Sugarcane juice is a popular thirst quencher in Mumbai. The sugarcane sticks pass through the huge stainless-steel crusher as it squeezes out the fresh drink. Some ginger and lemon juice is often added to the juice to make it easily digestible. You can opt for juice without ice, or the ginger and lemon juice added. Served immediately, it is instantly gulped down by tourists, office goers and residents alike. Most office-goers love to have a glass of sugarcane juice in the afternoons, during lunch time.
It's exactly a week I last posted a photo on MDS. This time it was a major fibre cable cut and replacement for almost 5 days. One important New year resolution is my change of Internet service provider very soon.
This is the morning sky near Versova fish market in the early morning hours at about 6.30 am.
After critically judging the year 2008's photos on MDS, I chose this photo of fishwives as the best photo of the year. The post was ABC WEDNESDAY - 'M' for Machhi-walis. It is one of my best photos of the year.
The Mumbai Machhi-walis belong to the Koli (fisherfolk) community. The fishermen go out to sea and bring fresh catch. Now it is the job of the fisherwomen (also called fishwives) to sell the fish in local fish markets. There are those too, who buy fish from the wharf in early morning hours to sell in the market.
The machhi-walis (Kolins) are hard-working, aggressive by nature and fiercely economically independent women. A Kolin's day begins at the break of dawn. After cooking food for the entire family, she buys fish from the wharf and sells it at the local fish market, or even from home to home (to regular customers) till the fish is all sold out.
Standing out distinctly in a crowd, with sarees, noisy language (including abusive phrases) and traditional, chunky jewellery, the Machhi-wali invests most of her savings in gold.
Living a simple life, their food is usually curry, rice and fried fish.