Foundry Work in India

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from "Save Ferrous!" contains these words:

Ah - we'll - I've certainly learned not to.

I love working at the forge in sandals and shorts. After 17 years of working at the anvil you get a bit savy about being in the right place at the right time and vice versa.

I am so glad that you posted this link. I get a kick out of how people view the real world. They are so amazed by these primitive men and women working in these "unsafe" factories while they themselves rush at maddeningly excessive speeds inches from opposing traffic in order to seclude themselves in stifling offices for hours on end.

Who lives the better life?

I think you'd find, if you talked to those Bengali foundry men that they are aware that things could be better. But they aren't, at least not in Bengal and I'm sure that these guys all feel lucky that they can get paid on payday. There are thousands of other Bengali's that don't.

Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:remove underscores from address for reply)

I agree with both of you. The dangers in life are a matter of perspective and you gotta do what you do to get paid. Although I do find it an interesting dichotomy to see India, the tech help center of the universe, married to India, the land of cheap labor and primitive safety measures. It would be like having 19th century coal miners working in upper Manhattan.

SF!

SF!

It is not such a mysterious process. India is simply a feudal society where caste is still the major determination of the direction your life will take. On one hand you have the middle and upper classes where a life complete with education, servants, to a greater or seller degree, the good life. On the other hand you have the masses of lower classes who have nothing and no hope. The most noticeable thing I found in visiting India is the tremendous numbers of people who are so poor that they literally live in the streets. In a cardboard box. I'm not talking about a box here and there I'm talking abut whole districts full of people living on the streets.

Don't think 19th century, think 17th or 18th. Bruce-in-Bangkok (Note:remove underscores from address for reply)

Forging is one thing, foundrywork quite another!

I rarely work in shorts (Wales, so I rarely need to). Even if I'm hand-smithing, I'll usually do some mig welding sometime during the day and arc-burnt knees aren't my idea of fun.