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| A lone dibiya (kerosene lamp) and books awaits a child |
This story comes from the same village as the last one. For the sake of simplicity and confidentiality lets call it Rangpur. Rangpur lies by a dam, between a national highway and the Ganges. The village has a good mixture of people from all castes. Although, the ratio of forwards and backwards [1] is 50:50, the village proceedings are generally dominated by the forwards.
This story is set in the Dabangpur Chamartoli. Chamartoli is a tola (colony) inhibited by Chamars. Chamars by caste and by profession have traditionally been involved in skinning animals, tanning leather and making shoes and other footwear. However, now they have diversified and also moved on. Most of them, like many other backward castes, now work as daily wagers or agricultural workers. Although very few of them own any agricultural land, several now sustain their livelihoods on agriculture by farming on lands of the landed castes on theeka (rental basis) or bataiya (share cropping). Very few actually deal with leather now. Since, chamars dealt with dead animals and leather, they were considered 'unclean' and 'untouchables' in several parts of the country. If one visits a typical Bihari [2] village one would find separate colonies for different castes, with the dalit [3] colonies typically on the fringes or as satellite colonies outside the village boundary. Their 'unclean' status possibly puts them on the fringes, geographically and socially. Although some mixing and acceptance has come their way, the chamartoli in various villages are still found on the fringes.
