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Honey bee publish details |
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Shodh Yatra |
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Songs of Salt: Walking with the Salt Workers |
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| Abstract |
While walking through the desert in the Little Rann of Kutch and learning from some of the economically poorest people, once again we discovered the knowledge richness of local communities who have spent their lives in adding salt to our food. The Salt ShodhYatra started from Vachraj Bet on 11th May, 2009 and concluded at Kharaghoda on 14th May, 2009. Traversing The Wild Ass Sanctuary, we found that the agariyas and the wild ass did not seem to be in conflict fostering our belief in the co-evolutionary model of socio-ecological systems.
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Ezra 4:14 “ Now because we eat the salt of the palace and it is not fitting for us to witness the king’s dishonour, therefore we send and inform the king ”. And hence came the saying that one should not cheat upon the person whose salt one has eaten. In the ancient Roman army, personnels’ wages were in part paid in salt, so the word 'salary' came from salarium, meaning salt. In our culture as well, a great deal of importance is placed on being faithful to those whose salt we have eaten. But to the salt workers in the Little Rann of Kutch, the country which consumes the salt made by them every day, has been deliberately indifferent. Moved by this, Honey Bee Network set out on 11th May 2009, into the little Rann of Kutch, on yet another insatiable search: search for new insights into the life of the salt workers, search for ways in which creativity has sustained in the dry salt marshes, and search for the traditional knowledge embedded in the halophilic agariyas. This mini ShodhYatra in the Little Rann from Vachraj Bet to Kharaghoda was supported by a neo-Gandhian organization, Gantar and the first halt was their headquarters at Patadi. Sukhdevbhai, founder and co-ordinator of ‘Gantar’ did not just speak about the hardships and challenges faced by agariyas, but also shared the philosophy about the Gijubhai Bal Academy set up to educate the children of salt workers and other disadvantaged sections of society. Three years ago, they decided to admit only girls. To avoid any social problem, they have developed an innovative grievance redressal system. A complaint box is kept in a prominent place with the key given to a different student every week. All the letters/complaints/suggestions received in the box are read out, uncensored, unfiltered at the assembly time. Action is taken and where necessary, explanation is given. Of late, the need for taking recourse to such a mechanism for giving feedback has gone down due to building up of mutual trust and respect.
On the way to Vachraj Bet, ShodhYatris stopped at Chamunda Vadhi to see the school (Ranshala) for children of salt workers. Earlier, the children had to drop out of the school in the salt farming season as their families had to migrate. But Gantar has made an arrangement with the government so that the children continue their education in the Ranshala during the salt farming season and their attendance also counts when they go back to their villages. The teacher uses an interesting way to convey his arrival to the students who live in scattered huts, two-three km away from the school. He takes a mirror and points towards the huts and the students come to know that their teacher has reached the school. Shri Pavan Singh, a small scale salt farmer talked very fondly about a modified low-cost windmill. It was developed by Mehtar Hussain and Mushtaq Hussain of Assam and improved by GIAN West.
In the evening, an interesting debate ensued at Vachraj Bet, as to how the concept of iodized salt is actually leading to debts and exploitation in the Little Rann, enabling the business giants to take over salt production and trade. The politics of universal iodization of salt needed to be re-evaluated and the restriction on the traditional salt required a fresh look (after all, none of the agariyas eating only raw salt had iodine deficiency ever, not even a single case!). Special nests were made for pigeons and sparrows near the openings in the roof of the huts. Since there were no trees around, these birds did not have a place for nesting; hence they made shelters for them and also fed them. The agariyas, in turn depend on the pigeons to save their lives whenever they dig wells for water. The pigeons seek shelter at the bottom of the wells in the scorching heat. Whenever there is a carbon monoxide leakage, the bird being very sensitive about the toxic gas, flies away and this gives few precious minutes to the vigilant agariyas to vacate the wells immediately. Incidentally, US Army had used pigeon to sense much feared toxic gases in the tragic Iraq war in 2003, it is a different matter that they were never found, as they were never there. (WIRED, 13.3.03).
On the way to Ziladan Bet ‘dhuno’, a local plant commonly known as mahudi (Suaeda maritima (L.) Dumort) was noticed. It was consumed by salt workers and local inhabitants as patra. This succulent plant tastes sour and is commonly available throughout the Little Rann. Samples were collected from which herbal salt was made in SRISTI lab and was sent for testing. Occasionally, wild ass (Equus hemionus khur) was seen. It was stressed by local communities that if agariyas were a threat to it, why would they often move around their habitats? Something similar was heard from maldharis in the first ShodhYatra in Gir sanctuary.
Unfortunately, the weed ganda bawal (Prosopis juliflora (Sw.) DC.) has ambitiously swept the floral biodiversity of the region. On the way to Zinzuwada, the village which once used to be the capital town of famous Solanki rulers from 10th to 13th century A. D., a historic tank was visited which has dried by now. During the late evening meeting at Rajeshwari Temple premises, where ShodhYatris stayed overnight, the winner of the recipe competition Smt Prafullaben Kanubhai Soni was felicitated along with a young innovator, Ravibhai Gajjar, who had designed a switch for several motors attached to a common starter. The scientists from CSMCRI, Bhavnagar demonstrated various technologies for purifying water through the mobile scientific van specially brought for the purpose.
Next morning, the ShodhYatris marched towards Nagwada, a 5000 years old village, believed to be once a part of the pre-Harappan civilization. A distressing sight here was the debris lying around hundreds of years old vav (sweet water step well), which is still used for drinking water purpose. Seven such step wells were built in near by villages (associated with an interesting folk tale), by former rulers but most of these were in dilapidated conditions. One wondered whether these could be revived to create an attractive tourist circuit. On the way, local people asked us to stop and observe a locally rare tree, called rogat rohida (Tecomela undulata D. Don). People from different places came to collect its leaves. Earlier, not many villagers knew about its uses, but they grew curious when they saw outsiders coming to their village seeking this particular tree. While one could see 15 feet wide and 10 feet high bunds created by a large company to whom Hindustan Salt Works had leased out their concessions; and these did not attract attention of those who matter, the laying of underground pipes for providing drinking water to salt workers was facing difficulty. The ostensible reason was disturbance to wild ass, which would not find these tall bunds a problem apparently!
In Mithaghoda, CSMCRI team shared their experience in scientific salt making. Just beside the meeting place, one could see a contrasting situation: the brick wall with cement joinings, was getting eroded by rain splashes, but a clay wall with embedded tiles protruding outwards was still intact. It was an interesting innovation ShodhYatris had never seen earlier anywhere in the country. The dexterity of the potter, Kalubhai Ranchhodbhai Prajapati, was evident from the intricacy with which the tiles were embedded in the clay. A presentation on the use of sea bittern as another source of income in salt production was explained by the CSMCRI, Bhavnagar scientist Dr. Bhatt at village meeting. The institute agreed to work with the agariyas to help them increase the production of quality salt. A Village Knowledge Register was given to the teachers of Odu village. On the way, the Yatris also saw the endangered Indian Star tortoise (Geochelone elegans) on the road side.
Shining vessels, agonising reflections
If the vessels were extremely shining, the lady of the house was likely to be under stress. The elders would think about it and try to counsel the family. Why would shining of the vessels be linked to the stress in a woman’s life? It seemed that when a lady was stressed and did not get opportunity to resolve the conflict, she took her anger out on the vessels while cleaning them. The more she reflected on her frustration, the more she polished the vessels. The shine then became a statement of her agony. In a small hut with strong winds and shared space with the birds and the tools, life was not easy. The suffering in farming salt induced Devendrabhai to write a painful poetry. Yatris noticed another strange paradox here, that many grandparents were literate but grandchildren were illiterate.
The blessings and the wisdom of the centenarians (Jiviben and Harkhabhai Makwana), the knowledge of the herbal healers (Rasulbhai Musabhai Vhora, Prabhatbhai Sonara), the enthusiasm of the innovators (Jagdishbhai Gajjar), Ambubhai Patel (informal historian of the region and the people. He was also a photographer and had developed a mobile exhibition on the life of salt workers) and many more, who signified the secular tradition of peaceful co-existence were unique takeaways of the ShodhYatris. Does perseverance limit creativity? Although the mini ShodhYatra concluded at Kharaghoda, Honey Bee Network’s search continued and took yatris to another region of extremities; read about Dahod to Alirajpur ShodhYatra in the next issue.
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| Volume No. |
Honey Bee 20(2); 4-6, 2009 |
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