Thank you for our daily cuppa, humble milkman

He visits your house every day at a fixed hour yet I guarantee you will not be able to identify the man if you happen to cross him on the street. Clinomaniacs like me who find it hard to give up the guilty pleasures of a warm bed without their morning cuppa owe it to the regularity and punctuality of this man. Harsh winters, scorching summers, torrential rains or menacing storms can rarely prevent him from delivering his wares at your doorstep. He is none other than your unpretentious and on the dot milkman.

Rapid industrialisation and urbanisation in the 19th century led people to move into cloistered and narrow residential spaces, leaving behind pastoral and open countryside houses that had space enough for both man and beast. A shed for cattle that provided milk and dairy products was a foregone requisite of such houses. In Europe and America, girls or women were specially hired to milk cows and were called milkmaids. However, in India the milking chore was gender neutral and was equally shared among men and women of the household.

Moving to cities resulted in the dependence on a milkman for the delivery of milk. The milkman brought milk in large metal containers on carts or bicycles. In small cities, men, women and even children would often carry their own container to the nearest house that sold fresh cow or buffalo milk to ensure the purity of the product. In metros, however, milk was sold in glass bottles, tetra packs or plastic pouches and the most vivid recollection of my childhood is probably of milk being sold at the Mother Dairy booths where excited kids like me inserted specially curated coins in the slots. Milk would then pour out of a nozzle into the waiting container placed underneath. It was nothing short of a miracle for a fiveyear-old in those days.

With big players jumping into the bandwagon of supply chains, the humble milkman has been at the receiving end. These suppliers promise you contactless deliveries, economical and easy availability at the supermarkets apart from doling out lucrative offers and schemes. Looking back, the process of eliminating the local dairy man or the milk delivery man started with the introduction of the Lester Milk Jar in 1878 in America. This was the first glass milk bottle which revolutionised the milk delivery system around the world. Later, considering the cost and convenience factors, these were replaced by plastic packaging and wax paper cartons and thus in most parts of the world the unassuming milkman was weaned out of the process of milk delivery.

Fortunately, small cities have always been in favour of the local delivery system and recently the ‘vocal for local’ campaign has led to the resurgence of the same at the global level. A New York Times reporter claims that there seems to be a ‘milkman renaissance’ with people around the world supporting local traders, artisans and food rather than corporate giants to back up the local economy.

So what would you prefer, putting on your pyjamas, getting into the car and waiting in a serpentine queue to pay for a pack of milk before you have your first cup of tea or sit in your garden chair in shorts with the newspaper sprawled on your lap and greet the milkman with a smile at your doorstep for your early morning brew?

CONSIDERING THE COST AND CONVENIENCE, MILK BOTTLES WERE REPLACED BY PLASTIC PACKAGING AND CARTONS AND THUS THE UNASSUMING MILKMAN WAS WEANED OUT OF THE PROCESS OF MILK DELIVERY