Purusottam Thakur

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On National Highway
30, you can go from Raipur, the capital city of Chhattisgarh, to Jagdalpur, the
district headquarters of Bastar. On this stretch, in Kanker district, is a
small town called Charma. Just before Charma, there is a small
 
 ghat.
 
 Driving down this
 
 ghat
 
 
 
 some weeks ago, I saw around 10-15 villagers, most of them
women, returning from the nearby forest with headloads of wood.
 
 They were all from
two villages located not far from the highway – Kochwahi in Kanker district,
and Machandur in Balod district. Most of them were Gond tribals who work as
marginal farmers or agricultural labourers.

The few men in the
group had strapped the wood onto bicycles, while all the women, except one,
carried it on their heads. I spoke to them; they said they left home early in
the morning and returned by around 9 a.m., usually on Sundays and Tuesdays,
after collecting firewood for their homes.

However, not everyone was collecting it just for
home use. I believe a couple of them were taking the firewood they'd gathered
to the market. Marginalised communities – and they exist in large numbers here – make
a few rupees from the sale of firewood. It
is one fragile plank of the livelihoods people scrape together in this troubled region.

Headloads on the highway

தலைச்சுமைகளுடன் நெடுஞ்சாலைகளில் பெண்கள்

বোঝা মাথায় হাইওয়েতে

सिर पर लदा आजीविका का बोझ

ଆଦିବାସୀଙ୍କ ମୁଣ୍ଡରେ ଜାଳେଣି ବୋଝ

हमरस्त्यावरचा डोईजड भार

মুৰত বোজা লৈ ৰাজপথত আদিবাসীৰ খোজ

ദേശീയപാതയിലെ തലച്ചുമടുകൾ

شاہراہ پر سر کا بوجھ

Charma

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Headloads on the highway

Adivasis in Chhattisgarh walking to and from forests with firewood – images from a passing encounter

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