Quite a catch!

Unlike most fishermongers who are noisy and quarrelsome, Dattatrey Taru is calm and collected. At his stall, no one haggles about the rat...

Unlike most fishermongers who are noisy and quarrelsome, Dattatrey Taru is calm and collected. At his stall, no one haggles about the rates and no one takes home a bad fish. If the fish is bad, he will frankly tell you “don’t take the bhangra today, it’s no good”.

No wonder then that he has people coming from as far as Erandwane to his stall near the Pune Railway Station. Says Taru, “I have been in the business for the past 28 years. In fact, some of my clients were these Air Force officers who had been transferred to Delhi. Whenever they would fly down to Pune, they’d make it a point to buy my fish, which they’d fly back to Delhi. This is what gives me satisfaction – my customers returning to me saying how much they enjoyed my fish”.

Taru’s day begins at 7 a.m. when his trucks come in from Mumbai, laden with fresh stock. Each lorry carries 100 crates of fish, that are sorted out at the point of purchase itself. “I have four of my men posted at Crawford Market. They check every single piece of fish that is bought from the trawlers before it is loaded onto our trucks. That saves us the trouble of sorting fish here”.

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As soon as the trucks unload these crates, there is hectic activity. Says Taru, “Because I am located near the station, I often have people who are going out of town make a quick purchase.” That’s probably why he can’t keep his stall closed for too long in the afternoons.

The morning sale gets completed by 2.30 p.m. and after a quick lunch, he opens up again for the Manmad-bound passengers, whose train leaves at 4 p.m. “It’s a chaotic scene then because they are in such a hurry”.

In a day, Taru sells about 400 to 500 kg of seafood. But time was when this was a loss-making business. Says Taru, “When I joined my father in this line, not many people used to eat fish. But for the last 15 to 20 years, seems like non-vegetarianism is on the rise”.

Post-Dassera is peak time for the sale of fish. “People finish with shravan and get back to fish with a vengeance. Also, after the monsoons, the catch is really good. But there are certain days that are lean – Mondays, Thursdays and Saturdays”.

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Though he is careful about his stock, there are times when the fish does go bad. “For instance, today I received 200 kg of surmai from a seller in Goa. Out of that, 130 has gone bad. Obviously, I won’t sell it. What I do in such cases is take the stock to Mumbai, where there are people who add salt and dry it”.

That’s dry fish for you. But the reverse used to happen years ago. “In those days, trawlers did not have cold storage facility so all the catch which was fresh was salted on board and dried. Unfortunately, these days, stale fish is dried”.

From 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. Taru stands on his feet, selling his fish. “This is not just a business, I look upon it as a seva. I could make a lot of money in Mumbai itself, but nothing compares to the satisfaction of my customers here”.