Spotted on the foot-over bridge!

As soon as the last rings of the bells are heard in the schools located in Tejgaon, Dhaka, 35-year-old Mosammat Aalo prepares for her peak hours of business with her basket full of fancy ornaments such as beaded earrings, necklaces, bangles etc. The students of Holy Cross and Tejgaon Girls' School are some of her regular customers. After school, they gather around their very own Aalo Apa (sister Aalo) to buy these beautiful accessories which they specially ordered for the upcoming Eid. Right after school, Aalo moves her makeshift shop to the foot-over bridge located in front of the Daily Star Centre. 

Female garment workers and busy pedestrians of Tejgaon-Farmgate area also buy these unique ornaments from her, but not without a good bargain. Without any permanent shop, Aalo has been selling her jewellery for more than five years in this area.

Harsh reality has turned Aalo, a mother of two sons and a daughter, into a hard-working peddler and a craftswoman. Aalo says, “My husband was an electrician. He got electrocuted while repairing a machine. After the accident, he became too weak to do any hard work.” 

“To run my family I taught myself to make jewellery with beads and started selling them,” adds Aalo.

Once a week, Aalo travels to Demra, miles away from her home at Kaltabazaar in Old Dhaka. There, she buys beads and laces of different sizes and colours from the wholesalers. Aalo also studies the popular designs of these ornaments. “For Eid, most of my customers ask for the 'Kironmala' necklace and the 'Rupkotha' earrings. After observing the designs, I learned to make them myself,” says Aalo.

Aalo sells all her crafts in several parts of Tejgaon and Farmgate – sometimes in front of schools, near the road junctions or on the foot over-bridge. She earns 500 to 700 takas a day. However, no odds could keep Aalo from making the best necklace to give to her daughter as an Eid gift.

Photos: Prabir Das