Overview of their livelihood, education and environment
The job of a railway coolie is certainly not easy, it needs a lot of strength & stamina. Walking restlessly down the cross-platform bridges with tens of kilos of weight on their heads is not simple as it appears.
This class of workers basically thrives on load, making a living out of hard physical labor. As I have narrated this earlier that they have been serving the train passenger ever since the inception of the Indian Railway, licensed porters even today are not Railway employees. Although they undergo through a proper procedure of selection which includes medical examination and police verification. In return they got an identity card and license no inscribed in the “Golden arm badge” .Adding to it some nominal facilities like waiting room to stay, minimal medical aid and Two traveling passes .Also two uniform s (verdi) for summer & winter. They are in a search of a little more recognition of the profession.
As of now the job of a coolie satisfying their basic needs but not fully. The need of coolie at the railway station has been fall down drastically. Today there are plenty of trains plying every day station to station which some where affected the luggage carried by passengers. Now passengers prefers to take less load with them selves. Also the new design of bags coming in which are easy to carry for e.g.. Trolley bags.
Similarly domestic flights become cheaper so people who can afford traveling long distances by plane rather than a train. This also reduced their most procurable customers. Today around 400 – 500 coolies serve at Ahmadabad railway station.
Here in Ahmadabad Married coolies staying with their families ,some left their family at home(their village) and came up here to work. They visit their homes whenever they want as there is no boundation of working days for them. Singles mostly live in 4-5 groups & rent a room nearer to railway station to gain the convenience for home cooked food and commuting. Some stay in the waiting room and eat out at the nearby “Dhabha”.
Their peak hours for work are mornings and evenings when they get maximum earnings. At this time mostly long distant trains arrives and depart like Sam park Kranti, Ashram , Rajdhani express etc. That’s why coolies try to make more & more repetitions to earn more during this time.
For porters job, no specific educational qualification is required instead the physical fitness & strength is an eligibility criteria even if the candidate is underage. They are basically skilled in lifting heavy weights, and even while walking platform to platform and climbing up or down the stairs with such heavy weights their feet don’t tremble.
Licensed porters do not enjoy facilities like pension, gratuity and insurance. The only social security they have is the provision to pass on their license to a near relative once they are unable to work. Also, they are not entitled to any compensation by the Railways in case of injury, disablement or death while performing their duty at their place of work. Licensed porters do not have the provision of taking voluntary retirement and passing on the license to their breadwinner while they are still fit.
On the other side of the coin, the good part about being a porter is that you are your own boss. They can enjoy the luxury of taking an afternoon nap while at work. How much time a porter puts in broadly depends on his capacity to work and his urge to earn more.
Service process
Community by sharing
Context – They share the same work environment & conditions.
Origin – When Railway stations came into existence and the need of “porters” arouse. An opportunity for employment of new class of workers evolved.
Evolution – The existing coolies transfer their job to their relatives in case of illness or after a certain age or if they get unfit for work.
Common resources
Market – The market place for railway coolie is the railway station. All the transaction happens at that place.
Produce – services of lifting the luggage of passengers traveling through train.
Infrastructure – They use infrastructure of Railways i.e. all the facilities provided to them for e.g. waiting rooms, trolleys , toilets, uniforms and nominal medical aid.
Pricing – It is not fixed though they have certain criteria of charging that is same. It is decided among themselves.
Space – The space they share is the railway station, waiting rooms, resting room. The resting shed outside the railway station meant for them to relax.
Customers –All the passengers with luggage traveling through railways who seek convenience.
Transport- Transportation facilities they get from railways is in the form of traveling passes once in a year. One is “free pass” valid for any number of trips within the span of two months and another is P.TO. Pass where they have to pay 30% of the amount for the ticket. This pass is valid for one trip.
Communication pattern
Selling – They basically are selling their services to the passengers in the same manner.
Attracting – This is done through verbal communication by using the regional language or wittiness. They are basically vigilant enough to identify the regional identity of the passengers. Based on their experience, they are able to relate to the passengers in their native language and hence convince them easily.
Common income source
Service – They get paid for the service provided by them to the railway passengers by carrying their luggage.
Techniques – A distinctive style of lifting the luggage and can move faster than the customer. The more number of rounds(from outside the railway station to the platform & Vice versa) they take more they can earn.
Expertise – They are mostly outspoken and bargain well with the customer. Loud enough to get a side while moving through crowd. They own good strength & stamina. They have an informal setting amongst themselves wherein if one coolie has convinced a customer for a particular price the other coolies wont be approaching the same.
Common Pattern
Earning – Rs. 5000 – 6000 per month is the average basic earning. It is not fixed and depends on the working capacity which differs from person to person and also on the footfalls on the railway station.
Living – The coolies who are new entrants and / or bachelors are allowed to stay in the waiting room provided to the coolies near platform no.-12 till the time they find an affordable accommodation for themselves.
Commuting – Mostly the coolies live at places which are at walking distances from railway station. Those who stay at far off places due to availability of cheaper accommodation, use the state transport buses for commuting to the railway station.
Trade timing – There is no fixed work timings for the coolies. They are free to chose their working hours. But most favorable timings are early mornings & evenings when most of the long distance trains arrive and depart.
Trade cycle – It runs over the year but fluctuates in between like in the summer vacations and big festivals like “Navaratri” , “Durga Puja” , “Diwali” . It’s the boom time for them when people travel a lot.
