Continuing from last week, another poem by Sunder and Sonati on the devastating exodus of the migrant workers from cities all over the country. Published with permission.
They don’t want Your alms Your hand-me-downs Your charity They want what is rightfully theirs Their dignity
Cloaked in their dignity They have negotiated whatever Life has thrown at them Till now. Stripped of their dignity They are a pitiful sight But let no-one forget that This is our doing Not theirs
Our Passports brought in the virus That their Ration Cards Struggle in vain To fend off
Humans are human because Of other humans When we strip someone Of his dignity Humanity is stripped Of its dignity.
Introduction to the poem: Something that resonated with us at Nivasa about the Migrant workers’ plight was a poem that we came across on the website “Anhad ka Baaja” published by Sunder and Sonati, a couple passionate about equality and justice in humankind. Reproducing here with their permission their poem “Dreams”.
Earthshaking They don’t dream of their children In Ivy League colleges In suited booted jobs They know that Hindi film endings Do not happen In real life
They struggle on Dreaming That their struggles Will ensure A slightly better deal For their children Than they themselves have got That their endless struggles Will mean A slightly better life For their children
This waking nightmare Has shattered Even these Pitiful fragile dreams
Now they just Hope Pray Struggle Dream To get home Alive
Journey from Bangalore to S Gollahalli, Ketenahalli and E-Thimmasandra
The day began at 8 AM, from Yelachenahalli Metro Station, a good conversation with our Project Architect about different projects and our learnings as an organization from each one of these projects; helped me understand how NGOs work, and what are the challenges that one faces while working with communities.
After a small pit stop for breakfast at Devanahalli, we headed towards Gollahalli Gram Panchayat which is around 8 Kms from Chikkaballapur town.
When we arrived, we saw a fully decked up Gram Panchayat office, since they had organized the Dussehra pooja on that day.
We began the day by greeting Srinivas, who is our mason.
Srinivas wore the Nivasa T shirt, as a good will gesture. He told us that the other workers with him did not have the same T Shirts, we told him we will bring a few of the T – Shirts when we come back again to visit the site.
Srinivas explained the work he had done so far. He had finished the arches and had started placing the Kadappa stones on the front verandah and the building now had started look cozier.
Srinivas had doubts about the staircase wall courses and other such small details, we clarified them. We also told him that we were not satisfied with the workmanship in the arches and showed him where the PCC bands are supposed to be made and to what thickness it has to have and then moved inside the Panchayat office to take a seat and discuss Ketenahalli Anganwadi project.
Ketenahalli discussion at S Gollahalli Panchayat Office:
We explained Srinivas on the design and we told him that he needs to excavate more foundation in order to accommodate the mezzanine flooring. We also explained him the corbelled sill and lintel detain that we had worked out, and he seemed to be enthusiastic, and told us he would work on whatever kind of course work we gave him, and that he understood all the drawings. He told us that however, he needs periodic guidance from us. We concluded that it would be the best to get the form work made for all the arches.
By now, the pooja in the office had begun, and we attended the pooja too, we got sweets, which we forgot on the table (apologies to that). After the pooja was over, we got back to explaining the design to Srinivas, he had insights to give us,
He suggested we make the window sizes on the front facade, as two large windows, instead of three small ones, he claimed that the carpentry would be easy, and it would enable more light and ventilation too.
He also told us that he would use the 6mm steel rod for the lintel instead of the 5mm GI wire and we agreed to it.
They were now going to offer a chicken to the god, and we were asked to stay out until they finished doing it.
We now had moved to the Gollahalli building and we were looking at the workers who were moving the kadappa stones into place on the front verandah.
Ketenahalli discussion on site:
We left to the Ketenahalli Anganwadi site. We rectified the foundation error, and asked Srinivas to make necessary correction on the site:
The entire site had a lot of soil inside the site, and the marking could not be made.
We however explained to him where the foundations needs to come.
We agreed that we would go to site again on Monday and get the marking done.
The excavation would eventually begin.
E-Thimmasandra discussion on site:
Srinivas accompanied us to the E Thimmasandra site. The PDO Mr. Tanveer was unavailable because of the election duty he had the same day.
The site was excavated and the water was let inside the excavation and allowed to settle.
In certain places the soil had collapsed because of the lashing rains.
The material on the site was boulders and M sand, enough for one course of the Random Rubble masonry in the foundation.
Post discussion, we headed back to Bangalore after dropping Srinivas at Peresandra.
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