The fishermen, who come and sell fresh water fish at Senapati Bapat Road at Elphinstone Road every morning, say that despite the good income that can go up to Rs 6,00,000 per month, their lives aren’t easy
As the city is still asleep in the wee hours of the morning, barring a few Mumbaikars who wake up early for their morning walk or run, Elphinstone Road is a bustle of people and vehicles rushing to occupy minimum space.
The uniqueness of this area lies is the contrasting smells of flowers and freshly-caught fish. For the traditionalist, particularly those who have read the Mahabharata, the situation is similar to King Shantanu of Hastinapura walking towards the smell of flowers and fish and meeting his future wife Satyavati.
These fishermen at Elphinstone Road belong to a group that comes from the interior of Maharashtra selling freshwater fish. “The sea fish in South Mumbai is usually sold at Sasoon Dock, but there are families who prefer the freshwater fish,” said one of the Elphinstone Road fishermen, who didn’t want to be named.
The fish sold here include Rohu, Halva, Mirgal and Mangoor and are priced from anything between Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 5,000. The fishermen earn approximately Rs. 10,000 to Rs. 20,000 per day, which results in a monthly salary that starts at Rs. 3,00,000 per month. “The numbers look fascinating and tempting, but we need to remember a few things. First, fishing is a high-risk job that doesn’t always provide regular income in case of a poor catch. Second, a lot of money that we make is used to pay our truck suppliers, which can be at least Rs. 1,00,000 per month, which in many cases is one-third of our salary. Finally, there are periods such as the monsoon when we do not venture into the sea or rivers because of the water currents. That means living with four months of no income,” added another fisherman.
Surprisingly, despite their love for seafood, there is a large number of city dwellers who are equally partial to freshwater fish and appreciate these specialised markets. They say that in spite of the freshwater fish being bony, it has a lot more flavour than sea fish. Rahul Singh, who works in Lower Parel, says that he had initially struggled to eat the freshwater fish, but once he got a hang of working around the sharp bones, he fell in love with it. “I even buy some from the local sellers on Senapati Bapat Road,” he said.
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 "Freshwater fishermen at Elphinstone Road")
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