Monday, December 10, 2007

Milkman




















A milkman with a can of milk on a scooter. Most people buy milk in sachets from the dairies now-a-days. Milk is not sold in bottles anymore. Either someone drops the sachets door to door in the morning, or people buy it at the grocery stores. But some prefer to buy fresh from milkmen such as the one in the photo. I have even seen a guy who brings his buffaloes to his customers. One of these days I hope to get a photo of that guy. Most milk is buffalo milk, although in some places cow milk is also available for a premium. Traditional Indian Medicine (Ayurveda) prefers cow milk for its medicinal properties. The scooter is an old one based on the Italian Vespa scooter which has the engine on the right side.

"Truth, like milk, arrives in the dark
But even so, wise dogs don't bark.
Only mongrels make it hard
For the milkman to come up the yard."
- Christopher Morley, Dogs Don't Bark at the Milkman

13 comments:

WichitaKsDailyPhoto said...

Thank you for your visits and comments. As always, I enjoy seeing your part of the world through your pictures and commentaries.

Wayne said...

That's a very interesting picture. It seems to encompass a lot. The three wheeler to the right is really cool too. But I cannot help but wonder... what is the milkman's life like. It seems like a difficult way to survive.
Thanks,
Wayne

WichitaKsDailyPhoto said...

I don't know much about train tracks, but please be sure to come back and see my most recent post - I posted it for you to see.

b.c. said...

That's another great shot and as always, a very interesting post reflecting the way of life there in Hyderabad (I hope you will forgive my misspelling it in the past, with a b instead of a d--)

is the milk in sachets powdered milk? i'm just wondering how they can sell liquid milk in a sachet...

Rick said...

Buffalo milk!?! Uwe - not sure that I would like that.

http://organizeddoodles.blogspot.com/

Web-OJ said...

Well, looks like they've progressed too. They used to originally come on bicycles!

zakscloset said...

some people bring buffalo to deliver milk! that's crazy!! that must be a more pricey option i bet. it sounds nice though, they get the most fresh milk they can ever get!

Nihal said...

Almost 20-25 years ago when I was a kid, I remember that the people even in Istanbul used to buy fresh ''daily'' milk from the milkmen like yours. However I see yours are still running today, lol:)) Very modern milkmen with their vespas on your roads, very interesting! In the past our milkmen were driving pickups. When looking today, none of them in Istanbul. In Anatolia, mainland of Turkey, for sure in the little towns it's possible to see milkmen even today. For metropolitan cities like Ist'l, Izmir, Ankara bla bla.. its only good memory for us being Istanbulites (even though I can remember hardly..)
How nice that you share your life totally ''live'' from India, thank you merci danke schon grazie for broaden our horizons:)

PS Vespa...I LoVe it!!! Especially in Rome, no doubt it is a kinda art of driving Vespa by chic beautiful brave Italian women:)

Jilly said...

Such an interesting post. I hope you get to see the buffalo man too.

Love the poem.

Anonymous said...

Slightly off topic but related to "Milkman"-
The Gowliguda(The erstwhile Nizam's spacious hangar later converted into a bus station and came to be known popularly as Gowliguda CBS)Gowliguda is named after the gowlis/Gwala(Hindi) or milkmen.

For more info
http://www.primetimeprism.com/features/streetnames.html

Gudl said...

That is interesting. You would not see something like that overhere!!

Neva said...

Wow...I am not sure about the bufflao milk..does it taste very different from cow's milk?

Jules said...

Great to catch up again. Love this post and the new flyover photo is amazing!!! They'll have to Bann vehicles - they are taking over the world!!!!