By Nishat Ara for TwoCircles.net
Mohammed Munna has known no life apart from that of a constant struggle, but believes that life is never meant to be easy, anyway. “It is the things you fight for the struggle with before earning that have the greatest worth. When something’s difficult to come by, you’ll do that much more to make it even harder-or impossible to lose,” says the 38-year-old from Baliasar, Odisha.
These words, and the thought behind it, may owe its origins in some philosopher’s book, but they remain etched in the memory of Munna, a butcher who spoke and shared all his experiences with this correspondent: stories of hard work, struggle, and achievements: the success in providing food to his family in these challenging times.
Munna started working at the age of 8 to support his family. He took up all the responsibility of the elder brother in his family after his father’s death at a very early age.
The butcher’s profession has been carried in his family for generations, and all his four younger brothers also perform the same job: although with small differences. While one brother specialises in chicken, the other two brothers deal with cows. Munna, with the help of younger brother, specialises and sticks to goat (mutton).
Munna adds that being a butcher was not so much of a choice but a compulsion: one, it was his family business and the other being the lack of education, which prevented him and his brothers from doing other well defined jobs.
However, it was never an easy way for Munna. Initially in his native town, he struggled a lot in order to lift up his family members’ expectation. During his bad phase in life, when he earned less, he along with his family even slept without eating for days. There were times when he even resorted to working as a part time-labourer to fulfil his needs.
But with determination, Munna has managed to improve his family’s condition. His meat is supplied by the quintal to different places and for different occasions, be it wedding, get togethers or small functions in the society. Earlier, his meat was also supplied to Odisha’s jail, where every weekend the prisoners were allowed to have chicken or mutton once a day. But suddenly, it was stopped because the prisoners were gaining weight after consuming it.
Also, during the festive season, mainly Hindu festivals like Janmashtami, Mahalaya, Ganesh Chaturti, etc, Hindus prohibit the consumption of meat, which indirectly affects his business and his family. But according to Munna, he somehow manages that stressful period of time with his savings.
In recent years, butchers across the country, especially in Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh have been harassed by cow vigilantes, which has ended up affecting their jobs to a great extent. Since Munna deals with mutton, he has never had to face such harassment. In order to stay in this competitive market, he, along with other mutton butchers most often help these cow vigilantes, whom they commonly called ‘Bajrang Dal’ or people from the RSS party. In return they stand to benefit a handsome amount of around Rs 1 lakh if they are able to stop at least one truck carrying cows.
According to Munna, In Odisha the situation is stable compared to these states because the population there is mainly Hindu, so the demand for cow meat is less. This somehow has also meant that Munna’s business of mutton remains profitable, because whether it is Hindu, Muslim or Christian all prefer consuming mutton. But one setback there is that the pay for these butchers is low compared to metropolitans, so in order to earn more income they move for jobs to the bigger cities.
Munna has some relatives and trustworthy people living in Kolkata, who every year summon him during festive seasons like wedding, and especially on Eid-ul-Adha, where he can earn in line with his expectations. To him the market in Odisha is very demanding and prospering. People are inclined towards mutton, but this is the normal scenario of the year. During Eid the market is high in Kolkata than in Odisha, so Munna visits Kolkata in order to earn some good amount of money. The pay in Kolkata to butchers is like ‘icing on the cake’, which satisfy their needs and prospers them than in Orissa.
Munna’s income in a day varies: he cuts around 15 to 18 goats per day and for every goat, he earns about Rs 300. But during days of Eid, the number rises 30 to 35 per day. To ensure that he can handle so much pressure in his work, he divides the people into small groups of 3-5 members. They work as a team consisting of 15-20 people and each individual has their own job to perform.
There are of course, a number of dangers involved, given that they have to deal with different weapons like sharp knives, choppers, cutters, etc. So, they always use some basic precautions while doing their job. They always keep a distance of one and a half foot while cutting meat; they use cotton clothes to wipe their hands so that the weapon do not slip from their hands. They frequently wipe their sharp knife to remove rust and bluntness. Even if they get injured or get unwell, they take medicines and thus continue to work because this is their first priority than his life.
To Munna, in the past five years the demand for mutton has increased substantially because every section of the society whether Muslims or Non-Muslims prefer mutton over cow meat, which is banned in quite a few cities of the country. This has, in some ways, indirectly helped the growth for mutton.
Hence, having three shops and working in Orissa, along with maintaining good relations with people in the other states have managed to lift up all his expectations. Munna is highly satisfied with his gradual progress and he prays that things remain smooth like this in future.
(The author is currently pursuing her MA in Journalism and Mass Communication at Aliah University, Kolkata)