I recently developed a fancy to wear nice leather Jooti (A village made shoe, with a peaked end) and asked my colleague “Arjun” to take me to a village cobbler. He introduced the cobbler as “the family cobbler” for his dhani (the group of houses belonging to same family at the farms). I asked him to explain further.
He told me, that at every harvest, the family invites this cobbler to pick up all the left out grain in the field after the mechanised harvesting. This grain (possibly from 2-3 of such dhanis) is enough for the cobbler family for the whole year. In return for this grain, the cobbler repairs all the footwear of Yadav clan of respective dhani free of charge.
I realized that i had seen the most traditional “Barter System” in action. I also appreciated the efficiency with which the post-harvest waste grain in the field was utilized in a commercial chain at no additional cost to the farmer and the cobbler got his annual grain stock by putting in a few days of field labour and servicing the client with his skills.
Agreed. I will try to do that.
If you are in leather bags, would you be interested in procuring handmade leather bags from India?
We could supply to Gucci as well, if the order size is OK
I think there is some mix-up. You must have wanted to comment on some other blog, and it came on my blog.
We have hosted multiple groups at village Bhandarej already and the tourists liked the place. There were concerns amongst some tourists about crowding out in the beginning. However, that was expected for break-in groups that arouse village curiosity and actually help the village embrace the social exchange. The community there is looking forward to more international and domestic travelers coming and sharing their way of life for a few days.
Maybe the most interesting read that I have read all week!?
Lilly