By the telling of the fishmongers in Guwahati, India has become stingy all of a sudden. With a few days to go for the end to the demon days, I went to the teeming Kachari fish market in Guwahati to sniff the mood. The traders I met said their takeaway from the last 50 days is that the shock treatment has left consumers wince if they have to reach for their wallets. True, people initially struggled for cash initially. But the situation has improved substantially but people still are afraid of spending money. They are eating less! complained Moinul Khan, a trader. It’s indeed a bit much if you can’t get a Bengali to spend on fish.We all know how much Bengalis love fish but I haven’t seen my regular customers for weeks. Earlier, they would visit almost every day, Khan added. The Kachari fish market is located at Rehabari, the posher quarter of Guwahati. Apart from several government buildings, the head office and residential enclaves of the Assam Police are located here. A lot of Bengalis live here. In the pre-demonetisation era, the market would buzz until 2 pm. A big’ trader, Nurul Hussain told me his daily sales have plummeted from Rs.5 lakh to Rs 1.5 lakh. The market has 22 traders. Three of them Khursed Ali, Moinul Haque and Abul Hussain have closed shop and moved back to Barpeta in western Assam to work as labourers. Half a dozen other traders are not doing any business every day. Nurul Hussain has been rendered a bitter man. Demonetisation has snatched our livelihood. Winter is when our sales usually go up but the situation is worsening every passing day, he said. The traders’ pique is that there is cash available aplenty in the ATMs of Guwahati. It’s just that consumers are still in shock. Another listless fishmonger I spoke to, Zuber Ali, said he had alternative vocation lined up. I’m not earning even Rs.300 a day. I’ve seen some autorickshaw drivers, hit hard by the arrival of Uber and Ola, trying their luck in gambling. If things don’t improve, I too will take to gambling.
New Indian Express. 2016