U Valli weaves her way past a gaggle of women auctioneers at the Kasimedu wharf. It is almost 9am and tensions run high as the last of the day’s catch is up for grabs. But the 60-year-old has her eye on sellers by the water’s edge. “I always buy small fish. Paarai (bluefin trevally) is perfect for kozhambu,” she says, stopping at a stall to chat with B Kumari, the owner. She knows everyone here since she sells fish occasionally from her husband’s boat. Kumari has what Valli is looking for: silver-grey mosal paarai. She buys the lot for ₹350, and says: “Let’s head home.”
She walks towards a waiting cycle-rickshaw at the entrance of the market. “A lot has changed,” says Valli, pointing to the new retail market that came up during the pandemic. Having spent most of her life on the wharf, she has seen it evolve from a quiet strip of land by the sea to the thriving market it is today. “I grew up here,” she says, adding: “It was here that I met my husband,” and points to some shacks at a distance. “I would come there to collect water with my mother.” Valli and Udhayakumar have been married for 35 years now. “In our younger years, when he went to the sea regularly, I would pack him rice kanji and a thick curry called sunda kozhambu,” she recalls, seating herself in the rickshaw.
