Rawalpindi’s Arya Mohalla-born Ali Akbar, the lone and possibly last newspaper hawker on Paris streets, is in his hometown these days primarily to care for his 90-year-old mother, visit his father’s grave, and free birds from their roadside captives.
It’s expensive, but I can’t help it, remarked Ali, explaining the third of his reasons for being in the garrison city.
Sometimes, he urges the auto-rickshaw driver to stop in the midst of the busy Saddar road and, despite his sister’s concerns, goes to the man sitting on the street keeping dozens of sparrows and mynas in his homemade cage and gets them released.
This is almost an addiction for me, and in Paris, I feed birds and arrange water for them in St Germaine, where I sell Le Monde,” said 72-year-old Ali Akbar, who has been selling the newspaper since 1972. After more than 50 years of hawking newspapers, he is now more Parisian than ‘Pindiwal’.
Ali is well-established in France, and his five sons have begun their professional careers following their studies. “Despite the odds of life and the struggle of the early days, my biggest relief is that my children, all five sons have received good education in France and they are now grown up responsible French citizens,” Ali Akbar remarked. But what is his secret to surviving?
His funny headlines and rants make people laugh. Monica is pregnant with twins from Bill Clinton, for example, was a hilarious headline. He has become the idol of Parisians. Several filmmakers have made documentaries about him. He has been invited to television shows and scholarly groups. His book “Je Fais Rire Le Monde Mais Le Monde Me Fait Pleurer” (I Make the World Laugh, but the World Makes Me Cry) has also brought him great acclaim. The book has been translated into English, Greek, and Korean languages. Currently, Ali is looking for someone to translate the book into Urdu.
The beginning was difficult, but the youngster never gave up and even worked on ships, risking his life in the cold coldness of Europe. However, his ambition was to aid his family in Pakistan and begin a new life.
Ali regrets that things haven’t improved in Pakistan; instead, there is a sense of decadence and decline in practically every aspect of life. People who are struggling financially have become increasingly irritable and disrespectful. My aim is to see Rawalpindi as clean and well-managed as Paris. Only a leadership like Mao can make this happen, he remarked, having also visited China in the 1970s and seen the opium-smoking nation turn out to be the most disciplined nation.
