Jaggery - India

There was something about the fading crimson red cloth, how it draped his shoulders and back as a worn movie theater curtain. How many 11 kilos (25 pounds) chunks of jaggery had been rested upon the fabric, crushing his burdensome shoulders to protect his skin? All-day till night, this man and an ensemble of others make a living carrying supplies from the shore in Dhubri, India, to boats that transport items like these conical bricks of sugar, cooking oil, stoves, furniture, items sometimes unimaginable, to remote villages along the Brahmaputra River. Rarely did these men rest during the three hours I stayed with them. I could understand…having carried only two bricks of jaggery from his cart to the boat, without such a beautiful sash, I would prefer moving unceasingly than to rest.