loving hearts to the Khayaban-i-Jami intersection.

Most of the heart-shaped balloons were plain red, followed by red ones with ‘I love you’ printed on them in silver, silver balloons, a few golden, too, along with pink ones in both dark and light shades. Every other second there was a car stopping by to grab a balloon or two, or even a bunch after inquiring the price, which turned out to be quite reasonable at Rs100 each.

The balloon men were quick to yank a string with a balloon from their huge bunches, tie a stone covered in foil to the end of the string for weight and hand it to a customer. If they wanted to buy more than one, the same action was repeated promptly.

Farman, with his bunch of bright red balloons, was taking it all in from his position inside a nearby parking lot. “I have only just arrived. I have not yet sold a single balloon,” he told Dawn. It was late afternoon and one wondered why he had wasted so much time, and business, to start this late. Pat came the reply: “I’m a labourer, not a balloon man really.”

Then what was he doing here? “Bhai,” he gestured to a middle-aged balloon man on the main road, “brought me here from under the Gizri flyover”.

Mohammad Riaz, the one responsible for bringing the young man to Clifton, smiled when asked about him. “Soon after arriving here this morning I sold a bunch of 50 red balloons, then an SUV arrived and bought 100 more,” he said. “Seeing how much business Valentine’s Day was bringing me this time, I realised I needed an assistant,” he said. “So I went looking for one. I went to Gizri during the Friday prayer break. Farman was the first one there to run up to me, requesting work.

“He was sitting there with jackhammers and chisels thinking that I was looking for a labourer for demolition work, which is what he does. But when I told him what I needed him for, he willingly agreed to come here with me. Now I’m selling balloons on the main road while he will sell them in the parking lot. I will pay him a percentage from each balloon that he can sell. On top of that I have also promised him Rs1,500 for his services,” Riaz explained.

“From what I understand about Valentine’s Day, it may be a Western festival but it is a celebration of love for all humankind. And Shabb-i-Barat is a night of blessings, a time for prayers and doing good deeds. I am trying to do my bit in my own humble means by observing both these special occasions by selling these heart-shaped red balloons and giving someone work today,” he shrugged.

Originally published in Dawn, February 15th, 2025

Comments

Khadija A Feb 15, 2025 12:23pm
We have to celebrate Love days. Nothing more beutiful than Love day.
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Taj Ahmad Feb 15, 2025 01:40pm
Happy Valentine’s Day to all beautiful women’s of the world. Without women’s, men’s world is nothing.
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Dr. Salaria, Aamir Ahmad Feb 15, 2025 02:23pm
Coinciding of 2025 Valentine's Day with Shab-e-Barat of 1446 Al Hijrah was a real coincidence.
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Laila Feb 15, 2025 07:05pm
I don't care for it. Show your love all 365 days. VD is just a commercial thing.
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NK Feb 15, 2025 08:05pm
What a wasteful tradition we have acquired and now commercialized.
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NK Feb 15, 2025 08:07pm
The world depends on ONLY BEAUTIFUL WOMEN? Are you serious?
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NK Feb 15, 2025 08:11pm
Unfortunately both are foreign bought. Except for Indo Pak there is no significance of this night in Muslim world. Where as VD is the most wasteful of the tradition we are indulging into
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SyedHasni Feb 16, 2025 04:22am
"Where there is love there is life." - Mahatma Gandhi
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