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Home 24
Mandi, Himachal Pradesh
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R was the oldest of three brothers, all farmer’s sons, and R became a chicken farmer when he was a young man. At its peak, he used to sell nearly two thousand chickens every month. He lived in the same place he spent his childhood in, but recently had to leave the bigger house - which he built thirty years ago from his earnings selling chicken - due to tensions with his son’s wife. His wife had died six years before from a paralytic attack, and he had suffered from the same affliction himself which left one of his arms unusable.

R now lived on a small thatched shed-like structure balanced above his farm upon stilts, and he grew tomatoes, wheat, corn, and peas. A few dried herbs lay outside his house, ‘for my stomach ailments’, he said. His meals were taken care of by his sister-in-law, who lives nearby, and she also took care of him during illnesses. R had trained his son to be a chicken farmer, but his son began working as a daily wage labourer instead; travelling throughout the country for work.