Krishna Rani has always known April to be the kindest month. The time when, after the wheat harvest season in Punjab, her handmade winnowing baskets – chhaj as they are called in Punjabi – are back in demand again. The brief period when her earnings go up, along with her confidence and sense of independence.
For 17 years, April meant a familiar routine for Krishna Rani. Days that began at 5 a.m. so she could board the 6 a.m. bus from Tahli Wala Bodla, her village in Fazilka district. A bundle of chhaj balanced on her head, she would spend the day travelling to nearby villages to sell the baskets.
Elderly women, her only customers in recent times, would often greet her with familiar words: “Bebe, kithe chhaj chaki firdi hai? Ajkal di kudia nu chhaj fadan vi nahi ande [Woman, where are you carrying the chhaj to? Young girls today don't even know how to hold them].”
Neither their words nor the dwindling number of buyers for her chhaj ever discouraged her. Not once in nearly four decades did Krishna Rani ever think of giving up her family craft. “Why would I leave it? Jithe koi karan vala nahi si, chhadna kade vaste si? Ede tey si roti [When there was no one to provide for me, this was my roti],” she said during our first meeting in February this year. Sitting in front of her jhuggi, the fifty-year-old was busy weaving her collection of chhaj for the upcoming season.


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