There are approximately 3.6 million street vendors in India. Even though we engage with street vendors regularly, we still don???t acknowledge the challenges these vendors face.

There are different kinds of vendors, some who sell flowers near temples and get the most sale in the mornings and during special occasions, while others travel to different places during festivals, targeting a certain crowd as their prime customers and they sell things like balloons and toys. However, at other times they are forced to sell these goods at a lower price, for a smaller profit margin. For instance, during Dussehra, we met vendors who travelled to Mysore to sell their goods. These vendors??? access to earning a living is subject to seasonal factors and even have to migrate to different places to set up shop.

As most vendors set up shop on roadsides and footpaths, which are mostly public property, they do not have ownership over the space they use or any documents or licenses to prove their right to sell in that chosen area. Hence, it becomes almost too easy to resettle these vendors to a different place. This creates a huge turmoil in their livelihood because in this fast-moving world where connecting and networking clientele happens through advanced technology, trust built among the communities they work with is their only source of stability in this uncertain milieu. Due to technicalities, they are losing the network they???ve built over months of comradery and are forced to start from scratch.

Muhammed Sinan is a photography enthusiast from Kerala with an interest in street photography and human portraits. He is currently pursuing a Master???s in Development at Azim Premji University, Bangalore.

Permissions while photographing subjects were obtained by the author