There is a heap of tattered worn out shoes and slippers inside Dipo Menghwar’s muddy shop in a village.
There is a heap of tattered worn out shoes and slippers inside Dipo Menghwar’s muddy shop in a village. The cobbler has a stereotypical story that one associated with this profession faces in our society. The mended shoes are abandoned as discarded at his shop, and people often do not even look him in the face when talking. But, Dipo remains undeterred.
For Dipo, mending shoes is a pastime he enjoys. Otherwise, he has put an array of new shoes on display at his shop for customers interested in latest varieties. A lot of his customers are from the neighbouring villages.
He brings a pack of these items daily in the morning and takes it back after closing the shop, fearing shoplifters will run a rampage there.
Dipo claims to have an eye for the ever changing fashions and varieties of shoes in the local markets as well as the skill to see from where he can bring the latest merchandise. "I usually travel to Hyderabad, Mirpurkhas and towns of Sanghar district to purchase these items as per my customers’ choice," he said.
Dipo lives in a flourishing village Karam Khan Nizamani, Matiari district, where a large number of traditional artisans, potters, blacksmiths, carpenters, small farmers and herders reside. Most of these people have been associated with these professions for generations.
Despite being old, he does not like to stay idle at home. He prefers to come daily, early in the morning to the shop where he stays until sunset.
The situation is different for clients, who leave these pairs here, he said. Some of them may not be able to pay even the little cost to take back the mended items with them. Others may have different reasons for never taking their shoes back. Dipo said some clients leave their shoes for mending and take a pair from the ones displayed at his shop, but they forget, and come back after a long time.
But Dipo does not judge them; he just smiles like his usual self and continues to mend what the people ask. After years of dealing with the community people, he has become familiar and can face any odd situation politely.
The discarded items are sold to the potter families for using as fuel.
Dipo has a skill to deal with clients of all ages, ranging from males, females and children. This is how he has earned their respect too.
Crossing the border
Dipo Menghwar, recalling the past, says he was born in 1942 at Ranigaon Village in Barmer district in India as per his parents. He was four months old when his parents moved to a flourishing village in Tharparkar district, Sindh in search of better livelihood. After partition, he could not understand what was happening around him. His family was not able to reunite with relatives settled on the other side of the border even on rituals and other occasions.
Dipo passed Class VI examination in Tharparkar, but after the sudden death of his mother, he discontinued his education. He termed it a shock for the family, as they did not have close relatives nearby.
This was the time when Dipo recalls he became a herder. He took care of his only elder sister at home by earning Rs10 per month at that time. Later, he led the community labour force for wheat harvest and other work in agriculture field on daily wages. The occupation of mending shoes, he adopted accidently after the death of his parents.
Dipo has experienced tragedies, droughts, poverty and displacement from one place to the other for a long time. But he says, "For we people who are in a low-income family, bias is not less than any impacts of disaster.”
"Now I have learned how to tackle this abominable attitude and hostile approaches of the people and found that smiling and forgetting is the only way to survive in the society,” he said. "I think let the young cadre, sons and grandsons; lead their life for their own survival."
Adopting alternatives
About his children, he says, “They are reluctant to continue mending shoes. And do not dare to face the odd situation around them. Some of them have completed high school, while others have graduation certificates, but all in vain, as not a single boy got a job. That is why they prefer roaming for their charming business of selling toys, dealing with children and their parents.”
After so much change in the society, he said it is still difficult to find jobs opportunity for his community youth. So, they have found an alternate; to continue doing a decent work of selling toys in streets and melas.
They have become toy sellers and mostly roam from one street to other and one mela to one more for the business. "It might be the best choice for the youth and now they live a happy life," he said.
Dipo has lived and worked for a long time in Tharparkar, Mirpurkhas, Tando Allahyar and Matiari districts and has different but interesting episodes of the life.
He came to Matiari district to live with his in-laws in 1976 and since then he has been there. Now at this age of around 73 years, he still feels full of life to run affairs and look after his sons and grandsons.
Little changes might be there but some of the people have respect for these artisans because of their skill and the courteous way they respond to their clients.
Dipo has taught the children, who remember all the dates and months of purely lunar calendar, depending on motion of moon and follow the Hindu calendar to participate in the melas. They get permits of setting up stalls from contractors and run affairs boldly. Influential contractors are responsible of all the incidents and emergencies during the funfair, he said.
Dipo has also enjoyed the tenure of being a councillor in the union council. He has more to say about the power sharing and deliverance at local level. However, he avoids sharing about the poorly maintained social system, instead, he starts reciting poetic verses he preserved carefully in a much decorated copy to tell some people who visit him occasionally. Otherwise, he awaits clients and talks about the business, which he believes in as if it is a mandate given to him from the society. It perhaps helps him stay calm.
