SELFISH MEN AND WOMEN AT THE FISH MARKET

“Is this a fish market? please maintain pin-drop silence”.

A familiar quote used by our teachers.

“Madam I was there at the fish market today, if you are reading this. However, I couldn’t maintain any silence because the market by itself was bustling with energy”.

At the fish market in Trombay-Koliwada in Mumbai, we were denied entry in the main area of the fishing dock and rightly so. Nobody likes any kind of interruption in their work and we had no business to go there.

We shameless, appeared in a large gang disturbing their trade and without any intent to buy their fresh catch. Our presence was kind of an obstruction to them and their customers.

The fish sellers didn’t exchange any gestures with us and neither we expressed any signs of regret. Eventually, we found another spot next to the main entrance that saved the day of what would have been an embarrassing start to a glorious Sunday morning.

We rushed our way inside through the rubbles, escaping the mainstream arena of the market place, where a fleet of private fishing boats were docked by the bay in some disorderly fashion. The uprising of the sunbeams and the rustiness of the locale created a picturesque backdrop.

Overwhelmed with the sight, we pounced on the boats as if they were our property, from there-on posed endlessly with the shutterbugs on. We further took liberty and leveraged the anchor and the ropes as props… again no permission secured.

In pursuit of finding novelty, we were the pirates who stole the sanctity of the feeding birds by the river, of the resting trawlers, the dry bushes and the fishing nets.

The unfamiliarity of the place was exploited as much as we could by hijacking the boat with an army of cyclists for that perfect group picture.

The selfish group who didn’t buy any fish.

The idea of differentiation emerged prominently as the riders climbed on the boat with their bicycle in succession.

From our greedy footprints the earth would have signaled the fishes to swim away from the shallow waters and hide deep beneath. I am assuming the message had gone across “A dangerous tribe of selfish men and women are here, they are a threat to your life”.

On a lighter note, we ventured in-and-out of the destination peacefully without disturbing the tranquility. Sometimes we do tend to get self-absorbed and that calls for introspection.