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ShareSURAT: They convert lifeless stones into glittering diamonds of fascinating shapes. Their eyes wear off looking endlessly at the stone so that diamonds can cool your eyes.
They are the men who make Rs55,000 crore diamond industry of Surat flourish across the globe but their own lives are nothing more than stories of agony, frustration and ordeals.
Hasmukh Thummar, 27, entered the diamond cutting profession as a teenager. He came to Surat in 1997 from a remote village in Jamnagar with hope to live a good life by cutting diamonds. Even after working for more than 11 years, he is not earning more than Rs6,000-7,000.
"It frustrates me because I have to look after my parents back in village and it's too difficult to save enough money for them," Thummar said.He works in a small unit with 20 other workers and in night he sleeps in same unit so that he can save money he will have to spend as home rent.
"Earlier it was hard to sleep here but now I am used to it and it helps me to save some more money," he said. The unit owner provides no other facilities to me. All I know is that if I fall ill I struggle hard even to feed myself. Hope of getting aid from anywhere is like a dream," adds Thummar.
As a matter of fact, nothing is as awful as spending 38 years in a profession yet feeling a dagger hanging on the neck.
Harji Makwana is 54 year old, and has been cutting stones for last 38 years. During this he saw many diamond merchants reaching heights of success but his own life is as pathetic as it was in his early days. His five member family is totally dependent on his earnings.
"I have somehow managed to get my two daughters marry," says Makwani.
Manoj Shukla, 38 years old diamond cutter, hails from a remote village near Janakpur district in Nepal, bordering Bihar. In his testimony he says, even after working for almost 18 years in Mumbai and Surat, he will have to return home empty handed.
"I will have to work till the last breath either as a diamond cutter or as a labourer. I have spent my formative years shaping stones but I could not shape my own life. Today I wish I could have done something else rather than shining these stones," Shukla says.
