In the late 1950s, when I worked at the Mosaboni copper mine in Bihar, India,
I spent the last year of my time there in the bottom section of the mine, driving
development roads and sinking inclined shafts for future production. Access to the
section was via cages in the 2000 foot deep vertical Circular Shaft. As we crowded
into the cage at surface at the start of the shift, the gates were closed and the cage
lifted off the pegs before we started our descent, a Moslem pipefitter (all the pipefitters
were Moslems) would invariably start chanting out loud a whole sequence of prayers
for as long as we could see daylight. The rest of us in the cage, of whatever religion
(the majority were Hindus) would keep a tolerant silence while he did so, on the
assumption that, if Allah protected him, then the rest of us in the cage should at
least reach the bottom safely.
Tony Brewis
|