In Darjeeling: women porters carry the weight

Maya Thami walked three kilometres carrying a 30 kg gas cylinder on her back. She climbed 200 stairs with the weight and delivered the cylinder to her first customer of the day. 

Catching her breath the 32-year-old says, “now I need to deliver another cylinder to that hill out there,” pointing to a spot in the distance.  Collecting her fee of Rs. 80 for the labour, she leaves almost immediately for her next delivery. For the next six hours, she will be on her feet, carrying LPG (liquefied petroleum gas) cylinders.

“When the load is particularly heavy, men are preferred, and people often negotiate since we are not men,” says Maya. A woman earns Rs. 80 per trip she makes while a man sometimes earns Rs. 100 for the same distance.

A busy town in West Bengal, Darjeeling is located in the eastern Himalayas at a height of 2,042 metres. Its hilly terrain impedes movement by road, and residents must rely on porters to get daily essentials like vegetables, water, cylinders and even the one-off furniture purchases brought home. Vehicles are not able to climb such inclines to reach, and the only other options are either carrying it yourself or, the gas agency or shop sends it…through their porter.

From Nepal, Maya Thami has been a porter in Darjeeling for 12 years. Like her, other porters in the city are also largely women migrants from Nepal and belong to the Thami community (listed as Other Backward Class in West Bengal). They carry loads of vegetables, cylinders and water cans on their backs in a doko (bamboo basket) fastened using a strap called namlo.

“After marriage came more responsibilities so I moved to Muglan [India],” recalls Maya. Back in Nepal, she and her husband, Baudhey used to cultivate rice, millet and potatoes on 2 katha (0.06 acres) of land; they also worked as daily wage labour in small shops. The couple moved to Darjeeling in 2021 – a few hours by road from the Nepal border.

Maya delivers cylinders from the gas agencies to the homes of customers. “I typically arrive at my workplace by 7 in the morning and those available for cylinder deliveries take their turns,” she says. She usually has four or five deliveries in a day, carrying up to two cylinders on her back and can earn Rs. 500 a day for this hard labour work. “Continuously bearing loads of cylinders using a namlo on my head has led to so much hair fall and body ache,” says Maya and adds that she also has fluctuating blood pressure.

The porters who deliver vegetables are different from those who deliver cylinders. They wait at Chowk Bazaar until 8 p.m. everyday except on Thursdays when the market is closed. “After we sell our vegetables to our customers, we call a porter who’s nearby and the rest is an agreement between them and the buyers,” says Manoj Gupta, a shopkeeper from Bihar.

“Nasakem bokchu bhanda bhanda 70 kg ko bhari bokney bani bhaisakyo [I have become used to carrying 70 kilograms of load],” says a 41-year-old Mankumari Thami, a vegetable porter on her way to a hotel to deliver 70 kilos of vegetables.  “If I tell them that I can’t do it, this job will be given to somebody else, leaving me short of 80 rupees,” she adds.

“Typically, we climb up the hill for about 15 to 20 minutes, as hotels are generally situated above Chowk Bazaar. We receive 60 to 80 rupees for hotels located 10 minutes away, and 100 to 150 rupees for those situated further away,” says Dhankumari Thami, another vegetable porter.

Dhankumari Thami, a vegetable porter agrees that women face discrimination: “Keta le matai sakcha esto kam ta haina raisau baini. Khai eta ta besi ladies haru nai cha bhari bokney  [Apparently, ‘Only men can do this work.’ It is not the case at all, sister. Most of the porters here are ladies].” She took up this work after she lost her husband to alcoholism 15 years ago.

Porting water is more work, say Asti Thami and Jungey Thami, a couple from Pandam Tea Garden who deliver water cans to homes. Water scarcity in some areas in Darjeeling ensures that they get work daily.

“My husband and I come to fetch water everyday from Pandam at 6 in the morning. We ensure to fill jerry cans with water and deliver to homes that have asked us to fetch water,” says Asti. Their rented room at Pandam is almost 2 km hike away from the place where they collect water.

Jungey mentioned that they once tried their hand at selling meat, but the business turned out to be unprofitable due to Covid. The couple returned to working as porters.

Maya Thami’s husband, Baudhey Thami is a second generation migrant. His parents also worked as porters, and delivered vegetables to hotels in Darjeeling. Maya and Baudhey have rented a room near Gaushala, a locality 50 minutes away from Chowk Bazaar, their workplace, for Rs. 2,500 a month.

Several porters, along with their families, choose to rent a solitary room in this locality, as it stands among the limited affordable choices.

Maya and Baudhey’s children, Bhawana and Bhawin are still in school; their education is Maya’s priority: “Bhawana ra Bhawin parinjal mo mero namlo le cylinder bokchu [Until Bhawana and Bhawin finishes studying, I will carry cylinders with my namlo].”