The Unique lifestyle of Chennai Fishermen
Chennai or Madras as it was called a couple of years ago, were some fishermen villages on the Bay of Bengal coast. The metropolitan city is the oldest municipality and is a symbol of rise of British rule in the southern peninsula. The coastal city boasts of a twelve kilometer stretch of beach. This is beach is the second largest city beach in the world. The Marina beach is sandy and is home to many fishermen communities. Fishing is abundant. This fishermen community was the worst hit during the Tsunami of 2006. They were totally destroyed and devastated. They lost their homes and boats apart from their loved ones and family. The survivors had nothing to begin again with. The government’s help along with revival spirit of these survivors has brought back the fishermen communities.
There are many fishing villages in Chennai which are of substantial size other than small communities. These include ten villages from Kottivakkam in the southern part of the city to Nochikuppam in the Marina; Perianeelankarai, Pattipulam and Chemmencheri are situated at around ten to fifty kilometers from the city of Chennai along the Chennai -Mahabalipuram road. These villages are examples of fishermen who inhabit the region and their way of life.
To begin with, the fishermen have no means of transport of their own. Most of them do not even own bicycles. Of course, their villages fall along the bus route which has frequent buses that ply to the city. The bus stops can be reached by foot in less than ten minutes, from the respective villages. These fishermen communities do not have much contact with other neighboring communities and have absolutely no access to the nearby agricultural villages. The villages have electricity thanks to the government, but due to lack of maintenance most of the street lamps do not work and very few houses use electricity for lighting. Another problem these people face is the saline water they are confronted with. Summer months bring acute shortage of drinking water which is obtained from ponds and bore wells in the other months.
The village constitutes of houses which are constructed very close to each other. Each house is built on a plot of land measuring around 0.05 acres. The land is owned by the government but the fishermen have been issued ‘patta’ which gives them the right to reside in a plot within the village. The houses here have single room with thatched roofs. Some houses do boast of flat concrete roofs and made of brick and concrete.
The fishing villages have health visitors and inspectors at frequent intervals who distribute anti malarial drugs and other drugs that might be needed. Hospitals are situated about fifteen to thirty kilometers away but are well connected by bus routes. The children go to schools nearby though educational opportunities are poor. There are schools within walking distance but only few opt for them since most of them work along with their parents to earn their livelihood.
Most of the people here are Hindus. They belong to the Chettiar caste and Periapettinathavar sub caste. Each village maintains a temple of their own for their favorite deity. There have been conversions into Christianity recently and thus small Christian communities are also prevalent among the fishermen of Chennai. Small churches can be seen in areas where Christian population resides.
The fishermen have no side income. Their work includes fishing in the sea and bringing the catch of the day to the shore. The marketing of the fish is mainly done by the womenfolk who wait with baskets on shore. The fishes are carried by head load to the neighboring non fishing villages. They go from house to house to sell their wares. Thus daughters stay home to cook and tend for the younger siblings missing school and education in the process. Some women set shop in markets. There are also bicycle vendors or traders in a village who goes fishing as well as sell the fishes using their bicycles. Fishermen have seen to remain in their villages and rarely migrate. Sons carry on with their father’s profession and this seems to continue for generations.
There are two types of boats used, masula boat for beaches and kattumaram. The boats are owned by a single person, but joint ownerships are also occasionally seen. Each village owns around four to five masula. The number of kattumaram differs from village to village. The nets used for fishing are made of nylon and cotton. The nylon nets are of three types, kavalaivalai, araivalai, and thatakavalai. The catch is divided in such a manner that half of a share is given t the kattumaram owner, a half to the net owner and the rest are distributed among the crew. Fishing with large nets like madhavalai, edavalai and paindavali require four kattumarams and ten to twenty fishermen. The sharing here differs from community to community.
The village judicial system is unique. There is a traditional village council. The number of members differs in each village. The members are selected on the basis of heredity. The village headman is selected by the villagers from among themselves. Both village and private affairs are discussed and settled at village meetings. These include a variety of problems, like activities of outsiders, deprived, financial concerns of village, conflicts between individuals etc. Women are not allowed to become council members. They are also not allowed to attend meetings or participate in selecting a head man. The male dominance is very protracted in the community.
The fishermen community lives under financial troubles and thus government along with Confederation of Indian Industry are working on programs that would redefine fishing practices and lead to the introduction of international standards and practices in fishing. For all these new ideas to be implemented, the fishermen and their mindset have to be transformed so that they adopt sea farming technologies and make use of processing technologies leaving their outdated methods. This would make them financially sounder and would lead to their children and families enjoying a higher standard of life.
