Braveheart Pervez back in business

BANGALORE: Pervez Ahmed is not one to rest on his laurels. The shop owner, who scrambled to wake up about 150 labourers who were fast asleep at Russell Market on noticing a fire in a few shops early on Saturday, was back in business 24 hours later.
By Sunday daybreak, Pervez, also secretary of the Russell Market Vegetable Merchants’ Association, and his partner had removed the charred debris from their shop and spread out gunny bags on the ground with veggies for buyers.Forty-year-old Pervez knows problems have just begun for his family of four. If BBMP decides to rebuild the market, he will be losing what is left of this shop as well. “We don’t know how long it takes to rebuild the market . We don’t want money. As long as I’m able to sell vegetables out of this market, I’m fine. If we don’t have that place, all will be lost.”
Pervez’s sons Mohammed Adnan and Mahim go to school. Wife Saina was keen that he resumes business at the earliest. “I had just arrived at the market (on Saturday morning) and was standing near a tea stall when one of my employees called me and began shouting ‘thee, thee’ (fire in Tamil). The first thing that came to my mind was labourers sleeping in the market,” Pervez said.
Getting the labourers out from the market was tough as Pervez knew many of them, mostly loading workers , would be sloshed and in deep sleep. “I ran into market with others shouting ‘fire’ . We checked out all parts of the building, including under the tables, to ensure none had been left behind. Inshallah, nothing unfortunate happened,” he said.