A SHOE mend, a shoeshine and a new pair of hand-crafted footwear – this is what Afghani national Abdul-Basit Sirdar Mohammed, 20, makes a living of. A cobbler by profession, Sirdar said he quit school and took up his father's profession after his father fell sick. “I had to financially support my family, so I dropped out of school after my third grade,” he said, seated on a bench in his 2 sq. meter shop in Taif. “I memorized only two chapters of the holy Qur'an. I wish I had the financial sources for higher studies and eventually to find a better job,” Sirdar said. He sells and mends everything from school shoes to men's and women's footwear, to bags and belts. “Poor or rich, everyone comes to my shop to get their shoes fixed. I have more Saudi clients than the expatriates,” Sirdar said. He said his daily business includes fixing three or more shoes and that the same doubles on weekends and reaches a peak in summers and Ramadan. Sirdar works in his shop from 9:00 A.M. till 11:30 P.M. and closes for 2 hours in the afternoon for lunch. Talking of difficult customers, he said, “After their shoes are fixed, some customers say they don't have money and that they will come back and pay the next day. But they never show up. Some kids trouble me by stealing shoes while I am talking to a neighbor.” Sirdar charges a mere SR2 or SR3 for repairing a shoe. “If the customer is poor, I do not charge him anything. People prefer to fix shoes rather than to buy new ones,” he said. Sirdar said the shoe industry has also been affected by global inflation. “China-made shoes which cost SR15 before now cost SR30. While those from Turkey are priced at over SR70,” he said. The shoemaker has a congenital deformity on his right hand, which he said makes his manual work more challenging. “I went to many hospitals for the treatment but all was in vain. So now I have accepted my fate as it is,” he said. Sirdar is an ardent WWF fan. “I like watching wrestling. I record all WWF shows on TV and watch them whenever I find time,” he said. A skill learnt from his father, Sirdar said he would teach mending shoes to “anybody interested in learning.” “All you need is a hammer, a clipper, a screwdriver, glue and some nails,” he said. However, Sirdar is a part of a vanishing breed. With shops selling goods of lesser quality at cheaper prices and with ever-changing fashion trends, cobblers are getting a raw deal as many people prefer going in for a new pair of shoes after a small tear rather than mending them.
