Working moms!

This post was inspired from a question on one of the Facebook Groups that I am part of on the topic of "Gypsies". The following pictures were clicked from my balcony. While I am no anthropologist, I am going to make an educated guess that these people are a nomadic tribe. This guess comes from observations over quite a few months as to how methodically these guys have their system and process in place. They load everything up on horses. They have baskets to carry their chickens, they have a dog that watches over the sheep and goats. The women folk do most of the chores. They fetch water, cook and carry the firewood. The men stand around, chat and occasionally seem to herd the livestock . I got some comments from the Hubs on how lucky I was to have him when I mentioned this. Point duely noted:)

Some of the adults and kids wear western clothes (pants, shirts) but the women folk seem to be primarily in traditional clothes. There seem to be 4 families in all. Two have infants. The women breastfeed them, bathe them, and swing them in makeshift swings and protect them from the elements in quickly put-together tents made of sheets and sticks. The efficiency of it all is mind blowing indeed!

The children are obviously not in any kind of school. However they seem to pitch in with the foraging and caring for the younger siblings. They also help with dishes and generally seem to play with each other. They are obviously learning important life skills. Since they are just watching the grown-ups around them and spending their time joining in on the myriad of tasks that they need to do to get through the day.

This traveling community comes on and off to this plot of land. They sometimes stay for a night. Sometimes for a week. When they are done, they just pack up everything on their horses. Children, chickens, dog and even baby goats get put into the baskets and loaded on. They come quietly. They leave usually at sunset with quite some fanfare since the goats all bleat together as they get herded. It's actually quite exciting to watch them leave.

It has been a real treat watching them as they go about their life. As I go about mine. Sometimes hanging clothes in my balcony with my kids. Sometimes to just get a breath of air if we haven't managed to head outside already. And sometimes to show Gingy the animals from the balcony. Their arrival leads to much excitement from the girls. Gingy loves to point to the sheep and says "buh-buh-buh". Bebu loves to talk about horses and  how the families live off the land. She counted them today and came up with the number 4. And then wanted to learn to click pictures with the SLR.  She managed to look through the lens to spot the "aunty in the green saree" and then wanted to just climb onto the sill and watch.

 The womenfolk doing the chores.

 The woman in the bottom most corner picture has an infant on her lap. The white horse was named Twilight by Bebu.

 Bebu enjoyed watching the horse get a drink.

 An infant sleeps in the makeshift cradle. The families on the plot of land against the high-rise buildings.


Two separate worlds indeed. Within our same shared world. So distant in some ways, but not so distant in others.