From creating carpets to crushing stones

Crushed stones are piled in front of nearly every house along the main narrow lane of Gothi hamlet, along with several sacks. Women of all ages, schoolgirls too, sit on top of these coarse heaps, crushing the stones one by one with hammers and clamps. Men play carrom and cards outside the houses in the lane, after having quarried the stones from the mountains and river beds. 

Gothi, a hamlet of Kalika panchayat village, is on the way from the Jauljibi market area to Dharchula town in eastern Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand. Two rivers – the Kali and Gori – meet at Jauljibi, and there is the constant sound of water. Nepal is a few metres away, with narrow foot bridges connecting the two countries.  The bridges are as shaky as the lives of the people living on either side of them.

Local middlemen buy the crushed stones and sell them to contractors who are building roads or houses. It is almost a year-round activity, that has increased after the 2013 flood. In June that year, most of Uttarakhand received unprecedented rainfall. Water from the overflowing Kali river washed away many houses and roads in Gothi, Naya Basti, Kalika and Balwakot in Dharchula block.  The stones are used to rebuild these houses and roads – as well as make new ones.    

Each sack of crushed stones fetches Rs. 45, Fulmati says. In a day, she can fill two sacks. “Some women sell three sacks a day. It takes a lot of time, because there are household chores to be done as well," she says, busy making an egg curry at the school. 

In one of the alleys of Gothi, two women are placing pieces of stone on bigger ones, holding them down with clamps, and hammering them. The stones shatter. Their hands, feet and faces are grey with the dust. They don’t wear any protective gloves or masks. “Sometimes, tiny pieces of stone get in our eyes and we rush to the hospital [in Dharchula, six kilometres away]. Sometimes our fingers are injured. But that is all,” says 65-year-old Batuli Devi. It is afternoon, and she has collected a sack full of stones. She says she will work until the daylight fades. 

Crushing stones has become a full-time livelihood activity for the women of Gothi not only because of the increased demand for the stones, but also because of the falling demand for their traditional handwoven products. Most of the women here are from the Bhotiya tribe, known for their excellent weaving skills. They can weave anything, from mats to blankets, sweaters to socks, all from wool fetched from herds of sheep in the region. Weaving is what the Bhotiya women most enjoy. This was how they used to earn a living. Their craft commanded respect. But that was in another time, recalls Batuli Devi. 

Fulmati says they used to make chutkhas, thick blankets made of pure wool, and sell them at the annual Jauljibi mela in November. The blanket is heavy, ideal for the cold climate of Kumaon. “Our fathers and brothers would go to Almora and Pithoragarh town to sell the chutkhas. “Each is priced between 3,500 and 6,000 rupees, depending on the purity of the wool. But it takes hard labour and a lot of time to make,” says Fulmati's mother, Suppu Devi. “About 15–20 days to make a chutkha if one spins all day long. Sometimes it can take three months to complete one piece.”