India is a place that makes you feel alive. In Old City, the streets bustle with traffic that sing harmonies of beeps from trucks, buses, taxis and cars. The markets flow with shoppers bartering for a better price and the food makes your tastebuds fall in love.
Flamboyant fabrics line the walls of market stalls, jewellery catches your eye as it shimmers in the sunlight and the artwork of the buildings share the stories from another time. But as you weave your way through the streets you find something much more important – the people.
Tucked away from the main hustle and bustle of the Old City market place was a farmers market predominantly run by women. The women travel to the markets early every morning to set up shop and sell the produce that they grow and harvest in the villages while the men stay at home to work the farm.
They bring with them a large variety of fruits and vegetables such as lime, pomegranate, beans, cauliflower, melons, pumpkins, onions, potatoes and tomatoes. Unlike other stall holders, they don’t sell their produce in store fronts. Instead they sell their produce in neatly stacked pyramids and round dishes on the streets; sheltered by strung up tarps or tin roofing.
The farmers markets are the main source of income for these women and their families. While they say it is a lot of hard work to travel the long distance every day, they know they must return so that they can make money to support their families.