The festive season is under way in Assam. People are coming out in both urban and rural areas, getting over fears of Covid-19 amid a decline in cases. There is movement in marketplaces and restaurants. Traffic has increased too. But for two rural communities in the state’s Kamrup district, the struggle to sustain traditional livelihoods is making it hard to remain hopeful.
Women potters and fishermen from the Hira and Kaibarta communities in the lower Assam district have been severely hit during the pandemic, with uncertainty looming over their future.
Kanuri Hira of Tarigaon village, situated about 44 km from Guwahati near Chaygaon tehsil in Kamrup, is worried about not having warm clothes and enough to eat as winter approaches.
The 70-year-old has been making earthen pots as part of her family tradition for decades. However, with no orders since the lockdown, the septuagenarian has been grappling with challenges to stay afloat.
Nothing is the same, and I doubt we will be having business as usual. The government should help us with some winter clothes and food. My grandchildren are not getting proper food, Kanuri said.
The women potters of the native Hira community make earthenware using ancient techniques and special Hiramati’, a sticky dark clay found in some parts of the state a centuries-old art. Men are not engaged in this household industry.
We used to live by selling earthenware. During lockdown, we could not fetch the clay to make pottery, and even if we make some now, where would we sell those? It has been tough for our community as we have never done any other work before, she added.
Kamini Kaibarta and her younger sister Jamini could not manage to catch fish last week when it rained heavily. But she has now asked neighbourhood women from her Kaibarta community, which is primarily engaged in fishing, to join them and make a fresh effort.
This is how we are surviving sometimes a fish or two, and in the daytime we go out to collect leafy greens and kosu (taro). If it’s affordable, we may also buy pulses. Since the Covid crisis, we have been forced to sell the small fish for Rs 15 to Rs 30 in other villages what would otherwise fetch us Rs 200 a kilo, said 60-year-old Kamini.
Having exhausted their savings, these villagers are making do with food from resources of their own environment.