“I have been making paan for 45 years. I started out in Lahore and came to Islamabad in 2000. Our family has been in the paan business for generations. Our elders were also part of the Pakistan Movement and supported the Quaid-i-Azam. I also want to promote Pakistan and its culture. That is why I have all the songs ever recorded by a Pakistani artist since the creation the country. I play these songs to match the weather.

My paan dan holds the record for being the largest in Asia. I ordered a new one to celebrate Pakistan’s golden jubilee. I have been nominated for the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz every year since 2000 from Punjab and the information ministry in Islamabad, but I have never been given the award.

I have two shops, one in Melody and one in Daman-i-Koh. My children also help me. This is our bread and butter.

I have worked all my life but I could not afford to buy my own house and yet, I have served paan to so many influential people, including a Canadian prime minister, the Sharif brothers, Imran Khan and Gen Pervez Musharraf.

I wear a different suit everyday, which I stitch myself. It takes me three or four days to make one suit.

I want to entertain people. They do not know my sorrows but I want to take away theirs.”

Published in Dawn, February 23rd, 2019