This woman keeps alive the vanishing art of bhathis

Aakanksha N Bhardwaj

Tribune News Service

Jalandhar, October 17

Vimla (68) is famous amongst locals for doing something which is not commonly found.  The moment the clock strikes  at 5 pm, children start gathering near a “bhathi” in Nurmahal. They all wait here for Vimla.

But today, Vimla is unwell, she can’t afford to skip the customers waiting for her. She comes half-an-hour late and in those 30 minutes, she keeps everyone guessing whether she will come or not. 

But suddenly, the faces of the children shine as they see Vimla coming from a distance. She walks swiftly; age has not deterred her from doing her job. She is probably only one left in the Doaba region who roasts chanas, maize etc (chickpeas) and corns and is keeping this old tradition alive. The moment she settles herself near the “bhathi”, her hands start moving faster. 

With one, she cleans her surroundings, where she will sit for the next two hours and with another hand, she starts putting all the wood and straw into “bhathi” which will help it to heat up. 

She shares that she has been doing this work for the past 30 years. As she completes one sentence, she blows under the “bhathi” to keep the flame burning and to maintain balance so that it creates flames and not smoke. In between the conversations, she also replies to other locals, who, while passing the road, ask her about her health.

She replies with a strong voice, “Bilkul theek haan.” 

She says that her mother-in-law had started this work 60 years ago. Years ago, almost every village and town had a number of “bhathis”. Even a small town like Nurmahal had around 12 “bhathis” operated by women, but now only one has been left. 

Vimla tells that earlier, there used to be a good rush for chana and maize corn lovers as almost every household was having some quantity of cereals at one’s home and children would pick these items from the fields and come straight to “bhathis”.

Peeran Da Praaga Bhun De

Shiv Kumar Batalvi has written a poem on “Bhathiwali”, requesting her to pot roast his sorrows in “bhathi”, for which he would pay a fee in the form of his tears.

‘Tainu deyan hanjuaan da bhara, ni peeran da paraga bhun de, bhathi valiye’. This poem of Batalvi glorified the women, who roasted chanas (chickpeas).