चलती फिरती दुकान

A street vendor is a person who offers goods or services for sale to the public without having a permanent built up structure but with a temporary static structure or mobile stall.The urban sociological landscape comprises people across the economic spectrum. By making goods and services available at places that are conveniently accessible, street vendors not only reduce the transaction costs of everyday purchases, but also play a significant role in increasing the labour hours. Therefore, street vendors have a major role in reducing the cost of living in urban cities.

The street-vending economy also ensures equitable distribution of economic gains across its production and distribution value chains unlike those in big malls and supermarkets.But traditionally, street vendors have remained a neglected lot, and have been subject to harassment by police and local governments.The idea of street vending extends beyond its traditional definition, however. Seen from a wider perspective, it opens up new vistas of economic activity; it’s a form of micro-entrepreneurship that can address the unemployment challenge confronting India.

We searched for such vendors, asked them about how, when and why they started selling and at what time of the day they move in the market.Initially, we tried to collect stories of the moving vendors at Gateway of India, where we learned how people from other cities migrate to Mumbai for work, adding to the local economy. Like, Sajan Ali- Chaiwala from Uttar Pradesh working since 4 years, Kishor- Photographer from UP working since 22 years, Mintu- Bhelpuriwala from UP working since 15 years, Rajesh- Shoe polishwala from MP working since 20 years, Ajay Shinde- kaan saaf karne wala from Sangli working since 8 years, Rajan kumar from Bihar- sells water and beverages since 1 year and is a BA student, Vilas Shankar Savlekar owner of Savlekar's Chilki sells everyday for 4 hours in the evening, Rakhi sells fried snacks in train since 4 years and stays in Kalva. These interactions helped us to communicate more and understand their hardships.

To learn more about the moving street vendors in Mumbai, we explored the markets of Borivali and Dadar. These markets housed both the stationary as well as the moving vendors. We observed how the vendors move along the markets selling their goods. They mostly sell jewellery, fruits, flowers, candyfloss, cushions, envelopes, bags, calendars and some clothing items. Many of the vendors were from Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and have came here to find their livelihood.

These small stories helped us to understand how these vendors protect the culture of the city by selling traditional and ethnic foods and crafts, which help to preserve cultural heritage. They also promote cultural exchange by bringing together people from different cultural backgrounds.