Keonjhar: With machine-made articles and home appliances being the order of the day, the ironsmiths and their small furnaces which were once visible in rural areas, have vanished.
Rarely do we hear the clanking of metal hammering another to give it a shape. Most of the ironsmiths have switched professions in search of better life. Today even the knives, axes and other iron metals that we use in the kitchens are readily available in the street-corner provisions stores. So then, why go to an ironsmith at all?
However, amid all odds, a group of people from Madhya Pradesh reside here for close to eight months. They are ironsmiths by profession and have set up small shops that sell various iron products people use in their day-to-day life.
Manasi, a woman of this nomadic group informed this reporter that in spite of all hindrances, they have stuck to their guns. The group has set up their tents in Padampur locality of this district and operates from there. They have also set up two-three furnaces which they use for making utility articles like knives, sickles and axes.
Manasi said the male members of the group go out in the day to collect unused, broken and discarded iron pieces. “They then come back and we melt these pieces and from the molten iron we make various articles of use and sell them. At an average we earn approximately Rs 500 to Rs 1,000 on the days we visit local markets with our products,” informed Manasi.
But then it is not everyday that the group manages to hit the markets. They do once a week or at the most twice because making utility products from discarded iron takes time.
The tents they reside in turn into their makeshift homes. Come rain, hail or thunder, they have nowhere to go. Life is tough, very tough indeed. However, Manasi and her mates are happy because ‘‘we eke out or own living’’. “Life is a struggle, but we do not mind,” Manasi signed off with a smile.
