Mohammed Seraj khan


I am the father of the Khan family and I am 40 years old.
My day starts at 6:00 when I wake up, after I have washed
in the river and dressed I have a morning prayer. At around
6:30 I have a breakfast of Patita Bhat and Panta (rice in
water prepared the evening before, with burnt chilli and
onions). At 7:00 I start my first piece of work, fishing.
I go fishing in the river to the west of our house.
Fishing in the river is a lot easier to do than it is to
do in the sea. In the river I catch the ilish or Hilsa
Shad fish, they are very common and fetch a good price at
the market. I normally take along my grandfather and my
12 year old son to help me when I go fishing. The fish
that we catch we either eat or sell on at the market in
the afternoon. We fish for 4 hours until 11:00 when we
stop and go home. When I am at home I do my second piece
of work which is to mend and sort out any nets that
might have been ripped or tangled when I was fishing. I
also help out my wife with the house work which is:
After I have done some household tasks I stop and have some
lunch, by this time it is normally 1:00. For lunch I have
rice and fish and after lunch I have a prayer. At 1:30 I
go to work in the paddy (rice fields), vegetable, bean
and potato fields. When I am in the fields I use a buffalo
to pull a plough across the fields to make furrows in the
soil. In-between the little mounds I put seeds. If any
plants are ready I dig them up and put them into baskets.
Some times my son Mohammed Abdul Hossein comes to help me
but not always. Plus my wife Zohra Begum also comes out
from the house to help me in the fields. At 4:00 I do my
third piece of work, I go to the market and sell any
surplus fish and I buy any essentials that we need. At
5:00 I meet some friends at a small cafe and drink some
tea. This is my favourite part of the day and of the
village. This is the only part of the day where I don't
have to worry about doing any work. We also talk about
the days fishing and farming. At sunset (6:30) I return
from the market and do a few more tasks. At 8:00 I have
dinner and I have an evening prayer. For dinner we have
rice and Dal (lentils, garlic, chilli peppers, turmeric,
herbs and spices). After dinner at 9:00 I finish my day
by going to bed.
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