“I am from a village in Pindi Bhattian, which is a sub-district of the Hafizabad district. The region is known for its production of fine quality rice and I used to work in a rice field. After floods in recent years, many people had to leave the agriculture sector and move on to other professions. Fuel and fertilisers are increasing and farmers are not able to save as much money and cannot afford the costs. That is why I moved to Rawalpindi a couple of months ago and started selling kulfi.

Sometimes I feel like it is absurd that a farmer is selling kulfi in the harvest season, but I did not have another option. I had to come to Rawalpindi because the people in my village and the surrounding area know me. They will talk if they see me selling kulfi and I will be embarrassed. However, I do not have to worry about someone seeing me sell kulfi here”.

Published in Dawn October 29th, 2016