Sweeping for Gold !

Women sweep the street in front of a jewellery shop on Ashoka Road looking for gold particles.

Mysuru:  When most of Mysuru is fast asleep, a group of men and women set out on a gold hunt on city streets that are dominated by jewellery shops like the Ashoka Road. Along the narrow alleys, they scrape a living scouring the dust and even the drains for specks of the yellow metal.

Armed with hand-brushes and small brooms, they walk the alleys and dust the streets for gold particles. Both the treasure hunters and gold traders share a strange symbiotic relationship. The sweepers keep the streets clean in exchange for a few thousand rupees worth of gold, which would have otherwise flown away into the drain.

This post was published on September 21, 2019 6:44 pm