“I have been selling jalebi for 24 years. I learnt how to make jalebi from my father. He was from Gujranwala where I spent my childhood. Though making and selling jalebi from carts is very common in Gujranwala and Lahore, I think my father was one of the first to put up a jalebi stall by a roadside in Rawalpindi some 40 years ago.

The city was pretty calm 24 years ago, there were not as many shops and there wasn’t much traffic on the roads. Everything is a mess now, but I do not pay much attention to my surroundings. I always mind my own business. On this road, where I sell my jalebi, I have seen a lot happen during the last two decades but I never try to interfere in someone’s else’s affairs.

That is the advice I also give my children and to the younger generation. I tell them to mind their own business and to not interfere in unnecessary issues.”

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2016