CHITTOOR: A 50-member group of seven nomadic families from Madhya Pradesh, camping near the local sugar factory here, are attracting the attention of meat shop workers and farmers by selling products such as machetes, axes, grass-cutters, and farm equipment. They call themselves as blacksmiths of the Lohar community.
Experts in making machetes and various kinds of kitchen knives, Lohars do not need any publicity. After finishing their trips in Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the families entered Chittoor a couple of days ago.
Head of the group, 76-year-old Harishi, who hails from Bhopal, selected the Kanikalamma temple zone near the sugar factory. Temporary sheds were erected in no time. Work commenced on a war-footing, right from procuring iron material from ‘gujrees’ (shops selling waste material), melting them, and casting iron sheets. They would wind up the roadside business in a fortnight and proceed to some other destination.
Members of the group are very quick in grasping the requirements of their customers, mostly meat shop workers and farmers. The implements would be made on the spot.
Information about their arrival spreads like wildfire, hardly missing the ears of prospective customers in a radius of 20-25 km.
Local patrons say that they can purchase a “very fine machete” for ₹120 and an axe for ₹100.
“If we miss these people, we will have to shell down double the price for the implements that don’t match the quality of those made by the Lohars,” they say.
Mr. Harishi said that he had come to Chittoor as a young man nearly five decades ago.
“Chittoor is the gateway to Tamil Nadu and Karnataka as we travel by South-bound trains. I also vaguely remember travelling this way as a 10- year-old boy along with my relatives. We remember our nomadic haunts and places of luck. We call it genetic memory. We keep going without rest. Other than this work, we can’t do anything else. To lead our life with happiness, we have to compete with quality levels and, at the same time, win the confidence of patrons,” he said.
Their roadside business would run round the clock in shifts. Women, young girls, and children too join the job, hitting and shaping iron lumps and sheets. What all they earn would go for their food and travel expenses.
“Till five years ago, we used to make ticketless travel in general compartments of various trains. Now, we are afraid. We can’t risk our entire amount to be taken away during checks,” said Renuka Lohar, a young woman of the group.
They admit that they never thought of educating their children.
Senior men of the group said that nearly a hundred families of blacksmiths from MP and parts of Uttar Pradesh keep roaming the entire country, split into a number of groups.
“Thanks to mobile phones, all our families remain connected. We share information about prospects of our business, supply and demand levels in various cities, urban and rural areas, and, importantly the pricing factor,” said Balaji Lohar.
