A Peek into India we don't know

Book Review

Nidhi Dugar Kundalia's book The Lost Generation details out eleven dying professions in India, each chapter feels like an episode from OMG! Yeh Mera India show on History channel, revelatory and immensely interesting.

The author travels from narrow bylanes, labyrinthine alleys in bustling cities and towns to remote jungles in Jharkhand, a nowhere place in Thar desert, a village by the river Hooghly to record details of a few professions which if not for her efforts, we would not know with this clarity. "Do what you like" they say, when choosing a career, then there is inexhaustible passion and unconditional love for one's job which is evident in chapters on the Kabootarbaaz of old Delhi, the street dentists of Baroda, the Urdu scribes of Delhi, the boat makers of Balagarh, the story tellers of Andhra and the Ittar walahs of Hyderabad.

However, for many, having to like what they do is simply the way out because their job defines their identity, gives them a place in society; they feel they were born for it inheriting a set of chromosomes fused with essential skills, their job is all they knew/know of, like the Bhisti wallahs of Calcutta, the Godna artists of Jharkhand, the rudaalis of Rajasthan.

Change is the only constant; modern technology has made people dance to a myriad new tunes it plays every day, professions with a stronghold in history find no significance and eventually vanish. That last practitioners of these jobs want a better future for their offspring manouever the inevitable change themselves.

From this book, the practice of Urdu calligraphy, Jangam Katha art of Andhra and Letter writers in Mumbai are some professions I sincerely pray survive the erosion posed by changing times and mindset.

If there is a profession I wish ceased that to exist, it is of Dagori Rudaalis. To deprive women of a family, the happiness and security they get out of it only to ensure their hearts are always full of sorrow, so they readily lament the death of higher and richer classes for few old rotis with onion in exchange, 'deplorable' is an understatement for this.

Overall an insightful and informative read, highly recommend!

PS: In the pic, alongside The Lost Generation is my kid's book. In a chapter on The street dentists of Baroda, there is an impressive paragraph that connects good teeth with great smiles and these two with decent jobs with a handsome pay. That paragraph just remained with me and the click happened.