C - Coir Rope maker As we ride on a scooter on the highway in the afternoon sun, the air is filled with the humidity and salinity of the ocean that comes from the adjoining sea shore that dots the Alleppey – Trivandrum highway in Kerala. After making enquiries at the local tea shop, we take a left turn following the back waters away from the seashore into a mud road which runs parallel to a cobbled waterway. The cobbled waterway is a far cry from the picturesque back waters which house the houseboats that adorn the picture postcards of kerala tourism. This backwater is too narrow for a houseboat. There are smaller boats anchored along the way that would in other times ferry probably a single person or two with space for some luggage on the water way. When the backwaters are navigable they are used to cross from one side to another. Currently they are out of use. The foliage growth in the backwaters is thick and slushy. We are now riding away fro...
Karuppu-than-enakku-pudhicha-colouru ( Black is my favourite colour*) It was never a woman thing. Atleast in the time and place that she grew up. She never imagined she could do it. Worst of all she never thought she would need to do it. It was a do or die situation. She had lost her job. Her job in the city which was well connected by public transport. With the meltdown of the financial markets she knew the jobs in the city were hard to come by. She applied to every job that came her way. She applied to everything far and near. It was when the interview calls came that she felt handicapped. Handicapped, by lack of her driving skills. That is when she resolved to learn driving. Driving lessons did not come cheap. She scraped through her savings to pay for the driving lessons in the hope that she would land a job somewhere. It was not just about the desperation to...
A- AArtist by the Riverside Pyarelal and his cousins wash clothes by the Dhobi ghat every morning. It was an occupation their fathers and forefathers have been doing for many generations. In the pilgrim city of Varanasi where the holy river Ganga flows peacefully from the south towards the north there are more than 84 river banks earmarked for various purposes. Dhobi ghat is where the launderers launder the clothes. As in ancient times, many of traditional dhobis do not use soap or any other harsh chemicals to wash the soiled clothes. A soiled cloth could well come out as a spotless piece of crisp white dhoti when it is washed with the sand, silt and the clay deposited by the flowing river and beaten on a flat stone to wash off the dirt. The clothes are then dried in the open sun by spreading them out on the dry steps that lead to the river. When Pyarelal is not laundering the...
Whoa! That is a fantastic capture!
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