The Koli women are the backbone of the Koli community. They are industrious and entrepreneurial, managing their household and family businesses with skill and expertise. A typical day for Koli women starts very early, long before sunrise. They travel long distances to wholesale fish markets to buy a fresh catch and sell it in the local market, after which they devote time to running their household.
Teams are formed, and preparations start at least a week before the festival. Around 50–60 stalls are set up at the Versova Koli Seafood Festival. To run their stall, each woman in the group chips in with individual contributions. They use this combined fund to buy fish stock and cooking ingredients and pay the organizing committee for décor, rent, and electricity.
The festival is an opportunity for Koli women to explore entrepreneurship opportunities in the culinary arts by starting small-scale food businesses, catering services, or home-based commercial kitchens. Empowered Koli women play a vital role in shaping the future of their families, communities, and society at large.
Pictured here is a Koli woman preparing a dish known as a sweet banana. Making this involves peeling a ripe banana, delicately slicing it to stuff with coconut filling and then gently roasting it in butter.
The catch arrives in the morning and is immediately preserved in ice boxes to maintain flavour and freshness. This fish includes Koli specialties like Bombay duck (bombil), pomfret (paplet), mackerel (bangda), sardines (tarli, pedvey), king fish (surmai), golden anchovy (mandeli), prawns (kolambi), and shrimp (jhinga).
In the morning, preparations are made for lunch. Post-lunch, after a short break, preparation for dinner starts at 3 pm. Throughout the day, women run their stalls by operating in shifts.
The Versova Koli Seafood Festival is an opportunity to connect with members of the Koli community, including fishermen, fisherwomen, artisans, and cultural performers, to learn about their way of life, occupations, and cultural practices.
Flags are floated on the surface as visual markers to indicate the location of the submerged net. Fishermen typically cast three to four nets within close range of the boat.
The waters off the coast of Mumbai, located in the Arabian Sea, are rich in marine biodiversity and support a diverse range of fish species. Some of the various types of fish commonly caught in these waters include the Kingfish, also known as surmai, mackerel (bangda), pomfret (paplet), Bombay duck (bombil), sardines (tarli), red snapper (rane), cuttlefish (kanphoda), and prawns (jhinga). Exotic species, like sharks, tuna, lobsters, squids, and oysters, are also sold at the markets.
Koli fishermen venture to sea when it is still dark, usually around 5 am, taking advantage of the high tide and reaching their netting points before sunrise. The tide plays a crucial role as fewer fish are caught during low tide, while high tide brings an abundant catch.