Loss, denial, mourning: Inside West Bengal’s village of explosives

A village in West Bengal, India, has been in mourning multiple times due to explosions at illegal firecracker factories that have killed many people

Rahima Bibi sits on the road with three other women, draped in a faded red-and-yellow sari, and a shroud of silence. On her lap is a pink winnower, holding a pair of rusted steel scissors and a pile of crushed tobacco. The women work in silence, their practised fingers rolling beedis. The silence is unbroken even when they are asked the directions to the home of Jerat Sheikh, who was killed with eight others at an illegal “firecracker factory” two

At villages like Natun Chandra, teenage boys and men move out to work, mostly to firecracker units, the women can be seen making a living by rolling beedis on the sides of the street. (HT PHOTO)