Field Work to Bulamari Local Dyeing Centre, Maiduguri, Borno State.

Bulamari Dyers are the Kanuri speaking indigenes of Maiduguri, Borno State. They Specializes in the production of the Kanuri tie and dye attires, especially the Kanuri blue and black fabric known as “Dongashou”.

The findings of the survey carried out at Bulamari Dyeing Center, behind the Shehu Palace in Maiduguri, Borno State are as follows:

Daw May Myo Khine, 49 years old, who once lived in Sittwe, capital of Rakhine, and whose grandfather and father owned many rice farms explained that under the Burmese Socialist Programme Party, some farmers grew two different kinds of rice. They grew low quality rice, which they would sell to the government at the prescribed price and good quality variety, which they would eat themselves. The government gave farmers loans called “Amadaw Kyay”  for growing rice. In return, the farmers had to sell the harvested rice to the government.

Ma Mya Than, 58 years old, is a middle class Rakhine (Arakanese) lady who lives in Buthidaung, a town in northern Rakhine. She used to sell various varieties of rice. Rakhine, situated on the western coast of Myanmar, is rich with natural resources including fish, timber, oil and gas. According to her, although Rakhine exported many acres of rice under Burmese Socialist Programme Party for years, there were around five types of rice that farmers in Rakhine mainly grew.

Spaces in the neighbourhood of Mehrauli , Delhi, have changed drastically over the years. However, there are many streets and localities in the neighbourhood that are still remembered, by name, for the kind of people who lived or did business there. One such example is Doodh waali gali. The interviewee, an old time resident of the neighbourhood, describes in the audio how the street came to be known as doodh waali gali because of the doodh and halwai shops that once populated that street.