Fuel collection and distribution

The picture above, copied from an article in The Hindu of Oct.11, 2013 (Avoiding a false choice, R. K. Pachauri et al) shows women gathering forest produce probably to light up the hearth in their homesteads. This scene, some version of it, we have seen many times and we have become inured to its message – life is brutal for the poor, particularly if they are forest natives. Yes, the country tried to do something to help them along through the Forest Act [The Scheduled Tribes and Other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Act 2006] and perhaps the intended beneficiaries have benefitted.

Like most people who visit my blog space, I too am a forest dweller, of the urban type, among fast cars and parked cars, and multi-storeyed apartment complexes. The urban forest exists in isolation of the traditional forest. Hence, pictures like the above did not evoke much empathy, indeed even empathy, in this urban forest dweller.

But all that changed recently. First, I came across an article in The New York Times, September 6, 2013 titled India's coal cycle wallahs: 'People have no alternative but to steal from mines'.

As an introduction to what is said in the article I give below the picture below.

Who are these cyclists, hauling on their bicycles way beyond what they were designed for? The load the bicycles carry, and the men huff and puff to push, is 250 kg to 1.5 tons of coal lumps! Now, what was a head or back load for the tribal women has metamorphosed into push loads for these cycle coal transporters, in Jharkhand. This transporting and selling job nets them over three days and a one way distance of about 90 miles (150 km) and at Re. 1 per kg, about 100 rupees.

Who are the men? They belong to “lower castes and tribes listed by the government as among the most deprived social groups.” Who are their customers? I will quote the article here: “brick kilns, sponge-iron factories, roadside eateries and chai stalls ticking over, and families in city and village.”

Ah, now I have made the connection between the traditional forest dwellers and new urban forest denizens. It is fuel that connects them. The connection is a little more than the trivial one of urbanites, at least the poor among them, using forest wood. I will come to this a little later.

It is a sheer coincidence that I, along with my family, was visiting a close relative of ours in Ranchi, the capital of Jharkhand, the land of coal cycle wallahs, soon after reading the article.

I had decided that being that close to Nalanda, I will not miss visiting the archeological site of this famed university, the world’s second, after Takshila. It is not its antiquity that attracted me to this place, but the sense of history that surrounds it. But, that will be another post. I will tell you what happened as I started towards Nalanda in a private car arranged by my host with an escort, now that I will be traversing what may be considered unfriendly territory.

As the car was going at a fast clip, I saw a coal cycle wallah on the other side of this four lane, divided highway (up to Hazaribagh) that would invite competitions of the kind of Tour de France!

I had a hunch that these cycle wallahs will not take kindly to being photographed as they must know that they are stealing stuff. The New York Times article mentioned the illegality many times, but not once admitting even the possibility of such illegal behavior being foisted upon them. Fie on them. My hunch was confirmed by my escort.

I asked the driver merely to slow down as we passed coal cycle wallahs and he duly did and my efforts at capturing poverty, or at least the effects of poverty are placed before you.

The last three photographs were taken in the outskirts of Ranchi.

One thing I could not catch. The road in this stretch, traversing mountainous terrain, is severely undulating and as the car climbed up, I saw coal cycle wallahs riding their cycles down the slope on the other side! Why the exclamation mark? I could not see the space for a cycle seat. I was also wondering how in the world the cyclists would apply brakes if ever he wanted to. The brake system is not designed for the kind of momentum the load was having when being ridden vis-à-vis being pushed. On second thoughts, I asked myself why the cyclists would want to stop when on a down slope. The cyclists were moving so fast and my car too was going equally fast in the opposite direction my photography talent was found severely wanting. Hence no photographs of a coal cyclist riding his bike.

Now, what happens when the coal cycle wallah has peddled all his wares? The photographs below answer your question.

 

They load their cycles onto buses and head back home, or as close as possible. After that it is a free ride, free of the hunchbacking load. This loading of cycles happened right outside the apartment complex I was staying in and I was able to capture the cycles atop the buses. This too is a connection between the rural and urban forest denizens!

At the start of this piece, I talked about fuel sourcing in the forest by women. Subsequently, it turned into fuel distribution and selling by men. Finally it is going home.

An odyssey it is, for the women with a head load and also for the men and their push load. Gender does not discriminate.

Raghuram Ekambaram