Cleaning up the city, one car at a time

Published April 19, 2015
Care for a car wash? — Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
Care for a car wash? — Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

KARACHI: They don’t just clean cars, they take good care of them as well. The boys with buckets of water and dusters, who wash cars by the roadside are valets, too, if you trust them enough to leave your car keys with them, that is.

Pervez Khan has been washing cars near the passport office in Saddar for almost 20 years now. A red bandanna tied across his forehead like Rambo, it looks as if he is on a serious mission than just washing cars. As is the normal rate, he charges Rs50 for only washing from outside, Rs150 for cleaning the interior, too and Rs200 for shampoo and polish. “People who are happy with our work sometimes pay us more than what we ask for, from Rs300 to Rs500,” Pervez says.

“Those are also the ones who hand us their car keys without even our asking for it. They trust us, which feels good, and we channel that good feeling into taking care of their vehicles. Of course, there are also those who want us to only clean from outside as they feel better locking the car. For them we find a spot right at the front as we can’t move their vehicles around like the others, which we keep moving back and forth to accommodate the other cars,” he explains as one car owner comes over to pay him for the car wash before getting into his car. Noticing the man having trouble reversing as he tries to manoeuvre out of the busy parking area, Pervez offers to help. Getting into the driving seat, he expertly has the car on the road and ready to drive off before getting out of it.

Hard-working people. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
Hard-working people. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

Asked why he has spent so many years washing cars when he could have found a job anywhere else, he says this work pays more. “I have a family, a wife and four children who study. Whenever I tried finding a job, I couldn’t find anything that could fetch me more than Rs10,000 a month. But here, I’m my own boss and earn from Rs500 to Rs800 daily, which is better.”

The only problem faced by Pervez and his other car washing buddies on the road is the police. “They really bully us,” complains Munawar Ali. “We have to wash their vehicles free and still we get pushed, kicked, slapped around and beaten by the men in uniform. There is also this driver of a DSP, who comes here often, threatening us with dire consequences if we don’t wash his master’s car. If they feel like it, they lock us up, too, as they say that we do illegal work,” he adds.

They shampoo and polish, too. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
They shampoo and polish, too. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

“But what illegal work? We don’t even have a cart or anything like those vendors who take over and block footpaths. It’s just us, a one-man show with our buckets, nothing else,” says Munawar.

“Cleaning cars isn’t so easy when done manually. Car washes at petrol stations easily do this work in minutes but we take out the floor mats, wash them, and brush the dirt off the carpet, the seats, the dashboard, etc, before concentrating on the outside,” says Nur Mohammad Khan, admiring the shine on the body of a car he has just shampooed and polished.

Washing under duress. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
Washing under duress. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

“But after all this work, we get paid a measly amount though they will pay Rs600 to Rs1,000 at the automatic car wash.”

Another big manual car wash area by these self-employed labourers is near Jheel Park at Tariq Road. Most of the men working there are Pakhtun. When asked the reason for this, they laugh and say, almost unanimously: “We Pakhtuns are hard-working people, that’s why.”

From there one heads to Clifton where the Old Clifton Park next to Dau Talwar is lined with yellow buckets and men are busy washing cars. There is also a police mobile parked and policemen supervising its cleaning.

A thankless job. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star
A thankless job. / Photos by Fahim Siddiqi/White Star

“We work here from 9am to 7pm and wash three to four cars a day for which we charge Rs500 each,” says Abrar Hussain, going about his business there, as he glances at the police mobile being washed by a colleague.

Asked where they get the yellow buckets from, he says they are used ghee containers, bought from snack bars. And the water comes from the park and anywhere else. “Water is not really that much an issue. We keep a drum here filled with water, too. Most of the times we get it from the park. Sometimes we also buy it for which all of us car washers contribute some amount,” he says.

Published in Dawn, April 19th, 2015

On a mobile phone? Get the Dawn Mobile App: Apple Store | Google Play

Opinion

Editorial

Defining extremism
Updated 18 Mar, 2024

Defining extremism

Redefining extremism may well be the first step to clamping down on advocacy for Palestine.
Climate in focus
18 Mar, 2024

Climate in focus

IN a welcome order by the Supreme Court, the new government has been tasked with providing a report on actions taken...
Growing rabies concern
18 Mar, 2024

Growing rabies concern

DOG-BITE is an old problem in Pakistan. Amid a surfeit of public health challenges, rabies now seems poised to ...
Provincial share
Updated 17 Mar, 2024

Provincial share

PPP has aptly advised Centre to worry about improving its tax collection rather than eying provinces’ share of tax revenues.
X-communication
17 Mar, 2024

X-communication

IT has now been a month since Pakistani authorities decided that the country must be cut off from one of the...
Stateless humanity
17 Mar, 2024

Stateless humanity

THE endless hostility between India and Pakistan has reduced prisoners to mere statistics. Although the two ...