Devbagh Fishermen

This is my second post on Devbagh. For the first post visit - Devbagh

      As I walked around the sleepy village (sleepy because it isn't frantic like Mumbai or for that matter not even close to the subdued Pune) of Devbagh I found myself passing by the fishermen folk. They were either busy mending their fishing nets or preparing for the next catch. Their attire seemed different in comparison to the Harnai fishermen who were more traditional in their Koli attire. 

             Every house has a well with a pulley to draw water. It reminded me of Shyamche Pohne an episode from the famous book Shyamche Aai by Sane Guruji. A literary tribute to a mother's love for her child and the values to be inculcated into a child wonderfully depicted. A must read for every parent. I also noticed that the houses had a Tulsi (Basil) plant in the courtyard or at the entrance accompanied by a staff of sugarcane. This it is told is the practice followed for Tulsi Vivah. (Tulsi Marriage)

      I couldn’t find vegetables in the shops of the village. Fish seemed to be sold as vegetables back home. Fish is their staple diet and is consumed from Wednesday to Sunday. Monday and Tuesday are the vegetarian days when meat isn't consumed. Vegetables are purchased from the Malvan market every Monday.  The sea food offers a wide variety that is mostly cooked with kokum and coconut. The sea is worshipped as a goddess and festivals are celebrated to offer their prayers to the sea.

           I woke up early on a clear morning to watch the sunrise at Karli River. As I waited at the jetty, I found the fishermen had long been at work. They had left at dawn in a small boat with an oar for each. I must say they were swift and agile, by the time I could change the settings in my camera and shoot them they had long turned around the creek. During the monsoon they refrain from entering the sea. Those days they go fishing to the Karli River.

         The ones with small fishing boats venture into the sea in pairs and come home with their catch. I could see the disappointment in the faces of one such pair that had left early one morning. The catch wasn't great and was just enough to last two meals for their families. 

          Others with larger fishing boats initially do a recce in a small boat few kilometres into the sea to check if enough fishes are available. In case its good news they venture into the sea for the big catch on a bigger boat. Before doing that they mend their nets and boat. The fishing net in such cases is long enough to run across few kilometers. The net is laid down on the sea shore and then the men squat over it to clean and mend it. They then bundle it over the oars and carry it onto the boat. This whole activity requires lots of co-ordination considering the length of the net. 

           Here you could see a video of the boat being towed on to the shore. I was reminded of the jargon team work looking at them move in perfect synchronization.

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Have you ever been witness to one such out of the box team activitiy?

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