Life of a penniless but contented balloon seller in Mardan

MARDAN: Forty year old Hukam Khan is the most contented man despite being poor. He does not expect anything from the government and has never contemplated making any demand from the rulers because he is of the firm belief that only Allah Almighty can fulfil his needs.
The beaming Hukam Khan looks after his six children and wife by selling balloons on his bicycle. He also sharpens daggers, table knives and scissors in Chakaro Pul locality and the adjacent villages in Mardan district. He paddles his bicycle the whole day in search of customers. He serves people who want to sharpen their hardware like daggers and knives with a small machine fixed to his bicycle.
Encircled by children, Hukam Khan is sometimes seen filling small balloons with a tiny hand-pump. He tries his best to make the children happen as they make an effort to surpass one another in the getting colourful balloons from him.
He is able to juggle his two small businesses with effortless ease because he has been doing this for years.
Clad in clean white dress, the bearded Hukam Khan sells two balloons for Rs10 but sometimes he offers an extra balloon for free when someone purchases more. He has been earning through this business for the last 10 years. He buys one packet of balloons daily for Rs120 and earns Rs100 profit on it. However, he does not know his exact earning because sometimes a balloon he is filling with air bursts and is wasted.
As member of the Tableeghi Jamaat, Hukam Khan spends three days preaching every month while staying away from home. This time though he had to rush home during the three days stint that preachers spend in a mosque in connection with Islamic preaching.
“My family had some financial issue that prompted me to come home during the ‘seh roza’ and do my job to earn livelihood for my family with the permission of my Tableeghi ameer. I will rejoin my colleagues as soon as I earn enough to meet my family’s needs,” Hukam Khan told this scribe.
When asked about his wishes, he said two of his daughters had learnt 15 parts (siparah) of the holy Quran by heart and it is his dream to see them recite and remember the whole Quran to become Hafiz-i-Quran. “I want to celebrate the occasion by holding a small feast when my daughters complete learning the Quran by heart,” he remarked.
He said he could not even afford to arrange a ceremony for the Khatm-e-Quran of his daughters as he didn’t have the resources to do so. “I believe that Allah will help me meet those expenses as well,” he added.