Simply Mumbai - 2 : Young Entrepreneurs

These two little girls were collecting bunches of coriander (cilantro) leaves, discarded by the wholesale sellers in the APMC vegetable market. A couple of sprigs of each bunch were spoilt.

They were sorting the coriander leaf bunches, removing spoilt sprigs and making fresh bunches. When I asked what they would do with them, one of them said 'we will sell them for Rs. 5 a bunch'. They looked busy and focussed and didnt really care to be photographed, and got on with their work after replying me.
 In a market where retail sellers buy cartloads full of veggies, or a basketful to carry on the bicycle and sell, these two girls found their own way of making money.

They seem to have acquired life supporting skills to survive in the fast paced city. I am inspired by these little workers and would like to call them 'Young Entrepreneurs'.

ABC Wednesday - ' V ' for Variety of Namkeen / Farsan

A huge 'Variety' of these fresh fried snacks popularly called 'Farsan' or 'Namkeen' of different tastes, shapes and flavours are very popular in Mumbai. They could be of Maharashtrian or Gujarati origin or even from North or South India.

Here they are sold loose by weight. One can even taste before buying them.
In many localities, the 'farsan' vendors sell the freshly packed  'farsan' at our doorstep. Our kids eagerly wait every Thursday for their favourite 'namkeen wala uncle' (means- uncle who gets lots of  'namkeen') and are eager to try something new each time. They are popular snacks for the school 'short break'.

For more ' V ' for..... entries from around the world, click below

Weekend Snapshot: Train Travel

This weekend we travel by train to granny's house (my mom's place) which my son calls 'Nani Ghar' and looks forward to meeting his grandparents. I have always been fond of travelling by train, and now my little preschooler does too. Our journey by train is about one and half hour.

Train journey to us means watching people get in and get out of the train and learning names of stations, observing hawkers call out loudly to sell their wares, some shopping and lots of skywatch through the train window. Also, we look forward to the bhel wala selling yummy bhel for Rs.5 a packet.
We both carry our own cameras, mine a Sony Cybershot and his, a toy camera.
As I click photographs, he imitates me and looks for an angle to take his shot
;-) and pretends he got a cool shot.
I make sure we are not travelling during peak hours and having fun.

Have a great weekend and lots of fun.

Fresh Sugarcane Juice

This is the new attraction for Sanpada residents in the evening hours, when most people are out in the market, and the others returning home.
A glass of fresh and sweet sugarcane juice, extracted in a unique way manually (no use of motor). It is an interesting sight for passerbys. The cart is portable, and is parked at different spots throughout the day, for better business.

Vegetable Vendor

While I was looking for green peas and carrots at the 4 Bunglow market, this vegetable vendor requested me to photograph him and his merchandise too. It seemed as if he felt left out when I took photos of carrots, apples and green peas in the same row of stalls.

Indian Water Chestnut

'Singhada', the 'Indian Water Chestnut' is green outside and white inside. It is very juicy and crunchy, when eaten raw and very rich in vitamins.
It is sold by hawkers on pavements raw and also steamed. When steamed, it's rind becomes coal black and it tastes somewhat like a potato.
Singhada is peeled, dried and crushed to get flour 'singhade ka atta' which is used to prepare 'pooris' and 'rotis' for fasting.

Hawkers Fleeing

If you look carefully, this is a pic of the hawkers on the street. They are not selling their goods but fleeing because of the municipal raid in the area. If caught, their goods will be confiscated. Onnce they come to know the municipal officials have left, they all come back to their respective spots to earn a daily living.

Night Wear

This one has been around for years. He sells only pure cotton night suits, with collars for boys and pleated & frilled ones for girls. A night suit here may cost you about Rs. 100 to Rs. 150. That's cheap, isn't it?

Jewellery

The jewellery sold on the roadside is not very expensive nor classy, but sometimes you get a rare necklace or a pair of ear-rings thats just right for your outfit.

Bangles

A closer look at the bangles here. Though I don't wear them regularly, I always look out for small sizes that match my 3-year old niece Anshi's traditional dresses. I love the colours and the jingling sound.

Bangle Seller

This man has been selling different kinds of glass, plastic and metallic colorful bangles in Dadar for over fifteen years now. He was very excited about being photographed for people all over the world to see.

Fresh Sweet Corn

It's monsoon time in Mumbai and that means lots of corn to eat. Mumbai markets are full of golden corn. I saw this hawker selling them in a basket at the bridge to Dadar(West). Mumbaiites eat corn in many forms-plain roasted with masala and a dash of lime, boiled with lime and masala, soup and corn chat. There are fresh corn stalls in malls too.

Handbags

Colourful handbags were for sale at Dadar when I visited my doctor. They are put up for sale on the pavement by hawkers having no licenses. You can see the big box on the right. That's for putting the bags in and carrying away. The box is very handy when the hawkers have to run with the goods, in case of a municipal raid.
As they have no overhead expenses like the shops, they sell goods very cheap and bargaining is a must if you want a good price.

Sugarcane Juicewala

This sugarcane juicewala sells freshly churned sugarcane juice and quenches the thirst of hundreds of passerbys. Again it's preferred chilled but you can't be sure about the water used for the ice.
I always have it chilled and trust me, I never got a bad throat because of the ice used in sugarcane juice or the yummy gola. I mean I get a bad throat even if I have too many cold drinks and shakes using home-made ice out of my refrigerator.

Gola Wala

The gola wala is a pleasant sight to see in the scorching summer heat. Gola is 'ice slush' on a wooden gola stick. The gola wala pushes the gola stick into the crushed ice ball, pours the syrup generously, with a dash of lime, and sprinkles some masala. The most popular flavour is kala-khatta, made from the fruit 'jamun' or Indian blackberry. The colourful bottles of syrup on the cart surely tempt you to stop by and slurrp one.
The gola is yummy and refreshing and quenches your thirst but one cannot be sure of quality of the syrup and the water (from which ice is made). There are outlets where you can get good quality syrup with gola ice made of mineral water too.

Young Entrepreneurs

Haresh and his younger brother Dinesh, along with their elder brother sell beautifully carved wooden pictures on the road near Crawford Market. The one he is holding is of Radha-Krishna. I asked him the price of the large village scene, and he said it was for Rs. 2200. When I revealed to him that I would put this picture on the internet, and that readers would buy his pictures if they liked the price, he quickly added that the best price for the large one would be Rs. 1000.
Smart indeed!

Shopping on Railway Overbridge

This is the Dadar railway overbridge and is always crowded with train passengers and people who want to cross over from Dadar (West) to Dadar(East). Unlike other overbridges at Dadar station, you need not have a railway ticket to cross over to the other side.

There are many hawkers on the bridge selling kid's clothes, watches, toys, woollen sweaters and jackets, fruits, flowers, ladies handbags and lots more. These stalls are illegal, and the hawkers are driven away by BMC officials (who conduct a surprise raid and confiscate the goods), but the hawkers are back after a day or two.
I asked this young man if I could take a photo of his little stall, and he was more than happy to pose in front of his stall. He is selling little girl's dresses at Rs.80 each. If chosen carefully, it's a good bargain.

Imli Ber Wali Mausi

You will find sellers like this mausi (means aunty-most Indians address these sellers as mausi) selling tamarind(imli), raw mango slices and many sour fruits with a spicy chat masala at many places in Mumbai like The Gateway Of India, Juhu Beach.

(I'll provide more info. on the fruits seen here, a bit later) A close relative of ours has passed away and we need to get onto the next flight to Chennai, now. I'm sorry but I'll be posting only after I'm back on Friday)

Happy Valentines Day To All DailyPhotoBlog Members and all our friends from Anu & Jeetu