India’s Micro Entrepreneurs Run the Daily Service Economy

By Jawahar Malhotra

NEW DELHI, India: In India, one realizes that there are as many possibilities to eke out a living as there are desires in the realm of the imagination. And since the vast majority of the population is below the poverty level and serves the economic classes above them, they have discovered ways to make money by breaking many chores down to the basics and offering them at a palatable price. It is a division of labor in the micro-entrepreneurial cosmos that is mostly self-financed on a shoe-string or is commission or fee based and the game of getting the most rupees for the day’s work is played out every moment of the day on the streets in plain sight without pretensions or shame.

Take our apartment complex, for example, which is not unlike many others which are made of tall buildings and inside a brick property wall. Several nokranis (maids) provide domestic help in cleaning and making meals on an hourly basis and have their appointed flats. There are two presswallahs (ironing people) who send their kids around every morning to all the flats to see if they have clothes to iron. The man outside the wall with a small slapped together kiosk sells small knick-knacks and snacks that you might need. Next to him is the sabziwallah (vegetable man) with his own rolling cart. In the corner is a Mother Diary kiosk – barely 6 by 5 ft run by a man and his son, selling milk, butter, bread and other refrigerated items.

On the other side of the gate is a mochi (cobbler), under the shade of a tree and behind him a darzi (tailor) who rolls his machine under the tree at night. A few men wipe cars clean with wet rags every morning and the priest in the small room in the front conducts prayers and services a few times a day. A scavenger – we call him kabadiwallah – comes by once a week to pick through the discarded items to see what can be salvaged and sold. He also offers money for old throwaway items as well as paper and cardboard. The bartanwallah (utensils man) carries a wicker basket full of steel pots, pans, plates and glasses which he trades and sells for old clothes and utensils.

By the Metro Rail Station, the rickshaw wallahs come in several varieties – cycle, battery and scooter – each with their own rate per kilometer and estimates of fares and the eggwallah makes boiled eggs, omlettes and batter fried toasts; across from him, the chaiwallah (tea man) brews hot cups from an enormous aluminum tea kettle over a gas stove. Across the road, the roadside mini-mechanic fixes punctured tire and does brake jobs, next to the service station that sells petrol and CNG (compressed natural gas).

Around the corner, the narialwallah (coconut man) sells green coconuts, splitting them open to drink; another man sells watermelons; a raydiwallah (cartman) sells cooked chickpeas and fried bread and a bansuriwallah (flute man) plays a bamboo flute from the stack he sells. At the corner is a phoolwallah (flower man) who sells fresh flowers and bouquets and garlands. Further up, a nai (barber) has set up his chair and mirror under a tarp. A different kabadiwallah only collects scraps of cloth and takes it to some sewing houses to be made into sheets and quilts. The juicewallah (juice man) sells a variety of freshly squeezed juices at his stand; but a different one squeezes five-foot long sugar cane stalks at his rolling cart for juice through huge, dangerous looking gear driven wheels. A distance away, a talewallah (locksmith) sells a huge variety of locks, chains and keys and next to him, a loyewallah (metalsmith) will weld and bend all sorts of metals.

A few provide even more personal services. Every evening, Kanti Lal goes to different flats to give Indian style body and head massages, from 7 in the morning till 10 at night, with a four hour afternoon snooze in between. Lata has a busy schedule doing hairdesigns, and nails in her client’s homes. In the center of the city, a man offers his services to clean ears and another sells secondhand books, on which he’ll refund 50 per cent of the cost once they are returned. And, the all-important and ubiquitous tutors will guide your child through school, giving tuitions either at your home or their own.

A sugracane juice wallah

In the Indian landscape – as in many undeveloped and impoverished countries – the great sublimer of Life is the realization that one has an obligation to allow everyone to exist within the walks and norms of the strata of society into which you are born and then say prayers for the Lord’s benedictions and protection. You comprehend that, even within the daily drudgery and grind, through every day of an unceasing cycle of seasons, repetitive events create a comfort zone in which everybody accepts their lot and plays their part in the unending drama and spectacle of Life.

Out in the streets, the main ingredient in the urban Indian landscape is people and the interactions between them; and the acceptance that Indians cannot live without the reassurance, dialogue and comfort of these connections. It is a universal truth that people beget more people, that they congregate wherever there is a crowd, that someone this coalescence of the body public makes others feel alive, whether it is a plaza in Paris or Times Square or a mall in Manila. This holds doubly true for India, where people never stop showing up at all places, at any time and the streets are full of those who sleep (and live) there at night and those who are packing up shop for the day.

This huge block of people is at once India’s strength: with so many minds thinking up solutions to the all sorts of problems, and working on the means to produce wealth at all levels of the economy, it is no wonder that Indians are brilliant at finances and highly creative in the arts. But it is also India’s weakness, with nearly 40 per cent of the population 30 years and younger, so many young people seek opportunities that they cannot realize for lack of jobs, lack of money and tough access for upward mobility. This is why so many – as estimated 35 million – Indians live overseas and many more yearn to work in foreign lands. And for those who can’t get the opportunity, Bollywood weaves elaborate song and dance fantasy movies for the masses to, at least for a few hours, glimpse and vicariously live the good life.