When we travel to places, where rural traditions still prevail, one can come across sights that surprise us enormously, as such sights are not common in urban settings.
I was familiar with such sights as in the above photographs in my childhood, when people carried head loads in a similar way.
It was after several years I had an opportunity to walk behind a person who carried a head load balancing well while he walked briskly. Occasionally he had to support the head load when he moved to the side of the road, when a vehicle passed by. I walked behind him, for about fifteen minutes till he took a turn to go to his village. It was an unusual experience of how a person had acquired such skills to a high level of precision.
I met a person, a farmer by occupation, who told me that he can carry unto 30 kilograms on his head and walk half a kilometre without feeling exhausted. What he said about having the hands free to swing while walking makes the walking easier, made sense to me about its physiology. He indicated that the swinging movements of the hands contribute to balance the body better and keep the head load secure on the head. The head load, if of hard or uneven objects, would be difficult to carry on head without the support it with hands. This farmer who has two cows carries a 30 kilo head load of cattle feed on his head and walk half a kilometre once every week.
Out of curiosity when I asked, what if he hired a auto-rikshaw to carry the load, his response was, ' When I get older, I shall do it'!
The life style of people in the village setting, is closer to what it was about twenty years ago.
One difference I noticed at day break was women walking on the road as part of their fitness exercise regimen.
Another sight that I noticed was the merchandise on motor bike.This salesperson travels about seventy kilometre and visits about trendy five villages each day with his merchandise. His daily income is about three thousand rupees which gives him a profit of about 600 to 700 rupees in a day, which is less than the minimum wage prescribed for a skilled person. That is the story of workers in the unorganised sector. There is an effort to create services of subsidised health care, offer provident fund and social security for such people in the unorganised sector. It is still a long way for that to materialise as the economy is market driven in India and not welfare driven!
The 'sanitised' minds of those who live in urban setting in the social fabric of prosperity, need an exposure to villages, to know the other side of life in remote parts of India.
I find such visits educative, informative and inviting to encounter realities beyond the usual!
M.C.Mathew(text and photo)
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