Site Portraits

Pulled out the big telephoto (100-400mm) today and planted myself atop a large pile of sand.  Here are some portraits of the people on site.

 

On the Mangar Hotel Site

 33 degrees and a bit smoggy today.  The effects of the Delhi population are drifting south.

This is what the work site looks like before any rammed earth walls are erected.  We will start with the SIREWALLs at the far (east) end of the hotel.

While we are waiting for the final design details so we can start building the formwork we are keeping busy getting the Volumetric Mixer tweaked to perfection.  Normally we would have a machine loading our mix into the truck but... there are a lot of workers around moving dirt and rocks, bricks and cement - they are already perfectly equipped.  So, this is what loading the mixer looks like today.

First you throw up some scaffolding and climb to the top of the truck.

Then, you stick a bag of cement on your head.
Then, you wrestle it to the top of the scaffolding to get it into the bin at the top of the truck...

And, then you do it again.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the workers here do not wear steel toed boots.  Check out the foot wear. Or, just leave the footwear at the bottom of the scaffolding.

Krishna (below) works at the site with her husband as do many women.  They are dressed in beautiful flowing colours and somehow manage to stay clean in this dusty environment, doing labour jobs alongside the men.  I don't know exactly how many layers she has on but, it is really hot here...

In this light it seems that you can wear any combination of colours and it will look great.

March 20 Celebration of Colour

Holi Hai 

The colour of spring is here, love is in the air and it is time to celebrate Holi. 

"This festival does not recognize bars of caste, class or creed.  Drenched in colours everybody comes to resemble each other, all differences dissolve in the colours that flow in plenty."  Well, I would doubt that anybody would think Jerry and this lad resemble each other even with the pink dusting but, the friendliness that was expressed was more free flowing on this day than we have experienced on others.  This celebrant and his friends were happy to share colour with Jerry - it was lovingly touched to his face and head followed by a bear hug - and, of course, the photo op.  Maybe intoxicant was imbibed that helped diminish the natural boundaries somewhat but we felt no ill will from this encounter.


We were cautioned that too much alcohol was consumed on this holiday and things sometimes got out of control.  Our driver was very agitated as Jerry and I tromped through clusters of people, photographing  the Chattarpur Mandir temple - He had not really intended for us to get out of the car at this location and seemed to be in quite a lather about something happening to us on his watch.  Initially he drove very slowly, following us up the street in the car, he eventually found a parking spot and followed us on foot until we got just the right angle on this giant statue of Hanuman (Monkey God) and agreed to move to safer ground.


Hanuman

Krishna

Our hosts from the Lalit Hotel project, after much discussion, advised the best place for us to experience Holi was at the Iskcon Temple where the colour was expressed in flowers rather than water and dye.  It was beautiful, peaceful and full of ceremony.  (It was not what we were expecting in keeping with Holi celebrations.)

The colour in the altar displays was stunningly beautiful.

Ganesha

After all of this the display that touched me the most was this one of Lord Ganesha with the dried up flower garland, placed against a tree amongst broken icons, at the side of the garbage strewn road.

This beast was in the middle of the road, at a busy intersection, with his heard - including a nursing calf.  I so wanted a picture of that but didn't dare step out of the car in that chaotic space of honking, edging vehicles and zipping motorcycles, where cows have the right of way and people...  well, people need to fend for themselves. 

Saturday March 19, 2011

It's the weekend again - and we were determined to get work boots for the guys.  Not an easy item to find in a country where anything looking like WCB is non-existent and sandals are the normal footwear for the workers.

But, first a Hindi lesson.  A tutor came to our house and not only taught us about language but about customs as well.  An hour (turned into 1.5 hrs.) for 800 rupees.  He has 2 masters degrees in languages - English, French and translation.  Things don't add up the same way here as what I'm used to.

The main thing to remember is that the verb  ALWAYS goes at the end of the sentence.  The word of the day is:  Nahi (No) and with respect Ji Nahi.  Very successfully employed "Nahi" stopped the rickshaw drivers from following me down the street.  Not so successful with the wee urchins wanting coins.

Then, it was time for lattes at our Galleria Market...
and, the trial and error with cards at the 24 hr. ATMs...

and, a pause for a trim...  and lunch...

The guys really got into power shopping!

4:30PM and still no work boots  ...at least 3 shoe stores with blank looks & offers of the popular pointy toed number - people couldn't even fathom a shoe with steel toes - wrong turns, wild goose chases, (asking directions is an adventure when nobody will admit to not knowing where we should go) ...we did finally find a more industrial shopping area and Bata shoes (in India since 1932) able to provide us with very light work boots for Rs1,000/$20.

Tired and dusty and probably dehydrated, we were in no mood for our driver's kind offer to take us to yet another shopping emporium.  ji nahi nahi

Find us some electrolytes - coconuts at the side of the road...

Shukriya, Achchwa Shukriya.  (Thank you, good thank you.)
Namaste.

Monday March 14, 2011

Learning from my earlier shopping faux pas I've been getting a little more adventurous in the town of Gurgeon - taking a daily walk to one of the local shopping centers.  I've found my morning coffee place and an excellent Italian bakery/pizza shop.  (The Indian food at our guesthouse, Cambria Inn & Suites, is amazing so we have only gone for pizza once.)  Also discovered a local tailor today and found a physio for Meror who has aggravated “mouse” shoulder…  Aside from the very important latte source my favourite "cubby-hole" shop is one that sells ayurvetic aromatic oils, feng shui stones and figures of gods that bring blessings and protection to the house.    Yes I did buy a few trinkets there.  The shopkeeper was full of information - most of which I understood.  I love the energy of the Indian people and their willingness to humour my naivety about local customs.  

It is extremely dusty everywhere - and hot...  I can't believe I am wearing a long sleeved t-shirt tromping around in 28-degree temperatures.
This is where we're staying...

Sunday March 13, 2011

‎"Do not shed blood, shed hatred." Indira Gandhi

Saturday March 12, 2011

Friday March 11, 2011

I did purchase 2 small dictionaries for us - neither of which is at all helpful.   One is English-Hindi, which you would think would work except the Hindi word you are looking for is in Devanagari script...  The second was my mistake, as my synapses didn’t process that it was Hindi-English so impossible to search the English words alphabetically - and again the Hindi is in script so even stumbling around in the pages is not going to bring any clarity to learning the desired words.  (I'm about to find out what the return policy is in India.) I notice that my powers of observing detail are compromised by the intensity of being in a strange land.

Can you figure out this image?  

Galleria Market, Gurgaon

It is a two storey outdoor shopping mall - everything you could need is available somewhere in here.  You just have to find it!  The shopkeepers do go out of their way to be helpful and the English is good, though the accent heavy.

Wednesday March 9, 2011

plumbing in the lab

We are in India!!!  Hard to believe after two years of planning and postponements...  We arrived here at 2:AM got a few hours sleep and then went to the site to meet all of the key people.   The work site is an amazing place and the hotel is going to be beautiful.  The volumetric mixer (big, modern, cement truck) is there and a SIREWALL office and a lab for soil testing.  

There are families from the village living on site and working there - men and women together building "random rubble walls".  The results are stunning and will compliment our SIREWALLs beautifully.  

Our delivery method on this project will incorporate old traditions with new technology in a way that we've never done before.  From the volumetric mixer to the wall there will be a chain of people delivering our material to the forms for tamping.  Imagine that!


For the brick walls I saw them building yesterday the women carry and the men stack & mortar the walls.  

16 bricks = 88 lbs.

After lunch when Jerry & Meror went into their architecture meeting I walked down to the village with two guides - a local and a translator.  (English-Hindi dictionary on my shopping list) It was fun photographing the people and my guide told me that they enjoyed me too.  Out of many smiling faces this is my favourite portrait.  

One of the men asked if my pictures were going to be published.  He expressed cynicism about NGO's coming and exploiting them - taking their images and never giving anything back to the village.  (India is estimated to have around 3.3 million NGOs according to wikipedia).  I visited the school but it closes at 2PM so missed any action there.  The guide told me that there is not enough room for all of the students in the classrooms so many of them do their lessons in the yard.  I'm going back when school is in session.  If I can contribute anywhere it is going to be there - I'm excited to see what develops. 

A Link for your pleasure...

Tuesday March 8, 2011

We did a 3-day stopover in China to break up the travel time. 12 hr. flight to Shanghai and then 3 sleeps before we do the last 7.5 hr flight to New Delhi.

Shanghai is great - even in the pouring rain I love this city.

Surprisingly Jerry, who lives on the wet coast of Canada, has never owned an umbrella before today.  The inclement weather conveniently produced street vendors with umbrellas for sale.

With our friends, Raefer and Sasha (Canadian trained architects that have a SIREWALL license in China) we shared amazing food and toured some of their rammed earth projects.

Check out this link.