A busy day of selling fish at Sirajganj Road, the largest fish market in North Bengal.

Just as fish farming takes a lot of patience and hard work, the joy of selling the fish grown in the market is also different. This strange and beautiful feeling will be understood only by those who farm fish themselves. For many days, I have been cultivating fish in my pond with great care. Regularly maintaining the water quality, feeding them and taking care of them-all this has taken a lot of effort. Finally, on May 17-18, it is time to bring the fruits of that hard work home. Today, I will share with you the complete experience of catching fish from my pond and selling it at Sirajganj Road, the largest fish market in North Bengal.

Usually, fish have to be taken to such big markets early in the morning or before noon, so there is no chance of fishing during the day. The rule in our area is to cast the net in the pond at midnight. Accordingly, we cast the net in the pond at around 12 am on May 17. The pitch darkness of the night, the silence around, and the sound of fishermen pulling their nets in the calm water of the pond-all of these combined to create a very exciting atmosphere. After pulling the nets several times, the big fish in the pond were caught.

I felt a sense of satisfaction seeing the jumping and freshness of the fish. Then, they were carefully loaded into oxygen bags or large drums filled with water and taken to the pickup van for the warehouse.

The communication system from our Natore area to Sirajganj Road is quite good and since it is a highway, the journey does not take much time. This fish warehouse on Sirajganj Road is basically known as the largest and busiest fish market in North Bengal. Wholesalers from different parts of the country come here to buy fish every day.

When we reached the warehouse with the fish, the dawn light had just started to break. Although there was dim light and a dark environment around, there was no shortage of busy people inside the warehouse. At exactly 6 am, the fish market and auction started in full swing at the fish market.

From home, I thought that I would take many beautiful pictures of this busy market and create a great post for the WorldMapin community. But in reality, when I got there, the situation was completely different. When the market was crowded, there was no place to sit. There was only the noise of thousands of people, the shouts of fish sellers quoting the prices of fish, and the rush of carrying baskets of fish from one place to another. Since I was selling my own fish there, I had to be very busy bargaining with the buyers, keeping a close eye on whether the weights were being measured correctly, and calculating the accounts. After selling my fish, I did not have a moment of time or the mental state to take pictures with my mobile phone in that terrible crowd.

By the time the fish sale was over, morning had come and the main crowd in the shop had thinned out a lot. Then, with a sigh of relief, I took some pictures around. The picture I took shows the situation at the end of the shop. There were still a lot of fish being sold. In the picture, I captured the scene of fresh shrimp, large tilapia and carp fish being weighed in baskets.

In the picture, an elderly man is seen weighing tilapia fish in a large aluminum container. Also, the live magur, horn fish and native fish kept in large blue plastic drums were the most interesting to me. To keep these fish fresh and alive, oxygen bubbles were being artificially created in the water in the drums with the help of a motor or pipe, which is very clearly visible in the picture. In the pictures outside the shop, pickup vans are seen lined up in the mud, in which traders from far and wide have brought fish or are getting ready to buy them.

All in all, the day was very busy and very tiring. However, after selling the fish they had collected with much difficulty at a good price and heading home with money in their pockets, all the fatigue of staying up all night seemed to disappear in an instant.

Please let me know in the comments how you liked the hustle and bustle of this huge fish market on Sirajganj Road and my experience selling fish. Best of luck to everyone!

(All posts are written in Bengali and translated into English using Google Translate.)
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