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thelostgeneration.pngStreets in ancient cities are suspended in a time warp. Nostalgia lingers in these old neighbourhoods. The lost generation encompasses Geneologists of Hardwar, ‘bhisti walla’ or water carrier,àa mid-wife or dai, theà‘rudalis’ or the professional mourners, the letter writers of Bombay and the àkaboortwallahs Old Delhi among others. Travelling to different parts of the country along withàlocating and chronicling India’s dying professions is by no means an easy task.àEven though there are remnants of an India which might still exist in its old streets and neighbourhoods, author Nidhi Dugar Kundalia narrates the unforgettable stories of eleven professionals from the Geneologists of Hardwar to the letter writers of Bombay, the Kabootarbaaz of Old Delhi, the street dentists of Baroda, the Urdu scribes of Delhi, the Ittar wallahs of Hyderabad and the Rudalis of Rajasthan among others.àThe streets in the ancient cities of this country are suspended in a time warp — not the lofty, shiny lanes of the city but the old faded, deceived-to-be-pulled-down-any-time-now.

Nostalgiaàlingers in these old neighbouhoods, a sense of belonging to a time you were not born in. There was the ‘bhisti wallah’ — the water carrier before the corporation taps. Suspended between the old and the modern, waiting to fill his animal-skin bag with water. His ancestors will fill the water from the banks of the Ganga and freshwater springs, serving Mughal troops in theàwar fields, the Nawabs of Bengal and then the British. They were crucial for machinery as well as ordinary peoples’ everyday lives too – watering the gardens, filling pots of water for nautch girls, offering cool water to worshipers at mosques on the days of Jum’ah (Friday)àand filling cups for wary travellers and thirsty lepers. As the century turned,àthey quickly becameàmere spare parts, only delivering mashqs to those whom the government pipelines had failed to reach. Like the old, abandoned palatial homes of the noblemen dotted the congested market, this solitary bhisti wallah is a testament to the significant events and feats of importance from decades ago.

The hapless last generation of these ancient professions have been left wondering about the bleakness of their futures. A scribe teaching calligraphy at an academy in Delhi says “”we struggle to make Urdu survive, let alone Urdu calligraphy, in this digitised world.”” In travelling to different parts ofàthe country the author foundàthe new and old worlds intersecting in unpreditable ways even as modernisation spread. In Jaisalmer, Rajasthan, a midwife or dai, provides training to other women in midwifery practices because of her distrust in modern birthing practices at today’s hospitals. She limits her teaching to traditional castes, which were essentially a lower caste. ‘It is to preserve our ancestral professions’ she told the author defiantly. In villages it is not uncommon for affluent families to bestow land grants to a dai’s family and give her the sole rights to deliver babies in their household. India’s professions have also been interlined with caste practices that dictated the professions of caste. In Hardwar priests double up as geneologists. They are incharge of the family register, of updating the family’s geneological tree with details of marriages, births and deaths and so on. Over time these dynastic records have also become a particularly important way of sorting out all the inheritance squabbles that arise for wealthàand power in India.

Occupations were meant to be passed on from father to son, and the option of transitioning from one profession to another was generally outlawed. The Kayasth class, who comprised the upper layer of Hindu society, occupied high governmental positions, often serving as administrators or advisers. The lower castes such as the nais or the chamars performed the menial jobs of barbers and tanners respectively, while their wives doubled up as masseuses or pedicurists for the women of the aristrocratic families. The ‘rudalis’, or the professional mourners whom Nidhi interviewed for this book are caste inducted professions too. It is customary in Rajasthan for upper caste women to not mourn in publicàand so the rudalisà— mostly helpless, impoverished women caught in web of caste heirarchy – step in to mourn for them, representing their sorrows for the traditional twelve-day mourning period. But changing times and automation are slowly eliminating these mourning practices, consigning them as some sort of an athropological curiosity.

No caste exists for a call centre employee or a computer operator. Those who belong outside caste bound practices – the calligraphers, the kabootarbaaz, the ittar wallahs – their professions have suffered because they lost their patrons in the kings, noblemen and moneyed zamindars of pre-inpendence India. The author caught up with naxalites, activists, àthugs and ruffians, who rather than obstructing the story in any way helped her understand the complex social fabric of this vast country. Through their conversations she saw that their paradoxes provided for a deeper understanding of issues rather than cause moral obstructions – all contributing to appreciating the frailty of the human condition.

In the early 1970sàvisitingàCalcutta for the first time on an assignment, shocked me.àIt was very different fromàDelhi and had a very distinct character because the British imperialists based themselves in Calcutta. The thenànational capital wasàmore of a enlargedàvillage capturing the myriad culture of this country. People from the north and the hills along with others from different parts the country made Delhiàtheir home. I spotted a lone ‘bhistiàwallah’ in the backlanes of Chowringhee and Park street inàthe Eastern metropolisàcarrying water hung from his shoulder. A weather beaten,àwiry person he supplied water to some of his customers and anyone whoàhailed himàquenching theiràthirst.

On another occasion asàa teenager on a holiday in Hyderabad I met some friends of my cousins much older than me who were animatedly discussing matters which upset them a great deal. They said the poor people in the villages were always being harassed andàmanhandled by the law and order machinery for no fault of theirs. I learnt later they were angry young men with ultra Left leaningsàwho had decided to fight the establishment for the rights of the peasants. Each of these dying professions has its lessons and poignancy unique to itself. The letter writers of Bombay hailed from different parts of the country and could read and write several Indian languages including English,àHindi, Sanskrit and some even learntàMarathi.àDilip Pandey hailedàfrom Varanasi andàcame to Bombay because of an ailing father and dwindling finances. “”I was fascinated by this city,”” he told the author “”as Bombay tells you a new tale everyday. The people have learnt to talk its talk but nobody learns to breathe here.”” His friend Gourishankar withàwhom he stayed in Bombay taught Dilip to “”understand the deep, dark underbelly of Bombay.””

As advised heàwrote two lines for one word and never forgot to saying “”missing you”” at the end of the letter. It makes wives and lovers happy and the senders in turn happier. For the letter writers of Bombay things became bad in 2002 with the mobile communicationsàmarket making incoming calls free. With mobile phones priced at a few hundred Rupees letter writers were pushed out of business. The narration is fascinating andàgripping about the professions and professionals left behind.

TR”