PROJECT STALL-WARTS

A piece of work dedicated to telling the stories of persons with whom

we engage every day but still don’t care to know about them.

1. Pashupatinath Prasad Chaurasia: A 65-year-old man who came to West Bengal for work, 21 years ago from Siwan district of Bihar, but due to political situation lost his job and started a small sattu shop in the station area of Kalyani (a small town in WB) in 2004. He lives in Bijaynagar, Kalyani with his wife, son, daughter in law and 2 grandsons. He had a permanent shop there but the municipality removed it promising him to give a shop in the main bazaar, but he didn't receive thus bought a Thela (Bengali word for cart). It cost around 8k to 9k when he started his business and at that time he used to sell sattu for Rs 2 per glass, now it’s Rs 10 as the cost of chana has increased from Rs 16 to Rs 62 per kg so eventually he also has to increase the cost. He serves sattu mold, sattu ghol (sattu whey) which he prepares according to what the customer asks him to otherwise he uses chilies, lemon, chutney, and onions to make the ghol.

Condition is much worse for him now, as his sale has decreased. Before lockdown, he used to sell Rs 300-500 per day where now it is Rs 100-200, so there is no chance of profit and he is getting overdue to himself. On top of that, the municipality has provided shop to everyone in the area but not to him, even having the stamped paper from councilor he couldn’t do anything as because he is old, weak and a non-Bengali. When he questions the authority, then either he is left unheard of or asked for caste documents, which he cannot provide. His son is jobless due to the lockdown as he used to work as a driver before but due to fewer requirements of drivers now, he is useless. He has a bank account where he can't save any money but can only keep an amount that could get the account running.

The new government has also not done anything for him. At his age, he should have got an old age allowance of Rs 1000, which also was not provided to him, but when then local authorities come, they throw away his things asking him not to put up his thela there. He is helpless and is accustomed to such a situation. He says- “We are bound to get nothing, whichever govt comes in power, we have to stay like this”

He still sits at the same place in the station area from 8 am to 1 pm every day. So one can easily visit him and get a refreshing sattu drink from him or savor on sattu mold.

2. Ramesh Das: A 30 years old meal shop which still provides a good quality meal at a cheaper cost than other similar hotels. The owner aged 70 years started this shop when the Indian Oil factory was first established in the outskirts of Kalyani. Initially, it was a small makeshift cycle repair cum tea shop, which now is a permanent hotel where the workers of the factory, drivers, and other local people can have breakfast to dinner.

The shop opens every day at 5 am and the preparation of the day starts around 9 am. Ramesh Das does the entire cooking with the help of his wife. He has his house nearby where 5 of his other family members stays while he and his wife stay in the shop. In breakfast, he serves roti & sabzi (curry).In the lunch hour, which starts from 1 pm, many workers, drivers, and other locals come to eat. It has regular meals, including, Rice, dal, sabzi along with fish and egg curry, costing Rs 50 and Rs 40. Chicken meal is only available on-demand (due to the lockdown). At dinner, one can have roti, rice, and curry depends on the customer. Tea is available all day long along with bread and cakes.

The shop also used to provide home delivery to a few local homes and the L&T factory, but after the son's accident and due to lockdown he has stopped that. The current situation has worsened things for them as the price of things has increased a lot and if he is not able to open shop for one day it makes a huge loss for him. They were supposed to get a BPL(Below Poverty Line) card but govt made them an APL(Above Poverty Line) card due to which they have to buy rice and wheat. He has no faith in the government and now they are accustomed to such a situation, is due to the location of the shop being in the outskirts, he is not getting bashed by police, otherwise, they may have to close the shop permanently during this time.

He is happy to run this meal shop along with his wife and expects to do so for more 30yrs and he is proud of the work he does and loves this place and doesn’t want to change the location as he is much popular in the locality as people of the area also respects him much.

3.Ratan Sarkar: A man with many feathers in his cap, who came to India as a child in 1976 from Bangladesh and started living in his aunt's place, Chakdaha (a small town in WB). Later on, after few years bought his land in Anandanagar, Kalyani, and shifted there, with his parents, wife, and 2 children. It's been 27 years since he is staying here and selling tea is not his first job. He started his journey as a cycle repairer and then went to Mumbai to work in power loom. After 1-2 years he shifted to carpentry and polishing and from there to a centering job. He spent mostly as a laborer in a centering job but due to his age (52), he stopped doing that and started a tea stall. He is a freckled-minded person and couldn’t settle himself before marriage thus he changed his job many times. Once he gained full control of the job, he moved on to start another thing.

He bought his Thela (Bengali word for cart) taking a loan of 27k just a few before the lockdown was announced. Due to his misfortune, he again had to sit at home eating his savings and finding a new job. But now when many restrictions are lifted he opens his shop daily around 7 am till the FCI (Food Corp. of India) factory is open, i.e 8 pm. His main customers are the FCI workers, hospital people, and pedestrians. He serves 2 types of tea – milk tea (Rs 5) and black tea (Rs 4) along with varieties of biscuits, cakes, laddoos, and egg toast. His daily earning varies as due to COVID it has decreased a lot before it was Rs 1600 per day now it's even less than half. The main thing is that he was also not supported by the govt, as they were promised to receive permanent house for which meeting was held but later it was not provided, not even money, and now he is left with debt.

He has accepted his fate and has now finally set himself. He is satisfied with what he has and only thinks of ways how to expand this business and how to keep his family well. His children are reading in primary schools while his father also works to earn whatever he can and according to him they are good and wants to continue the rest of his life like this.

The series only depicts the life of 3 “Stall-warts”. I feel that every people has a unique story to tell. Maybe what I have covered is just a glimpse of their entire life. If we see all 3 have struggled a lot to come to a place where they stand now. Though we can never think of ourselves in their place they are contented with what they are doing and will continue to do that. The series is done not for playing with the sympathy of the people or raising funds, it's just a mere try from my end so that people come to know their surroundings well.