Himadri Mukherjee

Sarbajaya Bhattacharya

Translator

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Chobi
Saha has been making paper packets for 25 years now. “First, I use a knife to
divide a paper into three parts. That makes six pieces. Then I apply glue in
circles. After that I fold the paper into a square and apply glue to the other
side. This is how I make the packets,” she says. 

The
75-year-old resident of Adityapur is talking to us as she sits working amidst the
old newspapers strewn in the veranda and courtyard of her two-storeyed mud
house. 

When
she started in 1998, her husband Anandagopal Saha was still alive. He looked
after cows and goats of the people in the village and earned around Rs. 40–50
per day. “We were poor,” says Chobi Saha, who belongs to the Sunri community. “I decided to take
up this work so that I could earn a little and feed myself.” 

She
began by collecting the newspapers discarded by her neighbours. Looking at the
paper packets she got from local grocery shops, she taught herself how to make
them. “I chose this work because all the materials are easily available and I
can do it sitting at home,” she explains. “At first, I was slow, it took me 25
to 30 minutes to make a single packet,” adds Chobi.  

“I could make only about a kilo [of bags] a
day,” she continues.

She
would deliver the bags to the 8-9 grocery shops and small eateries in Bolpur
selling local delicacies like chop and
ghugni. She had to travel by bus
every fortnight from her village in the Bolpur-Sriniketan block of Birbhum
district for this. “I cannot go to Bolpur anymore,” she adds, because of a pain
in her legs. Instead, she supplies the handful of shops in the village. 

During
the early days – two decades ago – she would get the papers for free. But,
since newspapers were not very expensive, the packets made of them did not
fetch much money either. “I [now] buy the papers at Rs. 35 a kilo,” says Chobi.


She lost her husband in 2004 when she was 56.
Her three sons are all married and have their own small businesses. She lives
in one part of the house and her youngest son Sukumar Saha lives in the other
part with his family. Her two older sons live six kilometres away in the town
of Bolpur.

Her
day begins early in the morning – at 6 a.m. “I wake up and do my own work. Then
I cut the papers at around nine o’ clock,” she says. After cooking and having
her lunch, she spends a part of the afternoon resting. 

In
the evening, she goes out for a chat with the other women of the village. When
she returns, she begins to make the packets again, applying glue to the papers.
She has no fixed time of the day for making packets. “I do it whenever I get
the time,” she says.” Often, she may perform a step in the process in between
carrying out her household chores.

For
instance, while cooking, she will sometimes go and lay the glue-smeared papers
out to dry in the veranda and the courtyard. “Once I am done applying the glue,
I spread them out in the sun to dry. Once they are dry, I fold them in half,
weigh them, tie them up and take them to the shops.”

Chobi makes her own glue by heating flour she
receives in ration shops.

“Twice
a week, I have to deliver packets weighing a total of one kilogram to the
shops,” she informs us. The shops are all located within 600 metres of her
house, allowing her to cover the distance on foot. “I make 220 packets which
weigh a kilo,” and she is paid Rs. 60 per kilo, adding up to around Rs.
900–1,000 a month.  

But
Chobi’s packet-making days may be numbered: “People don’t read the papers
anymore. They watch the news on their TVs and mobiles. So, there is a lack of
newspapers [to make packets].”  

The author would like to thank
Tishya Ghosh for her help with the video

No newspaper is bad news for Chobi Saha

ردّی اخبار نہ ملنے سے چھوی ساہا کے معاش پر خطرہ

ఛబి సాహాకు ఏ వార్తాపత్రిక కూడా చెడ్డ వార్త కాదు

சோபி சாஹாவுக்கு எந்தப் பத்திரிகையும் மோசமல்ல

ਅਖ਼ਬਾਰ ਪੜ੍ਹਨ ਦੀ ਘੱਟਦੀ ਜਾਂਦੀ ਰੁਚੀ ਤੋਂ ਪਰੇਸ਼ਾਨ ਚੋਬੀ ਸ਼ਾਹਾ

ଛବି ଶାହାଙ୍କ ପାଇଁ, ଖବରକାଗଜର ଅଭାବ ହିଁ ଖରାପ ଖବର

ചോബി ശാഹയ്ക്ക് പത്രമില്ലാത്തതൊരു ദുഃഖവാർത്തയാണ്

ಚೋಬಿ ಶಾಹಾರಿ ಪಾಲಿಗೆ ಪತ್ರಿಕೆಯ ಯಾವ ಸುದ್ದಿಯೂ ಕೆಟ್ಟದಲ್ಲ

अख़बारों की ख़रीद में गिरावट से ख़तरे में छवि साहा की आजीविका

છવી સાહા માટે કોઈ સમાચારપત્ર ના આવે એટલે ખરાબ સમાચાર જ જાણી લો

चोबी खावय अख़बार के रोटी

बीरभूम के ठोंगा बनावे वाली चाची

কোনো কাকতেই দুঃসংবাদ নানে ছবি সাহালৈ

ছবি সাহার বাড়ন্ত সংসারে সহায় পুরনো খবরকাগজ

Birbhum

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No newspaper is bad news for Chobi Saha

In Birbhum's Adityapur village, Chobi Saha makes packets from old newspapers and sells them to local shops. But the recent fall in newspaper subscriptions is letting the 75-year-old down

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