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Today, May 1, is International Workers’ Day.

In the gut-slicked alleys of Bengaluru’s meat markets, a brutal hierarchy dictates not only who handles the meat, but which parts of the animal are deemed worthy of touch. 

Beneath the surface of daily commerce, these markets operate as a political construct—a rigid, caste-based assembly line that reflects how 

societal systems can lead individuals into dead-end cycles of labour and poverty.

While the higher-class butchers manage the primary cuts of muscle meat in the main market, the “spare parts” are sold in the Boti (offal) market by those next in the social food chain. 

In the shadowy depths behind these markets, the “underclass” of the carcass, considered a religious and social taboo – the hooves and heads – are fire-processed by the Dalits. 

In the dread-inducing darkness of the furnaces, the invisible threads of power and history that tie a society together reveal how labour and identity are structurally fused to keep certain groups marginalised.

 The workers in these markets are often descendants of approximately 5,000 Tamil Dalit migrants primarily from the Arunthathiyar community, brought from the Madras Presidency by the British. They were imported specifically to perform “polluting” tasks that local populations often avoided:........

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