A Frail Kashmiri & His Bullocks Who Still Toil To Extract Oil- Arguably The Last Proponent

By Majid Jahangir

Srinagar, Feb 9 : Mohammad Wani, a frail and elderly Kashmiri man, circles on his bullock-driven oil mill chanting Kashmiri hymns. He is arguably the last proponent of the traditional oil mills which have been phased out after the advent of power-run oil extracting machines.

In the 1970s, hundreds of oil mills operated in every nook and cranny of Kashmir. People would wait in queue to get their turn for extracting oil seeds. The residual extract was a nutritious feed for the cattle. Wani, in his dimly-lit mill enclave at Namlabal quarter in the famed saffron town of Pampore, 12 km south of Srinagar, recalls that he has spent more than 60 years of his 77-year life on the oil-mill and vows to continue his ancestral profession till he breathes his last.

All day he is busy extracting edible oil in the traditional way at Namlabal, putting in a lot of hard work. His physical appearance and hands give an idea about the hard work he puts in. His dusk to dawn labour does not fetch him more than Rs 200 a day. Often he talks to his blindfolded ox, giving it directions, as it continue its unending rounds. Wani too continues to remain on the move.

“This traditional way of extracting edible oil will die soon. I am the only one to do this work now. If I leave it, no one will do this work,” he said.

Wani’s son works as labourer and he is not interested in the family work. “There were a lot of such mills here but everyone has left except me,” said Wani.”

Some joined jobs and some are running shops.” He said there are a lot of clientele who come to get the mustard oil but they have to wait. “I get customers from many areas and they have to wait before they get edible oil from this place,” he added. It takes him no less than three hours to churn out four litres of mustard oil.