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The Gaiwali sits by the roadside, often outside a Hindu temple, with her cow and a basket of fresh green grass. The passersby buy some grass from her and feed the holy cow with their own hands. This way the cow gets fed, her Gaiwali gets some money and the passerby has done the good deed for the day. In short, everyone is happy. Or, so we think. Actually the Gaiwali's life is quite hard as I discovered. This particular woman whose name is Lakshmi lives in a hutment in Mulund. Every day she wakes up at 3 a.m. and prepares breakfast for herself and her family. Then she packs her dabba and walks to the field nearby. Here she buys grass from the owner of the field and carries it in her basket to the railway station. There she stands in the queue to buy the day's train ticket because she never has enough money to buy a season ticket. The train takes her to Dadar where she changes to the Western line and then on to Mumbai Central. Here she has a cup of tea and then walks down to Tardeo where she meets the owner of the cow at his cow shed. (Yes, just imagine, there's a huge cowshed just opposite Gamadia Colony!) Mr. Yadav who is a milkman from Uttar Pradesh hands over the cow to Lakshmi. Now cow and Lakshmi walk slowly to Mahalakshmi temple and make themselves comfortable on the pavement not far from the temple. The time is now 8 am. This is a good spot because there are many devotees who come to the temple and are eager to feed their holy cow. By 1 pm the grass-basket is empty and Lakshmi returns the cow to Mr. Yadav who pays her for the day. It isn't much but it's enough to keep the pot from going empty. Many other Gaiwali women have returned by now with their cows. All the little calves which have been waiting all morning in the shed now rush over to their mothers to drink milk. It is a happy reunion. Lakshmi walks back to the Mumbai Central station and returns to her hutment in Mulund where she does the household chores. Her daughter-in-law has also returned from her work as a domestic help and together they prepare the evening meal. Lakshmi's grandchildren do not go to school as it is too far from their hutment. The men in the family do odd jobs and some repair work now and then. Lakshmi is glad that her husband and her son do not have a drinking habit, otherwise she would have to part with what little that she earns as her daily wages. How much does she earn? That differs from day to day; sometimes for whatever reason the basket is not empty by lunch time but she still has to return the cow at the given time. On a good day she can make as much as sixty rupees, sometimes even more if a feeder is generous. What is two rupees to you and me, what is two rupees to her, what is two rupees to Ambani? It's the price of a handful of grass. |
In
Mumbai you can find many professions that may not exist in other parts of the
country. There are our "Dabbawalas" (made famous by Prince Charles) whose business
acumen is legendary. The rag pickers, who make a living just by clearing the streets
of rags. The patiwalas who carry your week's grocery shopping in a huge basket
on their heads. The ear cleaners who do just that: clean ears! And we also have
the Gaiwali, the woman with the cow.