As Eid-ul-Azha is at the doorstep, everyone is preparing for the sacrifice. The farmers and traders are busy taking care of the animals. The hats are crowded with buyers and sellers. Everyone seems busy trading animals at the last moment. Sounds of hammering and forging in the year-long silent blacksmith village can be heard with constant chatter as most of the buyers are flocking in front of blacksmiths for sharpening tools and even buying new ones. Even mobile blacksmiths are not left out either. They are also walking around the neighborhood with the machine. Everyone is busy preparing for the sacrifice. Such are the common scenes of Mirzaganj upazila of Patuakhali district along with other areas of the country. Sacrifices require knives, knives, pots, axes and machetes. Other than the butcher, these are not always useful. So to sharpening knives and other tools that are old or rusty, people are running to the blacksmiths during the last moment of preparation. Blacksmiths are also charging higher prices to do these things. Many are going from house to house with sharpening tools to sharpen these tools. The shopkeepers are sitting in the market stalls selling these items.
It can be seen that the blacksmiths are spending their busy time in all the shops of the upazila. Melting iron in a coal fire and beating it with a hammer, they are making sharp objects including knives, meat cutter, machetes, axes and other tools. And in the meantime, the work of sharpening old knives and other tools is going on. So the blacksmiths do not have time to catch their breath. Due to high work pressure and low number of workers, their work is going on from morning till late night. They are supplying these products to the wholesalers by meeting the local demand. The blacksmiths said that they buy iron from different markets and burn it to make these sharp instruments. Blacksmith Gopal Karmakar said such images do not last all year round. Only when the Eid comes, their appreciation increases. With the income in such times, they have to survive for the rest of the year. His grandfather, who left the business to him, could not even imagine his grandchildren’s poor condition if he saw what blacksmiths are going through right now, he said. Nepal Karmakar said blacksmithing were valued earlier. Now the value of steel is increasing. So iron business is no longer profitable now. If such a government helps them a little, then it is possible to sustain this profession.