Slice of life: ‘We don’t have anywhere else to go if forced to leave Marina’

Kanchana M (53), Toy vendor

I  have been working on the beach for the past 10 years. My husband also works here as a vendor. Our children are very young. They come to the beach and play while I am working. The beach used to be beautiful earlier. But now things have changed. There is garbage everywhere you look. The public litter the sand. They don’t bother to pick up their waste and find a garbage bin. I try to pick up and deposit it in the waste bins near the parking lot when I see it on the beach. But there is a lot of garbage and I cannot clear everything. The business has also come down lately. The new system which requires vendors to have a permit has affected the business. Besides that, the number of customers has also decreased. Still, I enjoy working at the beach. My children like to come here and play. They roll around in the sand. Though they are dirty by the time we return home, they are happy. People should visit beaches more often. It would also increase our business. Life is getting harder day by day. Prices of essential commodities are going up but our business is not. I hope that we would be able to secure the permits soon as is our only way to earn a living. We don’t have anywhere else to go if the police and Corporation drive us away from the beach.