Lockdown leads to makeshift market in Tehatta

Prosanto Mondal, 48, used to sell dal-puri in the mornings and potato bondas in the evening. But with lockdown restrictions on cooked street food, he began selling vegetables. From daily earnings of around Rs. 400, he now barely makes Rs. 150. "I am not very familiar with the vegetable trade,” he says.

Ram Dutta, a 56-year-old vegetable seller, buying lemon tea from Santi Halder. His income has dropped to half his daily earnings of Rs. 300. He says, “I didn't have a lot of sales before, now it's even worse.” Santi Halder, 48, has been selling jhal muri (a popular street food in West Bengal) for 20 years, but with lockdown restrictions on cooked food, is selling tea. His income too has dropped from Rs. 250-300 to Rs. 100-120 a day.

Sukhen (left) and Prosenjit Halder (right) are brothers. Sukhen used to cook in a restaurant, earning Rs. 10,000 a month, but now barely makes Rs. 200 a day – and that too is uncertain. Prosenjit worked at a fish farm and as a part-time mason's helper. His earnings were more modest – around Rs. 250 a day from both sources – but he got to take some fish home from the fish farm. That too has stopped during the lockdown.

Left: For 23 years, 47-year-old Prafulla Debnath has been doing odd jobs at the regular Samabay Krishi Unnayan Samity Market (now closed for the lockdown). He carries sacks to be delivered to the houses of customers, and carries goods from vehicles to shops. And he sweeps the whole market – picking up Rs. 2 per day from each vegetable vendor and Re. 1 per day from the other shopkeepers. But now, with the market shifted to the field in Dutta Para, even his bare earnings have halved, though some of the vegetable vendors arrange for breakfast and lunch for Debnath. “If I do not clean, the market will be dirty,” he says. “If I clean the market then everyone will know my name. Nobody will work like me!” Right: Since the market is open for only a few hours, many buy at the last minute, hoping for low prices. Khoka Roy, 50, was a carpenter, then he ran a small grocery shop from home, and is now out selling in the market due to the lockdown. From Rs. 400-500 per day, his income has dropped to Rs. 200-250. “With the police patrolling, people are not leaving their houses,” he says.“You tell me, how we can sell vegetables?"

Customers picking up vegetable from Parimal Dalal’s stall. After 30 years of doing this work, 51-year-old Parimal, is more confident than the others, and says, "My business hasn't changed much. Customers I am acquainted with are coming here too."

Kartik Debnath sells eggs, ginger, onion, chili, garlic, and others vegetables. He is 47, and has been doing this work for three decades. "My business is doing well,” he says, “and even some new buyers have been added."

Many are using improvised masks, as is 37-year-old Bablu Shaikh, a farmer and part-time vegetable seller, who is using a gamchha.

Left: Khakon Pramanick, 45, who sells chickens and sometimes migrates to other states to work at construction sites, is now struggling with a drop from both sources of income. Right: Bharat Halder, 62, was a mason’s helper before he started selling fish around three years ago, hoping to earn more. During the lockdown, his earnings have dropped from around Rs. 250 a day to less that Rs. 200, he says. The supply of fish is also uncertain. “Fish is no longer coming from Andhra Pradesh due to the lockdown,” he says. “So the local pond and river fish [in smaller quantities] are now sold here.”

Sridam Mondal, 62, mainly sells bananas and, at times, also a few vegetables. “The sales are very low [during the lockdown],” he says.

Sadhu Shaikh, 56, has found a spot just off the filed, away from where the other vendors are sitting. He is selling mangoes and vegetables from his own small farmland.

Without a plastic sheet to use as a temporary shade from the sun, Sadananda Roy, 58, sits in middle of the field with a few vegetables holding an umbrella. He was a domestic worker in Delhi, but came home before the lockdown. His only income now is from selling a few vegetables, which fetches him Rs 50-100 a day. "I didn't come here regularly because some days I don't have vegetables to sell,” he says. “I don't know what will happen in the future.”