August 27th 2006 was an auspicious day for the Hindus in South India. It was Ganesh Chaturdhi
So I decided to go ahead and shoot some pictures may be some action.
After having breakfast at Vidhyarthi Bhavan, a very famous and old refreshment room that serves awesome Masala Dosas.
I set out looking for some action. I shot some pictures of idols, some vendors selling flowers, fruit and vegetables.
Being a festival what I saw most were flowers, lots of them: marigolds, jasmines, roses, lotus buds etc etc..Banana leaves and sugarcanes are most sighted in that market.
After taking some pictures I pulled out a smoke and not surprisingly I forgot my lighter and I went searching for one. I spotted a fruit vendor smoking a beedi (a local indian smoke).
After lighting my cigarette I was curious to know more about this man who offered me light. I was thinking he must be having a tough life out there I mean look at it while you and me are shopping for fresh fruits for the festival he was there since 5AM in the morning setting up his fruit cart meticulously so that he could make that extra buck for his family.
Sadly, they don’t have the privelage to celebrate all those colorful festivals with their families like most Indians do. The vendors practically live there with their carts.
They are out of their homes at 4am in the morning to the fruit auction then pick their baggages load it into a van and drive them back to the market place where they sell. It costs them approx 400rs. Now once they reach the market they set it up and sell them the whole day they eat their lunches there and their evening snack too. They wind up
about 10pm. They cover their carts with water proof thick tarpaulin sheets and pay the street watchman Rs.10/- per cart so that they can keep an eye on their carts.
I curiously asked them how would they know if the watchman was not stealing
their fruits to which he replied confirming that it was just not possible, as they exactly know how many fruits their carts have and how much does each of them weigh (this comes by experience..these vendors are in this business since 20years) and moreover every night before they leave they stack up their carts in a orderly manner so if someone
tries to pull out a fruit or two the whole pattern would be disturbed and they would question the watchman and for which the watchman would have to pay them for the missing fruit, no questions asked.
All this arrangement is between the vendors and the watchman no papers no signatures all play here by the word of mouth.
They do all this for profit of 10-13 Rs a kilo. So if you do the math they aren’t earning that much. They need to pay Rs 400/- for transport everytime they visit the auction and 10rs every night for the watchman they spend their money on lunch, breakfast in the hotels which are relatively expensive compared to home made food.
Well usually all the middle class indian wives would pack lunch for all their husbands (loving or not) but in this case these vendors are out of their homes by 4am..
so next time you make that bargain for 1-2 Rs just think what would you gain from that but may be it makes a good difference in their lives.
