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In rural Belgaum, one man traded his flute and shehnai to make toys
FirstpostNarayan Desai had to give up his caste-based profession of being a flute and shehnai player to take up a more lucrative job — making toys This story is part of a series on the everyday heroes of rural Maharashtra. This occupation is dying, anyway.” [imgcenter> [/imgcenter> The frail 60-year-old Narayan undertook toy making to make ends meet after his ancestral occupation began to fade away. “I gave up the ancestral occupation,” he says, “No one values our traditional art.” [imgcenter> [/imgcenter> In the early 70s, the performers were paid Rs 100 for 12 hours of performance. [imgcenter> [/imgcenter> At the age of 18, he worked as a barber for three months in the Nipani taluka of Karnataka’s Belgaum district, for which he got Rs 3 daily. [imgcenter> [/imgcenter> “Today, the younger generation doesn’t even take the flute and shehnai into their hands,” says Narayan.
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