Not Another Shutterbug

006-It is not without reason that you have ’sass’on your name. Meet Tina Sasson - a Punjabi brought up in Kolkata, who sports a paint brush to keep her hair bun together. As a child, Tina dreamt of having a dhaba of her own on Grand Trunk Road, Asansol, West Bengal. Fast track a few years later to the year 2000, she began realising that dream by serving breakfast and conducting cooking classes in their backyard at home. With no formal training or background in cooking or running a business, she, along with her husband - Sanjeev took the plunge in late 2000s by renting a 10X15 that could seat 10 on Gokulam Main Road. The cafe since then has been the bedrock for upto 14 people including a Nepalese family. Tina’s cafe - now in it’s 13th year has evolved over time to now accommodate 60. What’s not changed tho’ is the rustic feel with hues of Buddhism, Om mani padme hum playing in the background and ghar ka khana(read: home-cooked food).

Meet Maada; Introduced to animal rearing at the age of 8, farming has become second nature to him for the past 80 years. As far as his memory goes, he remembers growing paddy, sugarcane, maize and ragi on a plot of 9 acres which he continues to do till this day. A small piece of land is set aside for growing fruits and vegetables which serves his family of 4 daughters and 4 sons. The farm land has seen technological improvements from depending on a well and human labor for irrigation to a tube well with motorised pump and now a solar powered submersible pump which ensures 24X7 availability of water. While he has seen the world around him change, the man and his ideals have not. He opines farming is like working for any other private firm just that you serve for life without retirement. Despite leading an active life, a few lifestyle diseases have affected his health. However, without batting a brow he says the fields are the cure to anything that life has to throw at him. Perhaps, this is why he choses to stay in the fields looking after the crops as if it were his own children instead of choosing the comfort of home.