Bangles for sale

The Jamun Tree and other stories on the environment

Publisher: TERI

Price: Rs 295

About the book:

The Jamun Tree and other stories on the environment provides and insider's view - from the villages of work related to natural resource management. It describes the process by which farmers were motivated and involved to regard the work to be done as their own. It is a narration of the personal experience of people in those village areas where the author worked.

About the author:

Starting life in the hills of Uttar Pradesh, Pamela Chatterjee moved to Mumbai and worked for several years in the communication field with a multinational company. Her real interest, as the book is evidence of, lay in rural development.

The Bangles seared their arms

There was a pile of beautiful bangles, in muted silver and ivory, in white and red-coloured bone and some in exquisitely carved silver, in different sizes, piled in a heap on the counter in the shop. The trader explained that the women in Kutch wore them altogether, from the wrist to above the elbow. He had just returned from there and also had silver necklaces weighing half a kilo and anklets even heavier. In addition, there were also exquisite embroidery pieces, some square,  and some oblong,  with tastefully chosen colours. Prema and her friends were delighted with this cache of treasure and bought as much as they could, at a bargain price.

In early 1987, Prema was offered a job in Kutch, and she and her friends took the opportunity to visit Kutch together. It turned out to be a sandy, arid place, with elegant monuments and small neglected, structures speaking of a bygone splendour, now scattered in the desert waste. As they moved along the road, towards the Banni area, they came across a cluster of mud huts but so different to the sad, battered huts in the villages in Uttar Pradesh.  These were simple circular huts, with neat well-cared surroundings and delicate drawings hi relief on the outside walls. They stood near the decorated entrance of a bunga. as these homes are called, and wondered about the people here, who had made their simple huts into such lovely homes.

While they were looking around, they heard voices, and the bare countryside was enlivened with a splash of colour. They saw women walking towards their huts, dressed in black lungis, with lovely embroidered cholis and pretty red, printed odhnis, fluttering in the billowing wind. They were graceful with an erect posture, carrying water in painted, mud vessels, balanced on their heads. They had laughing, sparkling eyes as they talked animatedly, with a carefree air.

With a little hesitation, stemming from shyness, they invited the visitors into their bunga, Prema and the others found themselves in a room with colourful, embroidered rugs and tasteful wall-hanging it was open and uncluttered with just a large, carved wooden box placed in one corner, which they were told held the winter quilts.

As they sat around drinking tea from tiny saucers, the women who were a little reticent to begin with told them that their men-folk had gone to make arrangements for water and to purchase food grains. After a while they felt comfortable in the presence of these visitors and talked about their families and plied the visitors with questions about their lives and their children.

In the course of conversation, Prenia discovered that the mainstay of these people were cows and buffaloes which thrived on the grasslands in Banni.  The rainfall was not sufficient for agriculture, so they bought food grains and other necessities by selling milk and ghee. And because of the current drought situation – this was in 1987, there was no drinking water and little or no fodder. They got water from a government tanker, and bought grain from traders in Mandvi. They collected wood from the acacia trees, for their firewood. However, fodder was a major problem, as it had to he procured from other parts of Gujarat, at a very high cost. And to the horror of Prema and her friends, they discovered that the women had sold their bangles, jewellery, and embroidered materials, to be able to survive he drought. Their bare exposed arms, clouded the eyes of the visitors, and the bangles, which they were proudly displaying, now seared their arms.

The women spoke almost in a matter-of-fact way about their situation, until Prema could not contain herself and questioned them about the problems they faced, Fatima bai, who was young and lively, replied, without a trace of self-pity in her voice, “We have learnt to live with hard times which come regularly, with the cycle of droughts. But there are also times of good rain, and plenty of grass and our well-fed cows and buffaloes, give us enough milk, which enable us to buy bangles, jewellery, and other things”. And almost in a matter of fact way, Versha bai added, “There is a time to lie low, to live without things, and a time to indulge and celebrate.

Their words echoed their proud demeanour and strength from generations courageous and wise women. It was stirring to hear them, and Prema felt that there was much to learn from these women, whose straightforward attitude and simplicity made them so appealing.