Fishing is by par a very traditional occupation in West Bengal,India. People living under the social hierarchical epithet of " poor people" often take up this occupation to make ends meet.Though these choices are often willingly taken and sometimes forced upon by the hard hands of destiny.
If one takes a cursory glance at these lives, then it will become evident that there is this underlying current of entrepreneurial magnetism which propels these people to continue with confidence as well as naked enthusiasm and optimism to carry on day after day.
When the world around me was gathering momentum to usher in a new period of feminism, I stumbled upon a whole cosmic way of age-old, rock solid feminism in my mother's home in Bally, a small suburb, outside the chaos and commotion of the City of Joy, Kolkata.
In that one afternoon, these ladies gave me something that a library full of self-help books and coffee table conversations and so called feigned advices from educated people couldn't get me. It got me hope and optimism about life and true grit of what it means to be a decent individual( I say decent because sometimes I feel that it's too high a benchmark for some people to attain)
So I open up this world before you hoping that in these photographs you can find an essence of the feelings I found.
This is Madhuri.She has been a fisher-woman for almost 25 years now.She goes out in the morning at 4 am to the Ganges on her small dinghy(a fishing boat in India) and catches fish.She then brings over her morning haul and sells it in the local market.
That is Madhuri's catch at 12 noon.The fish you see here is a Katla fish( a Bengali favourite). At 12 pm and she has managed to keep the fish alive till then.In a time of frozen proteins rampant everywhere,it cannot get any fresher than this.
Madhuri cleans the fish,chops it up and sells it to her customers according to their preference.She makes around 1000-1500 INR per day and supports a family of 8.
This is Sita. She is Asha's daughter-in-law. Everyday she sits beside her mother-in-law in the next shop and sells vegetables (Talk about in-law pressure)
Sita was married to Asha's eldest son Manik at the age of 16. Her father was a fisherman by profession and Sita knew from an young age that some day she would have to shoulder responsibilities of the house, often that of the Man in her in-laws house.
In these fishing communities it's the men who are primarily the sole bread earner. Though it's a sad reality that they are often the ones who wash down their hard earned money on liquor and women. The responsibility of running the house often falls on the woman/women.
This is Ruma.She is 43,though she looks younger than that.Ruma's husband is a fisherman and he catches the fish while Ruma sells it in the fish market.She is blind in one eye because of a fishing accident couple of years ago.But to be fair to her,she has a vivacious personality which will leave you laughing to splits.
Asha sits and de-shells the prawns which my mother bought from her.A heavy 500 grams.She chit chats and jokes with my mother all the way through.
If one takes a cursory glance at these lives, then it will become evident that there is this underlying current of entrepreneurial magnetism which propels these people to continue with confidence as well as naked enthusiasm and optimism to carry on day after day.
When the world around me was gathering momentum to usher in a new period of feminism, I stumbled upon a whole cosmic way of age-old, rock solid feminism in my mother's home in Bally, a small suburb, outside the chaos and commotion of the City of Joy, Kolkata.
In that one afternoon, these ladies gave me something that a library full of self-help books and coffee table conversations and so called feigned advices from educated people couldn't get me. It got me hope and optimism about life and true grit of what it means to be a decent individual( I say decent because sometimes I feel that it's too high a benchmark for some people to attain)
So I open up this world before you hoping that in these photographs you can find an essence of the feelings I found.
That is Madhuri's catch at 12 noon.The fish you see here is a Katla fish( a Bengali favourite). At 12 pm and she has managed to keep the fish alive till then.In a time of frozen proteins rampant everywhere,it cannot get any fresher than this.
Madhuri cleans the fish,chops it up and sells it to her customers according to their preference.She makes around 1000-1500 INR per day and supports a family of 8.
Sita was married to Asha's eldest son Manik at the age of 16. Her father was a fisherman by profession and Sita knew from an young age that some day she would have to shoulder responsibilities of the house, often that of the Man in her in-laws house.
In these fishing communities it's the men who are primarily the sole bread earner. Though it's a sad reality that they are often the ones who wash down their hard earned money on liquor and women. The responsibility of running the house often falls on the woman/women.
This is Ruma.She is 43,though she looks younger than that.Ruma's husband is a fisherman and he catches the fish while Ruma sells it in the fish market.She is blind in one eye because of a fishing accident couple of years ago.But to be fair to her,she has a vivacious personality which will leave you laughing to splits.
Asha sits and de-shells the prawns which my mother bought from her.A heavy 500 grams.She chit chats and jokes with my mother all the way through.
Asha painstakingly de-shells every prawn with her hands that her customer buys.No fancy equipment.Though I bet she will be able to beat a machine.
In India,especially Bengal,it's an unsaid rule that if a customer buys a fish then it's the duty of the fisherman/woman to gut it,clean it and sell it.No matter what size the fish or how heavy.Hence these hands work non-stop throughout the whole day.(talk about workload!!)
In India,especially Bengal,it's an unsaid rule that if a customer buys a fish then it's the duty of the fisherman/woman to gut it,clean it and sell it.No matter what size the fish or how heavy.Hence these hands work non-stop throughout the whole day.(talk about workload!!)
The lives of these change tides with every ebb and flow. Each new dawn ushers in a new way of life for them but what's worth thinking is the way these women have chosen to live it. In an age of gadgets and media eccentricities, self-help books and spiritual Gurus, where just in order to figure out what a kid wants to do he needs a guidance counsellor, these women have taught me that often the simplest answer is the best : To take each day as it comes and add your own myntra to it.
