THURSDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2014
lifestyle
F e a t u r e s
In this picture taken on October 13, 2014, Indian ‘newaras’ (gold dust scavengers) take a break searching for flecks of the precious metal along drains
near jewelry workshops in Kolkata. — AFP photos
An Indian ‘newara’ (gold dust scavenger) carries his tools as he heads out in
search of flecks of the precious metal.
Indian ‘newaras’ (gold dust scavengers) look on as they take a break.
Kolkata’s gold panners reap rewards at India festival time
A
s 40-year-old Mohammed Iqbal sifts through
sludge in the back alleys of Kolkata’s jewelry
market for gold dust, his weathered face
brightens slightly at the recent uptick in work. For
generations, the city’s group of “newaras”-gold dust
scavengers-have been scratching a living by panning
for fine particles swept from the 2,000-odd jewelry
workshops operating in the alleys. Iqbal estimates he
normally earns just 150 to 200 rupees ($2.40 to $3.20)
a day from selling flecks of the precious metal that he
painstakingly finds on the ground and in the drains of
the grimy alleys.
But the onset of India’s raucous festival season,
especially the biggest Hindu celebration of Diwali on
Thursday, brings a relative bonanza for Iqbal, with his
income more than doubling. “There is a lot of work
during Durga Puja and Diwali. We make more money
then,” Iqbal told AFP as he hunched over his pans
filled with thick, black muck early one morning. “We
never got an education. This is the work that my
grandfather and my father did and this is what I do
now. My two sons do this too. We have no other
work,” he said of his boys aged 18 and 16.
Over the several days of Diwali, known as the festival of lights, middle-class families throng Kolkata’s
Bowbazar and other markets throughout the country
to buy gold jewelry. The Hindu goddess of wealth is
worshipped on Diwali, which is considered an auspicious time to buy gold, especially as gifts for family
members. The festival coincides with India’s wedding
season, which runs from October to February, with
gold a crucial part of a bride’s dowry. In the lead up,
jewelry workshops, including in the former British
colonial capital, go into overdrive, with hundreds of
craftsmen spending hours at their benches to produce intricate necklaces, bracelets and earrings on
sale in showrooms. Yellow particles are swept outside,
while some are washed into drains, surfacing in the
alleys where the newaras sift through the sludge to
find them.
Prayers and gold
Jewelry traders predict a prosperous Diwali this
year, with world and local gold prices lower, making
resulting ornaments more affordable. “We are expecting a very good Diwali compared to previous years,”
All India Gems and Jewelry Trade Federation director
Bachhraj Bamalwa told AFP. “The mood is upbeat and
there have been incremental increases in sales of gold
jewelry,” he said this week. India is the world’s biggest
buyer of gold alongside China, and imports normally
jump during the festival season, further widening the
trade deficit.
Gold traders and importers had been hoping that
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government would
lift stiff 10 percent import duties slapped on the metal
last year by the previous administration to rein in
imports. Although the duties have remained, India’s
A Pakistani student from the Shimshal Mountaineering
School uses ice axes to climb a slope on a glacier.
central bank has lifted restrictions on importing gold,
allowing more private agencies to bring in shipments.
Bamalwa said that has pushed down the local price of
the commodity this year, lifting consumer spirits. In
New Delhi, shoppers crowded the capital’s old quarter searching for gold and other bargains for Diwali. “It
doesn’t really matter that the price keeps going up
and down. Buying gold is a tradition, it’s a custom ...
you cannot offer prayers without also offering some
gold,” housewife Aswani Puja said.
Newaras play key role
Some jewelry manufacturers in Kolkata are grateful for the newaras, who help keep production costs
down for the industry, which was formed in the 1800s
and employs some 20,000 people. “If they are not
doing this then we have to buy gold and the only
gold source is Western countries,” said Nabin Kumar
Chanbar in his shop which opened in 1883. “They are
very ... helpful for us because ...the wastage of gold is
converted to the industry,” Chanbar said, rows of jewelry glittering behind him.
On the main street of Bowbazar shortly after dawn,
Mohammed Ashu, 25, and his two younger brothers
are pouring over some soft polystyrene packaging
found dumped outside a workshop. The youngest,
teenager Mohammed Amir, who is unsure of his exact
age and has never been to school, is convinced the
packaging contains flecks of silver. The brothers con-
In this photograph Pakistani students take part in a lesson at the Shimshal
Mountaineering School in Shimshal village in the northern Hunza valley. — AFP photos
sider the find a stroke of luck, and good timing for
Ashu, whose wife had a baby 10 days ago and struggles to put enough food on the table. “This is very
good but we will have to share,” Ashu said with a
smile, pointing to his brothers. — AFP
An Indian ‘newara’
(gold dust scavenger) sweeps an
alleyway drain.
Pakistani students get ready at the Shimshal Mountaineering School as they prepare to
climb near the Shimshal village.
High in Pakistan’s mountains, women break taboos
A
Pakistani carpenters work at their woodshop in Altit village in the northern Hunza valley.
group of young Pakistani girls sit on a carpeted floor listening as their teacher writes on a whiteboard, preparing his students for the rigours of climbing some of the
world’s highest peaks. This is Shimshal Mountaineering School,
tucked away in a remote village in the breathtaking mountains
of Pakistan’s far north, close to the border with China. While
most of Pakistan’s overwhelmingly patriarchal society largely
relegates women to domestic roles, in the northern Hunza valley, where most people follow the moderate Ismaili sect of
Islam, a more liberal attitude has long prevailed.
Now the women of the region are breaking more taboos
and training for jobs traditionally done by men, including as
carpenters and climbing guides on the Himalayan peaks.
“You have to be careful, check your equipment and the
rope, any slight damage can result in death,” Niamat Karim, the
climbing instructor warns the students. Karim is giving lastminute advice to the eight young women who are about to
embark on a practical demonstrations of climbing class. They
are the first batch of women to train as high altitude guides at
the Shimshal Mountaineering School, set up in 2009 with support of Italian climber Simone Moro.
Isolated community
The women have spent the last four years learning ice and
rock climbing techniques, rescue skills and tourism management. At 3,100 meters (10,000 feet) above sea level, Shimshal
is the highest settlement in the Hunza valley, connected to the
rest of the world by a rough jeep-only road just 11 years ago.
The narrow, unpaved road twists through high mountains,
over wooden bridges and dangerous turns with the constant
A Pakistani carpenter works at a woodshop in Altit village.
Pakistani carpenters work at their woodshop in Altit village.
risk of landslides to reach the small village of 250 households.
There is no running water and electricity is available only
through solar panels the locals buy from China, but despite the
isolation, the literacy rate in the village is 98 percent-around
twice the Pakistani national average. It has produced some
world famous climbers including Samina Baig, the first
Pakistani woman to scale Mount Everest. The people of
Shimshal depend on tourism for their income and the village
has produced an average of one mountaineer in every household.
The eight women training as guides have scaled four local
peaks, including Minglik Sar and Julio Sar, both over 6,000
meters. For aspiring mountaineer Takht Bika, 23, the school is a
“dream come true”. “My uncle and brother are mountaineers
and I always used to wait for their return whenever they went
for a summit”, Bika told AFP. “I used to play with their climbing
gear, they were my childhood toys-I never had a doll.”
For Duor Begum, mountaineering is a family tradition-and a
way of honoring her husband, killed while climbing in the
Hunza Valley. “I have two kids to look after and I don’t have a
proper means of income,” she said. Begum joined the mountaineering school with the aim of continuing the legacy of her
late husband and to make a living. “I am taking all the risks for
the future of my children, to give them good education so that
they can have a better future”, she said.
But while the women are challenging tradition by training
as guides, there is still a long way to go to change attitudes,
and so far Begum has not been able to turn professional. “I
know its difficult and it will take a long time to make it a profession for females but my kids are my hope”, she said.
‘I had to support my kids’
Lower down in the valley, away from the snowy peaks, Bibi
Gulshan, another mother-of-two whose late husband died
while fighting in the army has a similar tale of battling to
change minds. She trained as a carpenter under the Women
Social Enterprise (WSE), a project set up in the area by the Aga
Khan Development Network to provide income opportunities
for poor families and advocate women’s empowerment at the
same time.
Set up in 2003, the WSE now employs over 110 women,
between 19 and 35 years of age. “I want to give the best education to my kids so that they don’t feel the absence of their
father,” Gulshan told AFP. “I started my job just 10 days after my
husband was martyred, my friends mocked me saying instead
of mourning my husband I had started the job of a men but I
had no choice-I had to support my kids.” With the 8,000 rupees
($80) a month she earns in the carpentry workshop, Gulshan
pays for her children to go through school, and she has also
used her skills to build and furnish a new house for her family.
As well as giving poor and marginalized women a chance to
earn a living, the WSE project, funded by the Norwegian
embassy, also aims to modernize local skills. Project head
Safiullah Baig said traditionally, male carpenters worked to a
mental plan of houses they were building-a somewhat unscientific approach. “These girls are using scientific knowledge at
every step right from mapping and design and their work is
more feasible and sustainable,” Baig said. — AFP