Sir,
This has reference to the writeup’Gharats at Venisangh’ (DE,Oct13,2019).The writer has beautifully described Gharats, the two round shaped stones one placed over the other, the lower stone being fixed and the otherrotating with flow of water arranged to fall on the blades of the water wheel, grinding the grains falling between the two stones.There used to be a time when gharats were found established along the banks of almost all streams and rivulets having sufficient flow of water during the whole year.In Udhampur,people would carry sacks of grains such as maize and wheat on their heads or load the grains on the mules and donkeys,travel long distances and throng the gharats located on the banks of river Tawi, Dudhar, Jhajjar and other streams,big and small, to get the grains ground to have flourfor the members of family and ‘daala’ for the cattle.Many a time, a person would have to visit the gharat twice,first to hand over the grains to the owner of the gharat and then to get the flour after two_three days.In some cases,the people would have to stay put at the gharat for the night and cook the food from the flour and local vegetable offered by the gharatis to have the flour in case the river would be in spate owing to heavy rain.The flour obtained from the gharats was and is still preferred to that obtained from the electric chakki due to the former having more ‘cohesion’ making it easier to prepare thinner and tastier chapatis,especially of the maize flour.
But now the electric flour and rice mills have been installed in almost every village and as a result of fast life and paucity of time coupled with lack of patience,people prefer to go to electric chakkis to get the grains ground.The gharats are almost passing into oblivion,except in some mountainous and hilly regions.There is need to encourage and appreciate ‘Mohrus’ and ‘Basantus’ (a gharati I used to go to) to revive this age old profession.The gharatis need to be provided training to improve their skill and modernise their gharats to produce floor of high hygienic quality.Already,the ‘Chakki Atta’ is gaining popularity with the people in view of its high bran and nutrients content and if the people associated with the gharats are encouraged,they can improve their business and boost economy.The writer deserves appreciation for his writeup highlighting gharats which are a part of our Dogra culture.
Ashok Sharma
Housing Colony,Udhampur
Follow our WhatsApp channel