Banjara – A Rajasthani tribe

Here is a liitle heart touching story of a Tribal group of Rajasthan .

Long ago during school days
When I travelled in my School bus to Makrana .
I always found a Banjaran family residing at the roas sides under closed marble mines .

Picture source : Google

The local colourful Banjara poor tribe
had little girls whose hair were
all messy and unwashed from years,
their sad smile shined brightly.
The ladies among them wore
Kalbeliya costumes with stitched pieces of mirror, decorative beads , their ghaghras had coins attached in it .
They wore big anklets of metal ,
Long nose rings, gaint Pair of jhumkas with Kanakattis ,Mangatikka , Hand bands and chotilas …

Their skin was tanned due to wandering under sun , and they had Pale face; because of hunger.
Their hands and Legs were torn of Walking barefooted

Pic source : Google

That ladies carried in hands their little shabby child when they moved from one place to another .The child had running nose .
Because hardly they had anything to cover their bodies with woolen cloths.

To earn a living they performed ‘Banjara Dance ‘ in localities .
Banjara Dance includes the Dance performed by Banjara tribes in which woman dances on broken mirror pieces and thick edges of plates ,sometimes carrying on their head – pair of Pots and sometimes lamps in hand . And the men plays Tabla .

It hurt their legs ,and manytimes they get injured.
But this doesn’t melt people around and they donated a rupee r two .

And now a days many don’t even care to even donate a rupee also as they can get the glimpse of dance on internet .

Pic Source : Google

Moreover to make a living ,They plucked ‘ Ker ‘.
‘Ker’ is a berry on bushes which was fulky covered with thorns .

They sold it to nearby villages .
Villagers used ‘Ker’ in preparation of pickle .
From morning to evening under hot sun they could collect hardly 5 to 6 kg of Ker
And without worrying about their fingers bleeding they move to sell the Kers .
Because Ker is a raw pickle , it need to be immediately put to use after plucking else it turns yellow in colour and earns nothing .

But when they reaches the village and sells ,the Seth Bargains and purchases those for mere dried chapattis and wheat flour and old sweets .

They accept the offerings with a smile and to fulfil their hunger accept the dried food .

I was 8 years old when I seen them doing this and today after 12 years when I passed through the same place ,the condition was the same .
It was the same family there with few more new faces .
This made to stop and ‘Think ‘
And this time I was matured enough to feel their pain …….