dust washers in india sweep streets for flecks of gold

Like her mother and grandmother, the 80-year-old Ganga gohull squatted in a narrow alley and was careful to do 8-
Inches are brushed on cracked concrete with a rough hand and her back is permanently bent after a lifetime of work.
In a country with few clean streets, this twisted driveway of the ancient walled city of Ahmed Bard is at least spotless for the time being after her end.
\"It\'s a very hard job,\" she said . \" Her hair was pulled back by a bun, and her delicate features were covered up by deep wrinkles.
Gohel is not a street cleaner.
She is dhul dhoya, a dust washer.
Not just any dirt.
Although the streets of India are not covered with gold, there are at least some streets in Ahmad.
In the western city, she is expected to be inspired by an estimated 5,000 gold and silver shops.
When the 40,000 workers from the store came and went, their hair and clothes dropped some golden spots and were taken away by Gohel and other dhul dhoyas.
Some enterprising collectors even followed the workers home to remove muck from their showers in the sewers.
Since the age of 15, Gohel has been working in this alley, from late in the morning to dark, and rest on Sunday, a schedule driven by shopping time and the rhythm of settling dust.
It\'s hard, but at least she doesn\'t have to pick up her mother\'s sideline: take out the burning coal and ashes from the silver kiln, and she\'ll crush it and go through the sieve, seize these precious pieces.
Now, Kasmeera, the daughter of Gohel, 35, joins the family business to help her mother collect garbage on the same street.
Once she separated the gold from her mother
Dirt was found from betel nut wrappers, cow feces, stained newspapers and other rubbish, which cost about $8 per bag.
Wearing beige Sally and black plastic slippers, Kasmeera said: \"People spit in the garbage and leave food scraps . \".
\"It\'s disgusting.
Kasmeera is worried that her mother\'s crooked figure reflects her own future.
To be successful, she is replenishing her income by trimming loose lines from blue jeans for 1 cent or $1 each.
If she pushes stles, £ 50 a day.
\"I am worried about my future,\" she said . \".
\"I want to do better.
But at least for the rest of my life, I\'m not sure if this is possible.
\"What is increasing the burden on Gohel and Kasmeera is their status as Dalits or so-members
Known as untouchable caste
The pedestrians insulted them, wounded them, and knocked them over, especially with her little frame.
But Gohel has been stuck for 65 years, carefully guiding the last bit of dirt into the bin with practical efficiency.
The couple is one of about 200 dhul dhoyas working in this area of the gold district.
For generations, many families have been cleaning on the same street, carefully protecting their lawns from intruding.
Gohel earns about $135 a month, with slightly less Kasmeera.
The work is boring.
But gohull and her husband, who died six years ago
\"A drunk who beat me up every day, but at least he helped a little \"--
Raise two daughters and a son on the dust.
This is a constant struggle. Her daughter-in-
The law died, Kasmeera\'s husband abandoned the family and asked Gohel to help raise the child with five grandchildren in a very small two months. room house.
\"There are a lot of mouths to feed,\" she said . \".
\"Life is almost the same, very difficult.
\"Nitesh Soni looked at Gohel from his family --
Run Ambica Touch Gold Bar in the alley.
\"You try to bend and clean the streets like she does,\" he said . \".
\"You will also feel pain.
\"At Ambica Touch, jewelry makers climb up the counter with thick rupee notes, buy half an ounce here, and buy an ounce there.
When the shop workers from 1-
Kilograms of gold bars with oversized knives, small particles fall.
Most of them were swept over, but some tiny things were swept down the street and into the garbage bin of gohull.
Two miles away, near guntipur, Abdul Wahid Ansari bought several bags of gold --
His workshop left spots, except for the large barrels of colored chemicals, a product of the Middle Ages.
Young people bend 2,000-
Gallon water tank, in a room without lights, rummaging dirt as the coal fire roared, emitting smoke through a hole in the roof. The modern-
Day alchemist says he can know at a glance how much gold is in a handful of dirt.
The dirt is washed, added with Mercury and nitric acid, and the mixture is \"cooked\" at high temperatures to separate the gold and melt back into the bar or ingot.
\"Our lives are made of gold and silver,\" he said . \" His teeth are rotten, with the red color of betel nut on it.
\"Let copper.
\"Gohel denied that she had found considerable gold nuggets in the dirt, although the crew of Ambica Touch was skeptical.
\"Of course, they sometimes win big prizes,\" said Paresh Soni, brother of Nitesh . \".
\"When I lost a piece, do you think I will get it back? This is India.
\"The Earth is the most gold --
Full on peak Octoberto-
February is the wedding season on the eve of Diwali in India, when shops are scrubbing machines, walls and floors.
At these times, dust prices can soar to $12 to $15 a bag, while during the monsoon season, prices soar to $7 a bag when a large amount of runoff dilute the mixture.
Dhul dhoyas\'s work may extend to the gold craft in India, said Shekhar Chatterjee, professor of jewelry and textile design at the National Institute of Design at Ahmadabad.
\"This is a very old tradition and even the reuse of waste paper is part of the Indian mindset,\" he said . \".
It is believed that gold workers settled in Ahmed Bard shortly after the creation of the city in 1411 in Ahmed Shah, Sudan, and they are an important factor in enhancing the reputation of the city, to the age of 1500, the gold jewelry in Ahmad Abad
Inlaid textiles are famous in Cairo and Beijing.
The glittering tradition continues, with an estimated 30% to 40% of India\'s 918 tons of gold imported each year from Ahmed Bard.
\"Indians have a real emotional attachment to gold,\" said Bababhai Soni, 65 . \" Founder of Ambica Touch.
Machines in recent years
Manufacturing jewelry reduces waste and leaves less spots in dust.
But customers still want complex jewelry patterns that machines can\'t easily make.
\"So there will be dhul dhoyas as long as there is a manual craft,\" said Harshvardhan Choksi, president of the local merchants association.
As the shadows stretched in the narrow alley, Gohel rested on several bags of dirt she collected, and her cracked discolored feet hid under the worn pink Sally.
\"I am still alive and able to walk because I have been very active,\" gohull said . \".
She and her daughter reflect on the differences in life and how they searched in the dirt while rich, fat Goldsmiths brought precious metals home.
\"They are selling for thousands of dollars and we are selling for $8,\" Gohel said with a sigh . \".
\"But this is our life, our destiny.
If we don\'t do that, so will others. \" mark. Magel @ latimes.
Anshul Rana of the Times New Delhi bureau contributed to the report.