THE COFFEE HUNT
A lot of sweet and sour moments of my life are attached with this place. It has been our go to place whenever we got bored. This time around being alone I was just walking down the locked makeshift shops, searching for a good coffee. It was too early in the morning the visitors have just started arriving. It was almost 6:30 AM and the early summer Sun had started getting a bit uncomfortably brighter.To my relief I found a stall selling coffee and tea. After placing my order for a strong coffee, I was sitting on one of the cement benches that line up the sidewalk facing the sea. There were no clouds and the sun was out. I was cursing myself for delaying my decision to go to the Beach, this was one of those rare occasions when I missed witnessing the sunrise.
I got my hot coffee, took the first sip, "Heavenly". I rarely post status updates but it's the beautiful Bheemili beach morning and lovely coffee, the combination demanded me the deserved attention and I had to post a picture about both of them. After I have let myself indulge in experiencing the coffee, I returned the empty glass to the vendor, interestingly, I found a man with a camera handling the hot boiling tea. He was wearing a polo tshirt in blue and yellow combination with a silhouette of a photographer on it. Looking around I found the same Tshirts dotted the length of the Beach, pursuing visitors to get clicked with their high quality cameras. Another group clad in orange and blue Tshirts were also seen carrying cameras in the same pursuit. Out of curiosity I have asked the the camera weilding coffee maker, about the distinction between both the groups. Interestingly he replied they are all of the same union of photographers which has a strong membership of 75 and around 60 of them have familial connections. All of them were from the three villages on the coast.
THE CONVERSATION
He further told me that the tea stall belonged to his uncle who stepped out to get something. So I have asked him how is the business going, considering the compitition due to the number of photographers in the area. That's when he said he does the camera work only in the mornings and evenings. During the day he goes out into the sea to fish. I was happy to know how well they are managing the time and not depending on a single source of income.
THE INCEPTION
In the year 2021, freshly out of covid 19, the visitors slowly started to return to Bheemili, that's when a group of 3 photographers used to come to Bheemili from Vizag city. Quickly they made good money through photography and the locals have observed the trend. They have learned the trade and quickly replaced the photographers coming from the city by establishing a union of local photographers and restricted the photographers from other places to enter the Bheemili beach, protecting their income. This has lead to substantial increase in number of photographers around the area from a mere 3 in 2021 to 75 by 2025.
THE ELDER ONE
A bearded man who looked to be in his early forties came to the stall smiling, and gave a light hearted double kick to the back and shoulder of the guy I was speaking to. He seemed uninterested in the conversation first, but quickly joined, explaining their life and routine. I was surprised to know that he is in his early fifties, considering how fit he looked. I thought they are not just financially clever but also physically super fit. However my little bubble of assumption about their finances quickly got burst when he said most of them are not able to make the ends meet and it has been getting worse to make an earning out of both fishing and photography. When they go fishing, all the catch gets divided I to 10 parts, of which 4 parts will go to the owner of the boat as he supplies the nets, maintains the boat and pays for the fuel. Around 6 to 8 people go out into the sea on the boat and after the four parts go to the owner, the remain parts will be shared one for each person.
THE DOWNWARD SPIRAL
The money they could make by selling the catch is not more than few hundreds. After all the tiresome effort, they resort to consuming alcohol to relax, which has become an addiction to many of them. The few hundress made on the catch gets divided between household expenses and alcohol. Leaving little to nothing in savings whenever they have a bad day the the sea. The craving for alcohol and growing household expenses, compelled many of them into taking loans which brought with them the burden of interest. Some could no longer afford to send their children to the local government school, so that a helping hand be added to alleviate the financial burden. On the other hand, the academic and sports infrastructure available is not enough to support the younger generation, coupled with financial problems, is resulting in a massive number of dropouts from school, junior college and graduation. Out of the 300 families only 3 could reach till post graduation and one of them is dependent on photography for livelihood.
CLIMATE CHANGE AND POLLUTION
Salt on the wound is combination of the climate change and pollution from nearby factories. Even after doubling their efforts and investment, the loss of marine habitat has affected the volume and quality of the fish, further dropping the price. Vendors give far lesser price to the fish caught by the Bheemili fishermen as the fish coming from far off ports like Kakinada offer much better quality. I spoke with a fish vendor in my city Vizianagaram, who said the quality of fish from Kakinada port area is far superior to that of Bheemili, so the purchase of local fish has dropped to drive the sales up and to keep the customer base intact.
I was told that the fishermen community has gathered their strength to voice the problems caused by the pollution from local factories, however their voices were suppressed indirectly through bribes or threats creating divide and weakening the community from within.
THE GOVERNMENT SUPPORT
The government has launched several beneficial schemes to aid the fishermen, however the process needs deposits as collateral which they are not able to afford. The only option they are left with is to go deeper ino the sea and catch bigger fish, however the boats they use are not capable of doing that. The banks would provide loans to acquire the mechanized boats with necessary strength, however, the loans are given only to individuals and not unions or associations. As no single individual is financially equipped enough to afford the deposit amount, their chance turning the worsening fate is getting slimmer.
APPEAL
I Krishna Mohan Vasa appeal to all of you to look at the plight of the Bheemili fishermen, acknowledging the existence of a problem is the first step towards solving it.
Dear passionate photographers I request you fi d a way to coach them on how they can better their skills. As the threat of better cameras embedded in the mobile phones is already a growing threat.
I request social media influencers to please visit, promote and create awareness about the Bheemili location so that they can get good number of visitors.
I request the general public to maintain civic sense while visiting the place, do not litter and leave the place as beautiful as you found it.
I request academicians to provide career counselling to the children of these fishermen, who dared the circumstances. Give them the courage to fight for the dream of their better future.
I have and will do my part to support them, but real change will happen only if we collectively act on it.
I end quoting the lines of eminent poet SriSri
"నేను సైతం ప్రపంచాగ్నికి సమిధనొక్కటి ఆహుతిచ్హాను.....
నేను సైతం విశ్వవ్రుష్టికి అశ్రువొక్కటి ధారవోశాను"
నేను సైతం విశ్వవ్రుష్టికి అశ్రువొక్కటి ధారవోశాను"
"I have as well, given an offering to the auspicious fire that burns in everyone's heart in this world. I have as well, shed a tear for the world's misery."
Thank you.
