Boatman, fisherman, construction worker…. This entrepreneur at the bottom of the pyramid has to keep changing roles just to keep home fire burning
As the sun rises over the Cillika, Lingaraj Behra, along with a hundred other boatmen like him start the daily wait for passengers at Barakula, one of the four embarkation points into Asia’s largest brackish water lake and bird sanctuary.
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Season is in winter and even then, more people hire boats to visit the nearby temple of Kallijai than to go see the birds.
Each trip can take upto fifteen passengers and earns six hundred rupees for the round trip to Kallijai or nine hundred to go bird watching. Out of the nine hundred, Lingaraj gets to keep six hundred and sixty; six hundred because he is the owner of the boat and another sixty because he is his own boatman. A part goes to the boatmen’s association which regulates the boat traffic and also pays a stipend to those boats which did not get any trip that day. The rest goes for fuel.
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This family of six, including his wife, two daughters and two sons lives a part of an extended family of eighteen along with his brothers. Between the brothers, they have managed to purchase two large passenger boasts and two smaller fishing boats. The passenger boats carry a price tag of about a lakh each and are financed by the local moneylender at 3% per month (which incidentally corresponds roughly with the interest rate on your credit card).
How are the earnings? The answer is a wry shrug. “During peak season, I can expect two to three trips a day and as winter gives way to summer, it becomes an all too futile wait with a hundred boats competing for the few travelers who drop by”.
And it is then that Lingaraj gives up being guide to those seeking the blessings of kallijai.
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The Chillika also is famous for is its fresh water shrimp and fish. Shrimp from here enjoys a good market both locally and abroad. Come summer, Lingaraj dons the garb of a fisherman and swaps the passenger boat for one of his smaller fishing boats. According to his own estimates, (which were revised upwards many times) he makes upwards of twenty five thousand every season from fishing.
And as the fishing season comes to a close, Lingaraj changes his line of business, yet again. He becomes a construction laborer! Till the season changes and it’s time to launch the passenger boat again!
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Talk to him about the long term and his eyes light up. From nothing, now they are the owners of four boats and have a house, albeit a straw one to call their own. His two sons have followed him, dropping out of school to take up fishing; but his daughters are in school. And his biggest dream? To build a pucca house- one of bricks and concrete .
Finally, does he really have to keep switching professions round the year? The answer comes straight at you without even a pause to think – “If I do not change at the right time, there will be no food for that day for my family.”
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Human life is precious. A good NGO should take responsibility to take care of such situation and training.