Photo Essay: Meet The Man Operating one of Kashmir’s Last Oil Presses

Srinagar, Feb 7: Ali Muhammad Wani (77) rises before dawn and heads to the basement of his bedroom in Namblabal area of Pampore, 15 kilometres south of Srinagar, where he blindfolds his ox and gets on with his daily job – operating one of the last ox-driven oil presses [Tilwaen Vaan] in Kashmir.

   

For its time consuming process, laborious work and meagre income, the age-old tradition of extracting oil using these ox-driven mills is on the verge of extinction in Kashmir as the machine extracted oil has now been dominating the market for over three decades. Wani is one of the last operators of Tilwaen Waan in the valley.

Notwithstanding the meagre income that he earns, the 77-year-old says he will continue with his profession. “Till my last breath, even if I make only 50 bucks a day, I will continue working at this mill,” strong willed Wani said as he poured the oil extracted in first round for further filtering.

While contemplating about death and the endangered profession, Wani says, he never accepts money in advance from his customers, “If I die without extracting the oil, who will provide them? I only take payment for the extracted oil,” he says.

Although there is a dearth of consumers for oil produced in these mills, Wani says, his customers who still visit him, come from distant districts of the region. “Panen shauqeen haez iwaan,”said Wani with big smile on his face.

As Wani finishes his chores for the day, he sings old melodies and with a smiling face reminisces the golden period of his profession.

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