Zubair Qureshi
Islamabad
The lone newspaper vendor of Pakistan origin Akbar Ali, has been selling newspapers on the streets of Paris for the past 47 years. He sells Le Monde, Le Figaro and a couple of other newspapers and journals but mainly his customers demand Le Monde. Ali Akbar is perhaps the last newspaper hawker in Paris who has been doing this for such a long time.
His funny headlines and humorous outbursts make people laugh and he has become a darling of the Parisians. They enjoy listening to him whenever he ‘breaks’ some news. They know it is fake, yet they enjoy his sense of humour and readily buy the paper from him. Speaking to Pakistan Observer in Paris streets Ali said he worked seven days a week and sold newspapers even on Sunday. Parisians know exactly where to find me at a particular hour of the day, he said proudly while bicycling in Paris streets from one restaurant to another.
“Usually, I sell papers in and around the Latin Quarter, and they spot me from a distance, pedalling my bicycle to my fixed point and yelling news to them. I have almost become part of people’s daily life in those quarters,” he said. Asked why he never thought of switching professions, Ali said “I have made friends, a large number of politicians, writers and eminent personalities. They know me by name and invite me for a drink or coffee. I can’t think of quiting this profession. I am the last newspaper street hawker of Paris,” said the 67-year-old French Pakistani.
A couple of days back, he was encountered by President Macron in a Paris restaurant and seeing him, Macron gave him a hug and asked how he was doing.
“He recognised me at once and greeted me like old friend,” said Ali Akbar while recounting that by chance meeting. Ali has come up with his own way of attracting Parisians to buy newspapers. “It is the fact I always announce fake headlines. By doing this, customers come to me, appreciate my style of selling, and it works!”
In the wake of Brexit, Ali Akbar’s headline of the day was “English channel has been closed, no English persons allowed in France.”
One could see the Parisians bursting into laughter as soon as they heard his ‘breaking news.’ One famous scoop was the days when media had gone crazy with former US President Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky, Ali startled those taking coffee at the historic Lipp, Flore or Deux Magots cafes by yelling “Monica’s pregnant by Bill Clinton! She got twins!”
However, he said the business of print is on the decline and most people read newspapers online. “I can hardly sell only 50 newspapers a day. There was a time when I used to sell more than 250.” People’s preference for online edition and monthly or annual subscriptions have contributed to a fall in print, he said.
