The fish stall

Atri Baai belongs to a village near Waluj at the outskirts of the city of Aurangabad. She sells fishes at the highway, at a certain distance from her village. Everyday she procures fishes from the fisherman directly. The water that glitters behind her stall is none other than the one of Godavari, flowing all the way from the city of Nashik. It will further flow down towards the east for 1200 kms before drowning all in the Bay of Bengal..

Atri Baai keeps a bucket full of water with her. She also keeps a weighing pan, a dustbin & a knife to chop the fishes. The white light of LED bulb hangs over her post the darkness of the departed eve. Standing besides her is her husband. For a part of the day, he accompanies her in her work.

Atri Bai gets a margin that varies from 60 to 80 rupees per fish that she sells. At the outbreak of the fake news in whatsapp that it is going to be a lockdown on weekend here in Maharashtra, she was already prepared for shutting the shop. But then she would not be sitting idle at home. It would not do her to be like that. She will be working as a day-laborer in one of the farms near her village. She would be satisfying herself with Rs 200 per day for her manual labor.. She does not own a farm of her own. 

Atri Bai keeps fresh fishes in her stall procured from the river. Before giving it off to the customer, she removes the fins & scales in the body. She then makes a horizontal cut and cleans the gut of the dead fish. She goes on to cut the fish into pieces and package it in a polythene. There are several other stalls near the river along the highway. Both the highway & the river is a mixed source of livelihood to her and so many other people. Highway provides her the customers & river provides her the fishes. As sky gets darker, more customers would flock her stall. Not too late, she would wrap her stall and head towards her home along with her husband.