Most of the craftsmen start work as early as5 a.m. in the morning and sit till late evenings. They do take a lazy, much deserved, long lunch break. Unlike most other crafts, the carving artisans work on a per-piece or per-dozen basis rather than daily wages. The men usually do the stone cutting, carving and buffing while the women paint on them. They make just about enough money to send their kids to schools and educate them. Sometimes, they do sulk about the fact that the shop owners and exporters mint all the profits and the money doesn’t really reach the people who deserve. But that doesn’t deter their determination; they still go about making magic with the stone !
