“I never attended school, and began working in various restaurants as a tea boy when I was young. I was the third of seven brothers from a poor family, so I didn’t have the choice to go to school instead of working.

I got a job at a restaurant at a train station, and that gave me the opportunity to find a job on a train in 2001 – on the Rail Car 7-6 Rawalpindi and 6-11 Lahore. I began selling confectioneries on a trolley from one end of the train to the other, all the way to the last carriage.

I have a contract with the main contractor, who invested around Rs6,000 to fill my trolley with goods. The rate list is set by the main contractor, but selling items on the train is not an easy job.

Passengers complain about the prices on many items and some use very harsh language. And the railway staff are also unfriendly – particularly the railway police, the train conductor and the H.T guard.

They pick up items from the trolley and don’t pay for them, and are sometimes abusive towards me.

The main contractor has set a target to sell goods worth around Rs2,600 every day and deposit that with him. Sometimes the railway DCO visits and fines us on the rates.

Life is hard for poor people. Earning a living on trains and at train stations throughout the month, even on occasions like Eid, is difficult because you have to leave your family and loved ones at home.”

Published in Dawn November 19th, 2016