Essay on Our Helper Milkman

The Milk Delivery Men

People earn to make a livelihood. Everybody is involved in one or the other profession to make a living. Some jobs are high flying and people earn very good money, some are medium level jobs that don’t garner a lot of money. Job satisfaction is a very personal thing and rests with the person involved in the job.

A good education resulting in a good degree from a reputed university leads to a good job and a good career path. Some jobs don’t need a very good educational degree and some others just pass on from hierarchy through the family in case of a business.

Family businesses run through family members and the forefathers educate their children of the next generation and train them through the process of carrying out the family business, managing it, business tactics etc. There can be many such factors that help a family in carrying out its business.

Nowadays, even to run a family business, people place importance on the education of their children and only then absorb them into the business. Education is a binding and deciding factor and people enter any profession or career they like only after completing their formal education process.

Prompt At Work

A milkman is a person who is responsible to deliver milk every day, early in the morning at our doorstep. Commonly, milk men could be found riding on a bicycle having a big holder for carrying milk packets and responsible for timely delivery of milk at each house.

When we get up early in the morning, the first thing we do after brushing our teeth is look out for a cup of coffee or tea. If milk is not available at home, then we blame the milk man for not being punctual in delivering milk on time.

A milk man is expected to deliver milk packets at the correct time every morning so that our day begins with a cup of coffee /tea. Without a cup of coffee or tea, our mornings seem dull and we wouldn’t be able to carry on our daily activities with the same energy and force.

A source of initial energy for the day, the milkman delivers milk and the ladies of the house start preparing tea/ coffee and serves it to the entire family.

Small children drink milk early in the morning after they are out of their bed. Milk gives them calcium and strength for the bones. It gives instant energy to children and helps them in their daily activities. Milk men are prompt in their services.

Be it any season, any part of the year, whether summers or rainy season, milk men are right up early in the morning to deliver milk packets to their customers. They wake up very early in the morning, at sunrise and go to collect milk packets from the milk dairy.

Most of the milkmen own a shop as well where they store milk packets for customers who come to shop everyday to collect milk. Customers who prefer home delivery of milk packets are charged a little extra for the service.

Some milk men even introduce coupon systems where a book full of tokens is published and given to the customer before hand by the milk man. The customer, depending on his requirement for the day chooses to buy milk packets in exchange for the coupons. They pay for the coupons at the end of the month or whenever they need a new coupon book.

The Friendly Milkman

Milk men are usually very friendly with their customers and serve them with a smile. They have a note of all their customers and deliver milk packets to the exact customer. Milk packets come in different colors and sizes. The milk man knows which packet is to be delivered to which customer out of practice.

They can be seen hurrying up when they arrive at our places since efficiency and timely delivery of the milk packets plays a very important role in their job. Also, they do not have holidays at all. They work on all days of the year, delivering milk to households every single day of the year. Even when there is a total shutdown in the city due to unforeseen incidents, milk men have to render their services since they come under the category of basic essential services.

Milk men are usually very friendly with the family members where they deliver milk. Some of them even offer a cup of coffee or tea as a token of gesture in return for his prompt services. Milk men can be seen fondly mixing with the children and elders of the house and inquiring them about their health and well being.

There are also milkmen who extend their services and do something extra apart from delivering milk like bringing essential items from a store which is familiar to him. This happens occasionally when the milk man is too friendly with a family or if he has been acquainted with them for several long years.

Scene in Villages

It is a totally different scene in villages, where milk men carry milk in big containers over their cycles and deliver milk to each household as per their demands. In cities, very few people prefer to drink milk from milk containers as there is no guarantee of purity.

Milk packets coming from dairies are trusted and known to be of high quality since they undergo many tests at the diary, processed and quality tests performed before finally giving them out to the public.

Thinking amongst village people have also changed over the last few years, but traditional bonding with the persons they dealt with in the past, leaves them with little option to opt out for something new.

They still rely on many milk men who directly get milk from cows that they have bred in their own shelters. There is no trace of quality test performed on this kind of milk and may not be very safe to consume it.

We have heard many stories in fairy tales and children’s stories that milkmen usually add water to milk to increase the supply quantity.

The poor customer does not know about this as he completely relies on the milk man who has been delivering him milk since ages and thus goes the story to tell children to be cautious about people in our surroundings. This may or may not be completely true in reality.

Nowadays with increasing demand for pasteurized and toned milk available at milk parlors, milk men are facing severe shortage for their work.

They have regular customers but many people prefer to take a walk to the nearest milk parlor to buy their own milk as it gives them a reason to have a quick morning walk and the rates can also be reduced since they are not offered services at the doorstep.

Humanity First

Milkmen are humans too. They have families as well. They too might fall sick and may not be able to come on a particular day citing health issues.

People who are regular customers should give them some relaxation and leverage on health grounds and be understanding towards them. Dr. Varghese Kurien, the founder of AMUL at the region called Anand at Gujarat should be remembered for his amazing contribution in changing the dairy scene in India and working for the uplift of dairy workers and milkmen alike and providing them a respectable means of livelihood.

He had worked for the welfare of these dairy workers and milkmen in the region of Anand and provided them a decent means of livelihood.

We have many people in our society who are doing multiple things to achieve a simple means of livelihood for them as well as their family. The newspaper delivery boys, just like the milk men cannot stop from delivering their services even if there is an emergency or a total shutdown in the city.

There are many such people offering their services routinely without even taking a break for a single day and hence they should be really applauded in society for their continuous efforts.

The government should provide milk delivery boys, milk packets at reduced and discounted prices so that they can also earn a sizable income from their business and help in the welfare of their families.

They should be protected under special insurance schemes and their families should be well supported by measures to provide education and health schemes for their betterment in the society.