Goa: Differently-abled Tonca man walks 4km everyday to run his business

PANAJI: A differently abled man with impaired speech and a hip problem, Bashir Rehmansab Nawar, 40, walks from his home in Tonca to Miramar, St Inez and even Taleigao, collecting day old newspapers. This is his daily routine from 9am to 11am and 6pm to 8pm.
Perhaps one of the rare types of entrepreneurs in Goa, he has a story to tell about not giving up despite all odds.
Purchasing the newspapers for Rs 5-10 per kg, he fashions them into paper bags in both small and big sizes and sells them for a living.
“I’ve been making these bags for the past 20 years along with my mother. She has needed to stay at home to look after my father after he suffered a heart attack. I am the only one who can venture out and gather newspapers,” he told TOI.
Together, the mother-son duo can make 100 paper bags a day, which are then sold for Rs 1 and Rs 2 per piece for the small and big bag, respectively. Shopkeepers in Panaji and medical stores are his main clientele.
Recognising his enterprising skill, a Panaji resident, who he only knows by the name “Mona madam”, donated a shopping trolley to him. Bashir then added a chain lock to it which he uses to fasten the cart to prevent it from moving and a horn to alert motorists before crossing roads in the city. Later, he even added a torch to allow him to maneuver around potholes and over speed bumps in the evenings.
Walking nearly four kilometers every day has been a dreadful experience for him this summer season, yet he smiles and says that he is grateful that it’s not as bad as the monsoon. “Besides making sure that I remain covered, I have to ensure that the newspapers don’t get soaked. It gets difficult on days when the roads are flooded, but I still don’t take the day off,” he said.
A confident speaker, despite his speech impairment, Bashir, however, still gets affected when he is treated with hostility by passersby who mistake his staggered walking and slurred speech for drunkenness and his impoverished appearance for homelessness.
“Sometimes, people are genuinely curious and want to hear my story. But even then, others are suspicious and wonder why,” he said.