At 4:30 am, the New Delhi train station is already bustling with milkmen from surrounding towns, who arrive carrying cans of milk that they deliver to neighbourhoods across the capital. Most were up hours before the sun’s first rays.
India is the world’s largest producer of milk and also the largest consumer, producing about 140 million metric tonnes of milk per year by the end of 2014.
Every day, milk touches the lives of millions of Indians.
Milk supports the livelihood of many in different parts of the country.
The one thing common across this large and diverse country is the morning cup of milky tea commonly sold in tiny tea stalls in the early hours of the day, usually to migrant labourers.
Hindus use milk and its products for religious purposes because it is believed to have purifying qualities.
Milk is used to bathe Hindu idols on special occasions.
If you are in the country, you cannot escape calorie-filled sweets made with milk.
Ghee, or clarified butter, is used in lamps for rituals.
Milk accompanies so much of Hindu life, in rituals from an infant’s first food to the last rituals after death.