On a rainy monsoon morning, 70-year-old Joaquina Colaco clutched an umbrella and walked through the crowded lanes of Margao market in the Indian state of Goa, hoping for a full day’s work.
After wading through puddles, she sat down next to a carpenter’s shop, waiting expectantly for customers who need a porter or “coolie” to carry their wares.
Colaco is one of a dwindling band of female bhadels, as the porters are called in the historic city of Margao, Goa’s commercial hub about 30km south of the state capital, Panaji.
Photo: AFP
The bhadels — whose name translates as “for hire” — have been a feature of life in Goa since the days of Portuguese colonial rule in the 18th century and carry everything from groceries to furniture on their heads.
No one knows locally why women have traditionally done the back-breaking work, but increasing competition from cars, vans, the railways and men is threatening to put them out of business for good.
“We don’t get much business these days,” Colaco said, puffing on a beedi, a cheap, hand-rolled Indian cigarette packed with tobacco leaves. “The male coolies are much stronger and are ready to work at a cheaper rate,” she said.
Another bhadel, Albertina Fernandes, agreed.
“At times, they [the men] carry loads on their heads for free or in return for a peg [tot] of fenny [a Goan spirit made from fermented cashew fruit or coconut],” she said.
The arrival in the 1990s of the Konkan Railway, which stretches 760km up the western coast of India through Goa, sounded the death knell for the female porters.
The picturesque line connecting the southern city of Mangalore with India’s financial and entertainment capital, Mumbai, brought eager young men from neighboring states like Kerala and Karnataka in search of work.
At the same time, increasing numbers of vehicles began to appear on the state’s narrow streets, making the transportation of more and heavier loads quicker and easier.
The liberalization of the Indian economy has also played a part, opening up the country to outside influences in areas from fashion to television and increasing its people’s expectations.
“A bhadel’s daughter used to be a bhadel,” Colaco said. “Sons were not allowed in the trade. We’re now fearing extinction as the next generation is not ready to continue the legacy.”
“Do you expect my daughter who wears jeans to sit here and work as a coolie?” she asked.
Goan Chief Minister Digambar Kamat, who represents the Margao constituency, announced in March payments of 25,000 rupees (US$550) to any bhadel who had worked for 25 years, praising their “selfless service” to society.
According to Auda Viegas, a women’s rights activist who has been documenting the history of the female porters, most of those still working fit that category.
“The youngest bhadel is 50 years old,” she said. “You won’t find anyone younger.”
Five years ago, bhadels — all of them Roman Catholic — could be found in their hundreds, carrying goods for up to 5km outside the city, but now there are thought to be barely two dozen left working.
With their likely disappearance within a generation, another piece of traditional Indian life will be consigned to history.
“Even until recently, local shopkeepers in Margao used to ask them to watch over their shops during siesta time,” Viegas said.
“They are most trustworthy,” said Sajiv Sawant, a cloth merchant who owns a shop in Margao market. “Even now, we keep our shop open in the afternoon time when we go for lunch break and bhadels guard our shop.”
“They have never stolen anything. They will never steal. Now they don’t get business because people have their own vehicles. Also they are too old to carry heavy headloads,” Sawant added.
Despite the state government payment, the future looks uncertain for the women, who are a familiar sight on the streets in their traditional cotton saris.
Rain or shine, they spend their days carrying loads from early morning when the market opens to early evening, earning a meager 2 to 5 rupees per trip, which is just enough for bare essentials.
“Bhadels are largely uneducated and hence cannot take any other vocation,” Viegas said. “They are growing old now and don’t want to shift as they have been doing this for their entire lives.”
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not