From rickshaw-puller to Dinajpur's 'Jamai Tea Store': Saidur now sells tea worth Tk 30,000 a day

It is 1:30 at night. Most shops in Dinajpur town have pulled down their shutters. There are few people on the streets. But in a tiny shop beside the fruit market, opposite the Kotwali Police Station, the bustle continues. A fire burns on the stove, milk boils in the kettle. Someone washes cups, someone hands over biscuits and bread. One customer says, 'Three milk teas, one red tea.' Another wants 'five special teas.' Yet another wants tea 'without sugar.'

Amid all these calls, one man keeps making cup after cup of tea. Some customers stand, others sit, sipping their tea and chatting. Even in the rush of making tea, the shop owner talks to his customers with a smile.

The tea-seller's name is Saidur Rahman (41). In Dinajpur town he is known as 'Jamai' (son-in-law). His father-in-law runs a fruit business at the Kalitala fruit market beside the Kotwali Police Station. Customers at the shop call him 'Jamai' for that reason. The shop is named 'Jamai Tea Store'. It stays open from dawn until 2 am.

The tea shop is no longer known only within Dinajpur town. Through videos of him making tea on Facebook, TikTok and YouTube, Saidur has become a familiar face to lakhs of people.

A look at his social media shows that, as of the evening of 8 November, his YouTube channel 'Jamai Tea Stall' had more than 1.5 lakh subscribers. His Facebook page 'Jamai Tea Store' had more than 2 lakh followers. On Instagram he had more than 1.5 lakh followers, and on TikTok 5,44,000.

A few months ago, after reaching one lakh subscribers, Saidur received a 'Silver Play Button' from YouTube.

Saidur's home is in Bhavanipur village of Sundarganj upazila in Gaibandha. Growing up in a poor family, he started working as a labourer in a hotel in Gaibandha town at the age of 10. In 2005 he married Kabita Khatun, a girl from Gaibandha. Her family, however, lives in Dinajpur town.

A few months after the marriage, Saidur went to Cumilla in search of a livelihood and began pulling a rickshaw. He said he liked travelling from city to city. He pulled rickshaws in Cumilla, Dhaka, Rajshahi, Chattogram and other cities. About three years passed like this. He would visit home from time to time. In the meantime, he became the father of two sons.

In 2010, Saidur visited his in-laws' house in Golapbagh, Dinajpur, with his wife. One day he took a relative's rickshaw out and earned 700 taka in a day. By contrast, a full day's work in a hotel paid him 400 taka. That calculation drew him to rickshaw-pulling. Within a few days, he rented a house near his in-laws' home.

But he could not continue that work for long either. Around 2014, as the number of easybikes grew in Dinajpur and other areas, rickshaw passengers fell and so did his income. He returned to working as a hotel labourer.

In 2020, when restrictions were imposed to contain the coronavirus, the hotel shut down and Saidur lost his job. By then he had a family of five, and he worried about how the household would run. In that difficult time, his wife Kabita Khatun stood by him. Working as a domestic worker, she had saved 30,000 taka in an earthen bank, and she handed those savings to her husband in the hard times. Saidur started selling fruit from a van, but within a few months that business also ran into losses. He was disappointed once again.

'I always look downwards. When I see the people below, I remember my own past,' Saidur said.

In December 2020, on the advice of a paan seller and others opposite the Kotwali Police Station in Dinajpur town, he decided to open a tea shop. He bought the shop's equipment and tea-making supplies for 25,000 taka, and a new journey began. Saidur said tea worth 3,000 taka was sold on the very first day. After that, he never had to look back.

Saidur Rahman's tea shop runs every day from 6 am to 2 am. Total daily sales amount to between 30,000 and 32,000 taka.

He makes around 10 kinds of drinks, including 'Jamai Special Tea', 'Horlicks Tea', 'Dano Tea', 'Ghee Tea', coffee, milk tea and red tea. Milk tea sells the most. Depending on the type, a cup of tea costs between 7 and 70 taka.

According to Saidur's own account, three and a half to four maunds of milk tea are sold every day. After paying for the shop's goods, gas and electricity bills and the workers' wages, what remains runs his household. And from this income, he also pays income tax.