April 24, 2008	Thursday	Rabi-us-Sani 17, 1429

KARACHI, April 23: Though global crude oil prices nearly hit the $120 mark on New York City’s trading floors and the world’s bureaucrats have lately been waxing philosophical about the international food crisis, people like Aurangzaib and countless others like him worldwide are feeling the acute pinch of these crises the most.

Originally from Attock and now settled in one of Karachi’s katchi abadis, Aurangzaib, who is married with four kids (two sons and two daughters), is a driver by profession and gets by on minimum wage.

“Things are very difficult. Survival is difficult. I earn Rs6,000 a month. I can’t make ends meet. We barely get by. With my monthly salary I can usually cover for only 15 days. The remainder of the month is very tough. I usually have to depend on credit in the hope that I will pay everything off once the new salary comes,” he says.

Though things have steadily been getting worse, he feels price hikes during the past one year have particularly hit him hard.

“There has been a great change in the last one year alone. I would say the cost of everything has gone up by 50 per cent. Six to seven thousand rupees used to be enough to get by. Now, I think even if I earned Rs10,000 it would barely be enough.” In fact, Aurangzaib says the fare hikes on public transport have forced him to change jobs.

“I live in a katchi abadi of North Nazimabad. I used to work quite far from home and used to travel by bus. I changed jobs and now I walk to work, as my employer lives close by. The bus fare between two stops is now Rs9. That means nearly Rs20 going and coming daily. Considering how expensive everything else is I had to change jobs as I couldn’t afford to commute anymore.”

As for food, he says many things people with higher incomes take for granted are rarities for him and his family.

“We usually cook vegetables or lentils at home. We can’t afford meat. The last time I had meat was a month a go. A year ago things were a lot better. But it seems as time goes by things get even more challenging. Since my wife has kidney problems, she’s on a special diet. We do not buy wheat flour (atta), mostly because it’s hard to find these days. Instead, we buy readymade roti from a tandoor three times a day.”

‘Government responsibility’

Asked what he thought the government could do to control the situation, he says “it’s the government’s responsibility to control inflation. Life is unbearable for the common man.”

When told the government says oil is expensive in the world market while there is a global food shortage, he said these explanations offered him little solace.

“What can I say? Oil might be expensive, but it’s crushing the poor. If there is inflation in this country, how will the poor cope? The prices for everything have gone up. But my salary has been the same for a year. Ghee used to be Rs70-75, now it’s about Rs140. I’m the one who has been affected, not the government. Why don’t the people in power think about the common man? Have they ever thought about how we live? Have they ever thought about how we survive?”

Aurangzaib says that if the present state of affairs continues, he might have to sacrifice his children’s education.

“I pay Rs2,500 just as house rent. My kids are in school. I pay full attention to their education and I want them to complete it, but the way things are going I don’t think I’ll be able to. I’m the sole breadwinner in my house.”

In a situation where even the middle class is being squeezed and finding it hard to make ends meet, it is truly a miracle that the working class is still putting up a fight to put food on the table. People like Aurangzaib don’t want handouts, but just a chance to live with dignity, a simple logic that seems to escape the powers that be.—QAM