The old centre of Chennai is filled with hawkers who claim their place in the urban street and unknowingly make their shopfronts. Did this tender coconut seller know that many modern stores pay to have their shopfronts look like this?
A slightky upscale café in South Mumbai has a similar shopfront that many people frequent simply to phorograph.
Street vendors have to pay for their place on the street (officially and unofficially) to keep their businesses running. They give a street life. They offer quick, on-the-go experiences making our lives a little more interesting and a little easier.
Why, then, are they under constant threat of being banned from their livelihood? The street belongs to the vendors just as much as it does to the pedestrians and possibly a little more than it does to the vehicles.