Khairul Islam, the Bangladeshi trader was enjoying a very busy time
- A photo of Khairul Islam, a Bangladeshi trader in Brazil
It was a different start to the morning of a weekday in Sao Paulo yesterday. To mark the inaugural day of the Fifa World Cup the government had earlier declared a public holiday across the state which made the millions of residents stay back at home instead of rushing to their work – leaving the busy roads and metro stations quite empty.
There was however no short of business on the day as the garment sector, the retail shopping complex at the center of Bras, the hub of garments trading in Sao Paulo, cashed in by selling team jerseys. As I was strolling, I wasn’t much surprised to find the Brazilians buying their national team jersey, but I was quite surprised to find a Bangladeshi immigrant selling them.
Khairul Islam, the Bangladeshi trader was enjoying a very busy time. He said: “I sold about 2000 jerseys in three hours, for the last two days the trade was getting warm but it reached the peak today, Bras is the center of garments trading and I have sold my products in both retail and wholesale forms, the jerseys were sold on 10 Reis each.”
Khairul said they have produced the jerseys from their own machines and own infrastructures. Brazilians prefer T-shirts with the jeans and do not prefer shirts as day to day costumes. Khairul said they only concentrate on making T-shirts.
The shopping malls were also doing brisk business with people buying Vuvuzela’s, Brazilian flags, jerseys and the yellow and green wigs and slowly Brazil seemed Brazil – a crazy football loving nation – as the atmosphere slowly built up with the occasional sound of fire crackers (which was actually pretty damaging for my eardrum).
Claudia, a Bras resident who was out in Brazilian colour with her friends, was gearing up for the opener and said in her broken English that she hoped Brazil win big against Croatia.
The roadside restaurants and cafes in the area had already arranged live music shows till mid-night for the poeple who stopped over either for a bear or light snack.
There were arrangements in line in Sao Paulo, that has a population of over 30 million, to celebrate a Brazil win, but any result apart from a win might see an all together different reaction.
Source: Dhaka Tribune
