Throughout Kerala, colorful trucks unload tons of produce and commodities every morning. Wholesalers, warehouses, and markets all maintain a steady flow of goods – and the cycle begins anew each morning. I occasionally venture into central Cochin’s main market (Broadway) to photograph the process, and the colorful people that are washed about by the endless tide of fruits and vegetables, fish and fowl.

The seemingly official garb of stevedores in every market I’ve visited, and many streets besides, is a strikingly blue shirt. Some of them wear trousers – some of them wear lunghis. Some don classy caps, and some bear turbans, and even more pile burlap sacks onto their domes.

Some do this out of cultural habit, but most do it for the practical purpose it serves – carrying thirty-odd kilograms of produce in a metal basket on your head without padding is probably not so comfortable. And might result in brain damage (classless joke).

This is the first post of a series – I will be frequenting markets around Kerala (mostly in Cochin) in the hope of portraying as many interesting and unusual aspects of Indian culture as possible. Photographing a different world is like looking through a window into a house – you see what you see; it might not be representative of the entire house, nor will you be able to understand the full spectrum of implications of what you see. India is like that – if it looks interesting, I suggest you come and see it yourself.