Exploring Koli Culture with Anjali Koli
Kolis (fisherfolk) are the first inhabitants of Mumbai.There have been several Koli Seafood Festivals all over Mumbai in the past few years which have been hugely popular.Mumbai now has its first Koli Restaurant Koli World at Oshiwara,Andheri.We wanted to learn more about their culture. We set about shopping for fish with Anjali Koli at the Gopi Tank Market (Citylight) at Mahim.She is originally from Thal (Alibag)....same village by the sea that Anita Desai has written so beautifully about! She sources her ingredients from there and tries to help the women who make it,in her own special way. Nirmala who has made an appearance on Discovery Channel helped us make choices.Anjali and she conversed in their sweet Koli language,a Marathi dialect. Anjali showed us how to look for firmness in a fish for freshness and to check if the gills are red.We bought small crabs and learnt to distinguish between male and female crabs by turning them over.These were transformed i