HYDERABAD: Not everyone in Hyderabad looks happy with the relief brought forth by the regular post-noon drizzles.
On a day when the sun chose to hide behind the veil of clouds all through, roadside vendors were a picture of gloom, thanks to reduced business.
Add to that the lowering of temperatures in the evenings over the past couple of weeks, and one only feels for these vendors whose profits have been cut by almost half while the rest of the city rejoices at the cool climes.
“We were expecting the summer to continue till June.
While we made daily profits of Rs 300-350 in the past one month, the profits have dipped to less than Rs 150 now.
And that’s not just today.
The cloudy evenings also resulted in reduced demand for juice,” said Sreevijaya, a fresh juice vendor near the Nampally Exhibition Grounds.
The situation is no different in other parts of the city as well.
Like the Secretariat region where a number of vendors have set shop.
Passersby here were seen walking by most cut fruit shops, showing no signs of weariness, on Monday.
“I have sold just 10 plates.
Till a few days ago, by noon itself this dustbin would be filled and a minimum of 50-60 plates would have been sold,” rued Rajanna, a watermelon vendor near the British Council Library.
According to him, the lowering of day time temperatures by four in the evening is causing loss to almost all vendors.
“My brother sells cut fruit near Ravindra Bharati.
We used to sell six full watermelons per day.
But now demand has reduced and we sell only 3-4 watermelons.” Even those manning soda pop machines admit early march-like sales are all but over.
“Sales have reduced by over 50%.
We used to sell 400-450 glasses before.
Now just a little over 250 are being sold,” said Ravi who sells soda pop at Basheerbagh.