Paradoxically in this age of big supermarkets, the proliferation of hawkers and vendors especially during the festive seasons has taken on more and more importance and today it is recognized as a social and economic reality. These merchants have invaded all the main arteries of towns and they play a vital role as they provide a significant proportion of goods and services to consumers. Our buying habits have altered considerably: our initial distrust and prejudice against them have dissipated to give way to a more friendly acceptance. The quality of goods offered is as good as if not better than those in shops and they are cheaper.

Hawkers and vendors lend a folkloric dimension to our landscape. Our towns and villages are transformed into colourful Asian capitals. They are armed with persuasive skills to entice consumers to buy their products. Amidst cacophonic music, shouts and laughter, they add gaiety, frolics and mirth to the atmosphere of towns. Without them, the city would lose its soul and an atmosphere of morosity would reign. Many of them have embraced hawking as a viable occupation because of contextual acute unemployment.

In the 80s a large segment of the population was denied jobs in certain specific areas and they had no choice but to seek refuge in hawking and vending for their livelihood. In those lean years, instead of roaming about with a begging bowl or knocking at the doors of social security offices, they ventured into the hawking business at first with a meagre capital. They have weathered many a storm but it turned out to be a blessing in disguise - a challenge for their livelihood Through patience, hard work, resilience and perseverance they have ultimately against all odds climbed the social ladder, undreamt of in the past. Today they take immense pride in being self-employed and self-reliant and they have changed their lives from rags to riches. They would even encourage their siblings to take hawking as a job. Many possess a fleet of vehicles and are seen as itinerant hawkers in every nook and corner of the island. From sunrise to sunset, they are busy loading and unloading their wares twice a day. Even on Sundays they are seen digging for hard-earned money. They sell everything from a pin to a transistor radio. They brave the scorching sun or the wintry wind to gain their livelihood. They thus command our admiration.

In the past they were systematically tracked down by bullying policemen and had to play hide-and-seek with the police authorities. The most painful thing of all was to watch impotently as their goods were confiscated and ultimately be summoned to a law court to stand trial. But to counteract this relentless persecution, they have constituted themselves into a well-structured lobby, vociferous and electorally potent. What was illegal turns out to be legal.

The hawking business is booming ?so much so that many venture abroad to seek new supplies of goods in unexplored markets. Some have even taken the Silk Road following the steps of Marco Polo to obtain new products. Students and civil servants turn themselves into vendors and hawkers during long week-ends or shopping months to make both ends meet. A new breed of entrepreneurs has been born in the context of the Mauritian economic miracle.

However, the authorities view hawking and vending as an obstruction to both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. Corrugated iron-sheets are assembled in certain areas to build shelters to accommodate their business premises ? an eye-sore to visitors. They carry out their business in the most unhygienic conditions and pose unfair competition to legitimate merchants in shops. Hawking is branded as a parallel economy, unfathomable and undeclared.

There is also a high risk of money laundering via hawking and vending. Drug-pedlars and pick-pockets have infiltrated into their midst and have soiled the reputation of hawking and vending. The Hawkers? Palace, whose inauguration has been promised for 2006, is a big step forward. It will be a jewel in the crown of our city.

But is it a solution to the problem of hawkers?. Will the vacuum left behind be filled by another horde of hawkers and vendors? The Arab Town of Rose Hill has offered a sad example of this. If hawking becomes uncontrolled and unmanageable, the floodgates of anarchy and lawlessness will be opened.

<B>by Philip LI CHING HUM </B>