The concept of buying food in a place like that, inches away from the sewer gutter, off of the ground, is one I could not embrace
It is quite astonishing how people in India can be so fastidious regarding personal hygiene and at the same time quite oblivious to the squalor around them. Such is the level of poverty that most would have little choice, so perhaps they become inured to it.
Conversely, most of the villagers I have met seem relatively blind to the beauty of their own landscape, and seem confused when I enthuse about it. (They actually wall off acres of land, stick up the odd gazebo or folly, and call them "beauty spots".)
This particular market is in a place called Nepalganj. When I first went there 20 years ago it was a beautiful, tranquil village surrounded by canals. (I'm sure I have a drawing of it from that time somewhere so I will root it out and post it.)
It is now a horrendous, bare bricked, crowded suburb. Calcutta stretches out its tentacles to swallow up the countryside year by year.
Increasingly, village people deprived of a livelihood seek refuge in the cities only to find there are no jobs. This seems to be true of many countries, not just India.
Long ago, India was a veritable garden of Eden. The population only began to spiral out of control under the British Raj.Village life is being eroded, inch by inch.
Hence Lucina's decision to specialize in agriculture stems from being part of a generation with a more determined mindset - and hopefully - the capacity and the will - to address deep-rooted environmental issues and find abiding solutions.