Koli Women: Livelihood Practice 2
Director: Abeer Gupta
Duration: 00:43:06; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 17.189; Saturation: 0.242; Lightness: 0.179; Volume: 0.104; Cuts per Minute: 12.783
Summary: This event, along with others under the other event titled Koli Women: Livelihood Practice 1 on the same site, depicts the day cycle in the life of a fisher woman in Versova fishing village. This event starts at 4 at dawn and ends around noon time. The other event starts at 3.30 in the afternoon and ends at around 9 in the evening. This is the schedule of an average Koli woman's work in the public place. The schedule gets further burdened by domestic chores.
The trading of fish in Mumbai is traditionally a women's field. The Koli women are a distinct feature of Mumbai. Before the small islands were joined together to make a big city this region was full of salt pans and fishing hamlets. The fisherfolks are called Koli community. In the community tradition Koli men go to the deep sea to catch fish. While the women run the entire marketing section. Marketing involves wholesale market, retailers' market and door to door vending. Some women are connected with fishing boats and some others buy fish in the wholesale market and sell in the retailers' market. In the process Koli women often dominate the public space of the city with their impressive gait, professional confidence, 9 yards sarees and antique jewelry and stinking merchandise. They can be seen in the local trains, taxis and 3-wheeler auto rickshaws and in the pedestrian by-lanes making brisk business.
The wholesale fish markets in the city are strewn around the sea shore. Most famous among them are Crawford market, Bhaucha Dhakka jetty, Sasoon dock, Versova market etc. The sea shores are also traditionally lined by fisher folks' villages - in Colaba, Worli, Mahim, Juhu, Versova, Gorai, Manori, Marve etc. There are also supposed to be 800 authorised retailers' fish markets in the city other than a hordes of unauthorized independent vendors. Fish markets in Bombay, much like any other coastal settlement, is the spine of its culinary culture. The fisherman community, the Koli community, too is very distinct in their appearance, culture and social practices. Their dress code, language, cuisine, body structure, rituals - all are distinct and more or less well preserved. They are an integral part of the city and yet the urbanization has not affected their racial characteristics. They survived through the port making, city making, colonization, urbanization and industrialization. But for last one decade their survival has been threatened. The current phase of development under the philosophy of globalization has permeated into their lives too. The entry of multi-national corporation and export house into the sea food business, the constructions around and on the sea, the pressure from the real estate lobby on the fish markets in prime lands, public campaigns by the fanatic vegetarian lobby and influx of cheap labour in the form of migrant workers, making the noose of development tight on their necks. Unfortunately the labour movement has never considered the Kolis as a sector under their aegis. Neither the women's movement regarded this convention of all women fish markets as a women's rights issue. As a result the right wing politicians have come in to mobilize the distraught Koli community within the regressive identity politics.
In this context we are documenting a series of events around the Koli community and specially the Koli women.
At dawn. Trucks in front of the ice factories. The male workers load the blue plastic containers in the trucks. The fisher women have packed these containers with fish on ice the previous night. The containers are obviously heavy to carry. Some containers have collected water from melting ice. The month of May anyway is not a good time for fish market. The summer heat also makes it difficult to preserve the catch.
Versova village
blue container
darkness
dawn
fish
fisher women
fishing hamlet
ice
koli
loaders
merchandise
pick up truck
versova
village
workers
The loud sound of truck engines in the sleeping village at the tail end of the night sounds aggressive. The truck goes around the village picking up the vendor women. Quietly the koli women come out of their homes in ones and twos and gather at the designated spot. Only the street dogs hang around them.
Versova
business
community
dawn
deserted
duty
engine
fisher women
koli
pick up truck
professional
sleeping hamlet
street dog
vendors
village
Camera follows a few women as they walk through the village to the pick up truck. The street dogs bark. Women walk briskly and chatter in low voice. Inadequate street lights make them play hide and seek with the camera.
Versova
barking
dark
darkness
fisher folks
hide & seek
koli
night
pick up truck
shadow
street dog
street light
village
The truck full to the brim with containers of fish waits at a wider road. We only get a glimpse of the truck as the headlight of a passing car falls on it. The piled up plastic containers dotted with women sitting around gets illuminated only for a moment. More women climb up on the already full truck. By then the darkness gets little lighter.
Versova
business
car
climb
container
darkness
fish
fisher women
head light
illumination
pick up truck
vendor
Mumbai
The truck starts moving, picking up one more fisher woman on the way. The dawn is approaching as the darkness gets lighter. Camera is on some women standing at the rare end of the truck. Street lights illuminate their faces and then wipe them out in regular interval.
business
dawn
drizzle
duty
night
road
street light
traffic
truck
vehicle
vendor
work
Mumbai
Shot of the road from the speeding car. The Bombay road with almost no traffic looks very different. Looks like there has been a drizzle earlier. The road is wet and also the camera lense has got moisturiser. The reflections of street light make interesting pattern on the road. One or two stray vehicle pass through. The truck is South bound, going towards the famous wholesale market - Crawford market in South Bombay.
bazaar
camera
city
deserted
drizzle
lense
moisturizer
reflection
road
sleeping
south bombay
street light
traffic
vehicle
waking
wet
wholesale market
Mumbai
Now the truck is running through the highway. The vehicular traffic has increased slightly. Big advertising hoardings passing by, wide road with divider, regular street lights and better road surface indicate that it is an important road. The handheld camera in the jerking vehicle sometime catches a glimpse of a woman dozing or a hand with glass bangles clutching a rope to balance... Old buildings pass by. The containers rattle inside the truck.
bangles
bombay
city
duty
fisher folks
glimpse
handheld camera
highway
koli
koli women
merchandise
rattle
road
road divider
seller
street lights
traffic
truck
vendor
At the Crawford market. It is still dark. The distance between Versova to Crawford market will be around 25 KM. In day time the distance may take one and half hour to cross. But at this hour the journey might not have taken more that half hour. Shots of unloading at Crawford market.
Crawford market started in 1871 and was named after the first Municipal Commissioner of Bombay, Arthur Crawford. Presently its official name is Mahatma Jyotiba Phule market.
Inside the market. The bazaar is yet to start. Fisher women and the loaders are coming in, taking position. Slowly the noise ascends. White tharmocol and blue and red plastic containers are carried in. The Versova matron carries two larger fish in hand. Top angle shot of the market. The matron wraps a cloth around her waist like an apron. The sequence is similar to a battlefield or a shooting location. Everybody is gearing up for the pick hour. Fish are being laid in display.
Crawford market
1869
ambience noise
arthur crawford
battle field
bazaar
blue
colonial building
containers
crawford market
display
fish
fisher women
ice
koli
mahatma jyotiba phule
matriarch
matron
municipal commissioner
red
shooting location
thramocol
wholesale market
Tope angle close shot of the market and our protagonists from Versova. Piles of silver fish are kept on display. The audio track in this section is faulty. Though the sound is mainly of the ambience. Compared to the all women population of the Versova afternoon market (see the event titled "Koli Women: Livelihood Practice 1) there are lots of male customers in Crawford market. Apparently the door to door vendors (mostly the male migrants from Northern India, popularly called Bhaiyyas) make their purchase from this market. It is an irony. The Koli community is up in arms against these migrants as they cut into the traditional maket of the Kolis by offering home delivery service at a cheaper rate. The migrants can afford to do so as theirs is an unorganized sector where they have no infrastructural expenses. Whereas the Kolis pay for their licenses, rent at the market and infrastructure such as preservation, storage etc. It is a classical case of conflict between organized sector and unorganized sector in the consumers' market. Yet, as we can see, the wholesale market today depends heavily on the unorganized vendors.
Crwford market, Mumbai
all women market
bhaiyyas
blue containers
cheap rate
community
crawford market
customer
display
door-to-door
fish
fisher folks
fisher women
goods
home delivery
infiltration
infrastructural cost
koli women
license
livelihood
male
merchandise
migrants
north india
organized sector
plastic
rent
service
silver
storage
traditional
unorganized sector
urban labour
vendors
versova market
wholesale market
The market is on in full swing. Our apron clad protagonist and her colleagues seem busy. Their merchandise in blue containers seems to have reduced considerably. Empty blue containers are being shuffled around. The volume of the fish in display has also reduced. So the shape and texture of the remaining ones is much clearer. Fish is definitely one of the most sensuous creations of the nature.
beauty
blue containers
buyers
buzz
crawford market
creation
creature
customers
display
fish
koli women
merchandise
nature
noise
pick hour
sell
sensuous
shape
silver
texture
transaction
wholesale market
Crawford market
Top angle wide shot of the market. The naked electric bulbs hang in the middle of the frame creating a pattern. The 130 year old market with its high ceiling, fat pillars, wide floor, piles of container and assorted and moving crowd make the whole scene look like a transit camp. The ambience has a distinct transitory flavour - like a port, a check post, a railway station. The pick hour in the market is over, the crowd and the noise is diminishing. So our protagonists take a break to sip the morning tea. Our lady has taken off her working apron. Loaders are bring in action carrying the containers away.
apron
blue containers
check post
colonial building
container
crawford market
crowd
high ceiling
loaders
migratory
naked bulb
pillars
plastic
port
railway station
red & blue
top angle
transit camp
wholesale market
wide floor
Crawford market
The business is over. The Versova women come out of the Crawford market building. They hang around for a while, wait for their friends, buy some snacks and then board a taxi. Now no more containers. Each of then only carry a plastic bucket bag full of their personal belongings.
business
colonial building
crawford market
entrance
fish
fisher women
homebound
koli women
sell
taxi
vendor
wholesale market
Around 11 in the morning at the Churchgate station. The women wait for their Andheri boud train. With tired feet they walk towards their train.
Churchgate
churchgate station
commuter
fisher women
home bound
koli
local train
north bound train
western suburb
Andheri Station
Shot from the train window. The Western line local train runs towards the Northern suburb.
Andheri station. The women walk through the foot over bridge. It is noon time. They will now take an auto rickshaw ride home. After lunch and a quick rest they will be back at the nearby Versova fish market by 3.30 pm.
andheri station
auto-rickshaw
chores
commuters
duty
fish market
fisher women
foot over bridge
home
koli
landscape
local train
meshed window
morning shift
noon
public transport
schedule
vendor
versova
western railway
work
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