Koli Livelihood Practice 4 - Wedding Rituals
Director: Abeer Gupta
Duration: 00:39:15; Aspect Ratio: 1.333:1; Hue: 14.809; Saturation: 0.184; Lightness: 0.240; Volume: 0.199; Cuts per Minute: 9.554
Summary: This event, along with others under the other event titled Koli Women: Livelihood Practices on the same site, depicts a few ceremonies around a wedding that took place in the village around the time I was shooting my film, A Day’s Job, produced by PSBT for their Gender Unpack Project. But it was part of an ongoing research, started since I started working on Notes from a Neighborhood, a film made for my diploma from National Institute of Design, on local communities and their customs within the complex mesh of a hyper urban space and their representations.
Versova village / Vesave – was barely 15 minutes away from where I lived and I passed the fish market on the beach a couple of times on Sunday afternoons before taking the ferry to Mudh Island. Also Saleem Bhatri, a senior from the National Institute of Design had earlier done an architectural dissertation on the area, which provided a basic framework. The first endeavor was to discern the space and understand how it was changing. At first glance the Koliwadas on the west coast – Colaba, Worli, and Versova seemed to be juggling twin devils – the real estate sharks or urban developers of Bombay and the steady flow of the city’s migrant labour. The identity, the old architecture and design of space rapidly dissolving into the proverbial shantytowns of Megacities – converted into multiple usage spaces with living and working quarters. Structures had come up organically to accommodate either an expanding family or simply as storage spaces/workshops for varied businesses without any consolidated plan.
The Koliwadas were an exotic space in close vicinity of the film industry always in the look out for some spicy colour. The fishing community has always had vibrant visible codes in terms of their dress, ornaments, food habits and rituals. The women have traditionally been in the forefront of the interface with the community because of their involvement with the trade and thus occupied a space within public imagination. In the 70’s it was also commonly linked with smuggling of goods through the sea route. Iconic films like Deewar actually mention Versova Beach as an exact location, to more recently Hathyaaar, where Sanjay Dutt a pre-Munna-bhai Robin Hood-ish gangster’s den is set in a non-descript Koli village by the sea, a benign backdrop living up to its shady reputation. Fishing has been a family based occupation for several centuries. The drastic increase in pollutants and sewage which are poured into the sea as well widespread trawling by major fishing lines have made livelihood a lot more competitive. The Kolis who speak of a time when one could casually drop a line in the water outside their homes and draw a huge catch have now had to refashion their boats for the deep seas and spend 3 to 4 days at least for a catch to be worth the trip. Fishing requires a substantial amount of man power and current generations who have had suitable education have increasingly chosen city jobs thus making the business increasingly dependant on hired external labour. The flow of migrant labour over time has not only increased their control over the trade but occupied land within the Koli villages.
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
The wedding in Versova Village was like any other social gathering of relatives and friends. The Kolis being worshipers of the mother goddess, predominantly in the form of Mumba devi and others, follow the basic Hindu pattern of rituals beliefs and symbols and their rites follow the same Brahminical system. There were more similarities, than a few local differences, which perhaps run through to any urban middle class but what stood apart was the momentous communal feel which is derived from an age-old alliance of the social and economic practices. Versova village, where a number of the older structures still exist, seemed to interestingly dwell a cusp between a rural and urban space. It seemed to somehow hold on to the warmth and sense of belonging even as the city had made significant inroads into their space. The wedding involved not just the family but was a larger communal affair within a space where still pretty much everybody knows everyone.
along women's line
class
community
fisher folks
fisher women
fishing community
folk culture
koli
koli women
legacy
local marriages
matrilineal
procession
rites
versova
vesave
wedding
Versova Macchimar Nagar/Vesave Gaon
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
The Haldi ceremony: all the women come and apply haldi to the bride. This is usually an occasion for coming together of all the family and friends. The "thali," plate with which the bride is blessed has a mixture of a ground Urad Daal with haldi, kumkum, a diya, a 1 Rupee coin on betel leaves.
This "aarti thali" has been earlier blessed at the family alter in a ceremony performed by 5 elderly married women of the family. These are believed to be auspicious symbols within the Hindu customs which the Kolis have adopted and follow.
along women's line
class
community
fisher folks
fisher women
fishing community
folk culture
koli
koli women
legacy
local marriages
matrilineal
procession
rites
versova
vesave
wedding
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
The sweets are first offered to the local temple, in the memory of the dead, then offered to all the elders and finally distributed to all the houses in the village.
Ingredients – maida (flour), chini (sugar), saunf (fennel),
elaichi (cardamom), narial (ground coconut), is mixed in water into a batter, kaju and badaam (cashew nuts and almonds) added to it and fried in oil.
First the space (a porch behind the house) where the fire is to be lit is cleaned, marked and worshipped, prayers are said to the coconut, the fire and the oil.
A small yellow cloth pouch which holds Supari, chaval, haldi, kumkum is tied to the handle of the frying pan.
There are 5 married women of the village who conduct the proceedings. They first place the frying pan five times on the flame along with the bride.
along women's line
community
fish market
fisher folks
fisher women
ghari
koli sweets
koli women
legacy
local cuisine
matrilineal
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
This is part of the initiation rites of the bride to be. The bride offers the first few spoons full of batter into the oil as this is her special day. And then everybody lends a hand to finish the frying of the ghari.
The sweets are first offered to the local temple, in the memory of the dead, then offered to all the elders and finally distributed to all the houses in the village.
along women's line
community
fish market
fisher folks
fisher women
ghari
koli sweets
koli women
legacy
local cuisine
matrilineal
I had seen in a photo album of Darshan's wedding, (protagonist of Notes from a Neighbourhood) images of entire groups of women dressed in the same saree and wearing their unique jewelry and expressed a wish to shoot such an event and that is how we were invited to Alpita's wedding, who was a cousin of Darshan's wife. Having known Darshan and his extended family for a while we – my cameraperson Rrivu Laha and I, were welcomed almost as if were part of the family.
The bride along with her family visits the local shrines and seeks their blessings. Then they walk through the lanes and by lanes of the village till late at night. This is an occasion to formally announce to the marriage.
The women can be seen wearing their traditional ornaments and women of a particular family can be seen wearing the same saree.
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
along women's line
community
fish market
fisher folks
fisher women
fishing community
folk culture
koli
koli women
legacy
local marriages
matrilineal
procession
rites
versova
vesave
wedding
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
The visit to the local shrine. The after seeking the blessing of the deity. The girl and the family return back with equal fanfare.
along women's line
community
fish market
fisher folks
fisher women
fishing community
folk culture
koli
koli women
legacy
local marriages
matrilineal
procession
rites
versova
vesave
wedding
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
The wedding reception is a usual fanfare with video cameras, photographers and the entire village invited. This is again when the entire families turn up to offer their blessings and eat and drink.
along women's line
community
fish market
fisher folks
fisher women
fishing community
folk culture
koli
koli women
legacy
local marriages
matrilineal
procession
rites
versova
vesave
wedding
Mumbai, Versova Macchimar Nagar, Versove
The final procession is the journey of the bride to the house of her in-laws. These processions usually have the band playing and walking along with the bride and the groom. Fireworks and songs from Hindi films along with local local Koli songs can be heard.
along women's line
community
fish market
fisher folks
fisher women
fishing community
folk culture
koli
koli women
legacy
local marriages
matrilineal
procession
rites
versova
vesave
wedding
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