Kaali & Kasturi

It was a hot sunday noon when i made a trip to the koyambedu market. It’s a open sky market with a few but huge market blocks here and there. Most of the market can be seen within these blocks. Apart from which there are a few other sellers who are not fortunate enough (financially) to find themselves a spot in the market blocks. The only option they have is to open up petty stalls in the open ground. Their business is more dependent on the how mother nature feels should be like.

If it’s cold (which hardly is the case here during the day time in chennai) or a pleasant weather, they have a hope that their they might meet a few customers. If sunny, then their business is dependent on only those who are willing to step out in the hot sun and strike a bargain. If it’s rainy, well, they can’t do much but just hope and pray that the rain stops soon. Any how the muddy grounds become mushy after rain and there’s hardly any scope for them to open up their stall.

One such stall belongs to kaali and kasturi.

They are not sure of where they are from. When i asked one of them said “thirunalveli” and one of them said “thirchy” both at the same time and then were just looking at each other. They were talking to each other in a language which i’m sure it’s from some part of north india. It sounded kinda like gujrati or rajasthani. I tried to talk to them in hindi, tamil, telugu, but they were just trying to decode what i was saying. I showed them my camera, pointed it, and asked in a sign language “One photo?” They obliged without any hesitation. And that’s how i got this.

Kaali & Kasturi. Order a Limited Edition Print of this image.