Team Gold Miners

Kuppam, Andhra Pradesh

Oct 1-5, 2012

FIELD NOTES

Brief In our field immersion we explore lives of hawkers who sell goods on trains, with a focus on hawkers selling vegetables . Towns on the Bangalore-Chennai rail line were considered based on the frequency of spotting hawkers on commuter trains in this section. Early choices- Kuppam, Bangarapet & Jolarpettai Junction. It is considered that these hawkers ply their trade in violation of Indian Railway’s rule against hawking of goods on its property except licensed vendors who are authorized to sell food and beverages. Whereas, there are hawkers of wide variety of goods ranging from toys, flowers, books, DVDs to vegetables and fruits. Turns out, that many bribe the railway officials to be able to carry on their trade on trains. We explore the basis of this criminalization of the hawkers trade by Indian Railways.

Indian Railways Hawkers

Vegetable Hawkers on Train

CONTESTED SPACE

Hypothesis

Place Located on Bangalore- Chennai railway line. Chittoor district, AP 100 km from Bangalore Climate: Dry Altitude: ~ 500 mts above sea level Agriculture: Rainfed, horticulture produce

Work Environment – Hawkers on trains

A typical rail coach of a commuter train in an off-rush hour.

A hawker selling toys and fancy wares on a commuter train.

Kuppam Railway Station

4 commuter trains (express) & 2 passenger trains stop at Kuppam daily

A hawker packing vegetables on the platform, to sell in the evening train.

First Impressions Most of the hawkers are very apprehensive about us following them or attempting to talk to them. Took 2 days to figure out their hawking pattern- trains they take, section of the rail route they hawk in, where they live (which station) etc. Observed that the hawkers are mainly women. Felt Kuppam was a wrong choice to observe and engage with vegetable hawkers. Moved to redefine our choice of hawkers, to include vegetable AND fruits and flower hawkers. Also, that we may have to travel further down the line till Jolarpettai Junction and observe.

Day 3 & 4 Turns out that many are apprehensive and even scared to talk to us because the railway authorities have been vigilant over the past year. When they are caught, a case is filed against the hawkers. And it has devastating financial and social consequences. ( Ex: One flower hawker didn’t want to talk to us as she has a son studying M.Sc and her arrest will have serious consequences on family income etc.) This fear explained much of their apprehensions about us and those point blank questions on “what do you want?”, “why are you following me?” A flower seller finally thought of trusting us. Perhaps, because of a woman in our group. She helps us with first genuine bits of information and quickly a whole network of hawkers on the entire line becomes visible.

Status on Day 5 We have been doing daily trips on the commuter trains with Kuppam based vegetable hawkers. We start with the 6 am train towards Chennai and return with the 9.30 pm train to Bangalore. Kuppam is a typical small town , largely agrarian and with somewhat similar patterns of youth migrating to nearest cities for work. Much of the migrants work in granite industry and some others as construction workers. One of our vegetable hawker is a former construction worker from Bangalore who finds it easier to survive and support a family by living in Kuppam. BUT, we are far from going to their homes! The association is better only in a sense that they no more consider us a threat.

From farm to customer- Tracing the chain (1)

Vegetable mandi in Kuppam town. The produce arrives mainly from small farms in the region.

Vegetables are laid out in baskets for auction. Each basket is auctioned separately.

From farm to customer- Tracing the chain (2)

Auction in process. The commission agent makes a note of prices and buyer, as the vegetables are bought on loan.

The hawkers bid for vegetables in this mandi. They buy an avg of Rs 2000 worth of vegetables every day.

From farm to customer- Tracing the chain (3)

Gangamma sits sorting, cleaning and packing the vegetables she bought from auction in the morning.

Packed vegetables ready for the 5.30 pm train.

Yet to be explored We have had little luck with getting friendly with the hawkers, but we are sure it is only a matter of time. Consequently, their personal lives is out of bounds at the moment. We need to gain a critical understanding of the legal landscape w.r.t hawking on trains, Indian Railways Act and right to livelihood aspects. Kuppam is a fairly large town (w.r.t the idea of a village) and therefore public offices and other processes are spread out wide. Access is taking time. Local resources, agriculture and demographics are being explored. In the remaining days, we hope to develop resources and economic map of the town.

BUT

we are yet to find our way into their lives…