Sultan Fish Seed Farm

Out here in Butana, near Nilokheri, life revolves around the water. We run Sultan Fish Seed Farm, which basically means we spend our days looking at ponds. It's quiet mostly, except when we're moving the small fish. I grew up around here and never really thought about doing anything else. It's messy work. You get mud on your boots and your clothes always smell a bit like the pond. We have to watch the oxygen levels and the feed very carefully. If the weather gets too hot, we stay up late checking on things. It’s not like an office job where you leave at five. The fish don’t care what time it is. We sell the seeds to other farmers who grow them out. Sometimes the crop is good, sometimes we have problems with the water quality. It’s just part of the cycle. My cousins help out during the busy season when we're harvesting the seed. We use simple tools and a lot of patience. There isn't any fancy technology here, just nets and buckets and knowing the water. People come from the nearby villages to pick up their orders. We sit under the tree and have some chai while they load up the tanks. It's a slow life but it's steady. We just keep the water clean and the fish healthy. That's the whole point of it. We don't need much more than that to stay happy out here in the fields.