Men at work in Calcutta

If there's one thing you see all over the place in India, it's men working. (And sometimes women working, but more often than not the gender ratio in public spaces is crazily skewed like 60:1. But more on that in another post).

In any case, here are some of the interesting jobs I saw while on a long weekend trip to Calcutta....

[This man's job? He's a professional cheese-sitter. Yes, that's what he's doing here--sitting on a block of paneer, squeezing out the water. If this job were available for brie I'd be all over it.]

 [At the flower market, these are the guys who bring flowers to and from the wholesale sellers. It looks like really tough labor.]

[The toughest work, I think,is that of the rickshaw puller. These guys are a throw-back to colonial times and have been banned everywhere else in the country (which has instead bicycle rickshaws) but Calcutta. Actually, they're technically banned in Calcutta too, but nobody seems pay that any attention--rickshaw pullers are everywhere. These guys are supposed to run while pulling along two (inevitably fat) riders for pennies, just pennies. (And need I mention that every rickshaw puller I saw was underweight and looked quite old, just like this fellow?) Apparently they're most used in the monsoon season when the streets are flooded waist height--these guys slosh through the water so their passengers don't have to. Everytime I would pass one of these guys with an empty cart he would bang on the seat and try to give me a ride, but I just...couldn't. Which makes me feel bad too--perhaps the only thing worse than a rickshaw puller running along with two fat cats in the seat is a rickshaw puller with an empty cart. Please, government of India/Calcutta--find better work for these men.]

[A snack seller, in his store nook]

 

 [A slightly more upscale snack seller in his store nook. Still not enough room to stand up in, though-but the snacks were tasty!]

 [This guy is a coal breaker, I think. I'm actually not totally sure what he's doing with the coal, but during the 5 minutes I was watching him he was sort of hunched over it, inhaling full smoke plumes (so unhealthy, poor guy), jabbing it with a stick. This was the one moment he looked up and smiled.]

 [A meat vendor at the local market. His table was his shop]

 [This guy sells hair.  I don't think it's human (at least it smelled very animal-y) but I'm not sure what it was]

[And finally, a woman! This lady ran a chowmein-making store. I had a bit--it was quite tasty]