The Change Wallahs…

In Calcutta people make a living out of anything. And one such profession which made its appearance with the advent of buses, and bus conductors needing change, were these Change-Wallahs…


They would be found sitting on the streets – specially near the main bus terminus with stacks of change all neatly counted for anyone who could wave a wad of notes towards them and get change in exchange… ofcourse after a small percentage was duly deducted for all the labour they put in.



This man in the picture has been doing it for the last 16 years and the day I took this picture he said, he doesn’t feel like doing it anymore… says he is tired and the monotony of the whole process has set in…. every day reaching his spot as early as 7 am with mini sacks of coins and then sorting them up and making these tidy little stacks and after maybe an hour of hard work he would be ready to conduct business… now he doesn’t feel like doing it…



Like a lot of things lost since the yesteryears… these people would soon be gone too… my humble attempt to document them…

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Comments

  1. Sam21 August 2012 at 11:37

    Interesting facet! I had never heard of them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Calcutta Photo Tours21 August 2012 at 11:40

      So glad you liked reading this. Next time you are in the city do look them up... or look us up! :-)

      Delete

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