Muhammad Hossain runs his household by selling roti, lentils, fried eggs, and vegetables on the footpath. Every day, by seven in the morning, he arrives at the footpath in front of the TCB building in Karwan Bazar. He sets up two long tables and a few chairs and begins preparing for sales. He cooks roti and fried eggs right there on the footpath using an LPG cylinder stove. He brings lentils and vegetables prepared from home.

Most of the customers who come to eat at Hossain’s stall, now over 50, are labourers and people with limited incomes. He spoke yesterday, Tuesday, around 2:00 pm. At that time, there were no customers at his stall. He said such a situation in the afternoon had never happened before.

“Business conditions are not good. How much profit can you make selling roti and fried eggs with the way prices of goods are rising?”