KOCHI: Far away from their arid hometown, some people from Rajasthan are eking out a living by selling their ware on the streets of Kochi.Outside the Bay Pride Mall on Marine Drive, one cannot go past them without throwing a glance at the junk jewellery they sell. Earrings, bracelets, anklets and necklaces made of colourful beads are among the products they sell. These are priced between Rs 20 and Rs 250, depending on their size and the amount of work that has gone into their making.Rajasthanis are spread across the state, especially in Ernakulam, selling things from junk jewellery to electric appliances, mobile covers and clothes. Around 500 Rajasthanis live in Kochi — some with their families and some with their distant relatives. Gopali, who sells junk jewellery near the Bay Pride Mall with her daughter-in-law, is a migrant from Dausa district of Rajasthan.“I stay on rent with my family. We earn around Rs 300 to Rs 500 every day,” she said, pointing out that the money she earns is insufficient for her family’s living. The junk jewellery which she and her daughter-in-law Manisha sell are either hand-made by them or brought from Delhi.“Everybody is helpful here. If someone tries to create trouble, the shopkeepers nearby help us drive them away,” she said. Like most of the north Indians who are not comfortable with south Indian food, Gopali and her family too cannot put up with it. “We prepare food at our home because we don’t like local food,” she said.Convent Junction and Broadway house the majority of Rajasthani shops. Most of them are cloth stores. Dinesh Kumar from Jaipur, who sells items ranging from mobile covers to electric appliances with his partner Sunil Kumar, said, “Even though we don’t know Malayalam, we can survive here. Many people here know Hindi. So language has, so far, not been a problem.” He has been in the business for three years now. “My brother used to sell tea in front of a hotel here. He told us to start selling mobile covers, knives and wallets here. That is how I came here,” he said. Most of them said that although Rajasthanis have been doing business in the city for quite some time now, they do not have an association yet
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