Motornama Roshanara
Director: Shaina Anand, Ashok Sukumaran
Duration: 00:48:52; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 21.676; Saturation: 0.081; Lightness: 0.334; Volume: 0.264; Cuts per Minute: 16.634; Words per Minute: 108.026
Summary: A ride through the industrial district around Roshanara Road, New Delhi. We come across various sites and histories of the "industrial age" in the city, and its related narratives of automation, pollution, labour and closure. The tour is on cycle rickshaws, with rickshaw wallahs as narrators and guides.
Sites visited include houses in the shadow of the new metro, a hundred year-old ice factory, a car-cover karkhana, a derelict cinema, motor repair and re-boring shops, a printing press transported from Lahore, a famous clock tower, amongst others.
Roshanara road was till about 20 years ago the centre of the industrial city of Delhi, with Transport Nagar, the old Grand Trunk road, Sabzi Mandi, the Beej (seed) Market and related infrastructure all crowded around it. Old residents claim that it was not only Asia's largest engine repair market, but also an upper-class hangout with Palace Cinema and restaurants and other markets flourishing.
In a series of court-initiated "anti-pollution" drives in 1996 and 2000, Roshanara Road's small and large industries were forced out of spaces they had been occupying since partition. As transport technology also changed, the repair industries could not compete effectively with new imported cars, authorised dealers and so on. In effect, the "motor" of industrial progress was moved out of the city, or moved past this sector in other ways.
Cycle rickshaws have survived this history. Not in a sense that they emerged victorious, but in that despite court orders (there is an on-going Delhi High court case on their licensing, (update: the judgement has declared Delhi's rickshaw licencing "ceiling" of 99,000 not legal. More at
http://manushi.in/articles.php?articleId=1089)
Their numbers in the city have grown from about 20,000 in the early 1980's to an estimated 900,000 today. The vast majority of pullers live on the street, or in "informal" situations in front of shuttered shops, in side lanes, etc. Recently, cycle rickshaws have found favour with green groups and the eco lobby, as a "non-polluting" form of transport. This discourse has to also meet considerations of where rickshaw wallahs will live, their health and other needs, etc.
Our project then entered this historical and regulatory landscape, and offered members of the public, both locals and visitors, a tour of this landscape of lost Punjabi confidence, old machines, new migrant, hard labour, and local histories.
We worked with about 25 rickshaw wallahs who lived in and around the Beej market, Roshanara Road, for over two months. Workshops and meetings were held in the Roshanara Garden and other locations in the area.
Roshanara Motornama tour guides:
Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo.
Roshanara Motornama was part of '48 degrees C' held in New Delhi, December 12-21, 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi.
A project by Shaina Anand (
http://www.chitrakarkhana.net/) and Ashok Sukumaran (
http://0ut.in).
(credits)
Dilli ke bag bageeche, kitne dil go choote…
naam hua roshanara ka,
sona isme hain mana…(Delhi's parks and gardens touch the heart
Roshanara is famous,
And it is forbidden to sleep in it…)
Akhilesh reads out his new poem. Vijay says that Akhilesh penned it in the early hours, struck by sudden inspiration. "He bought this register last night and he's been filling it up with poems he's written on little chits in the past."
It's day three of our meetings, in an old pavilion used by local boys as an akhara or gymnasium, in the middle of Roshanara garden. Twenty-five rickshaw drivers and our own crew of five have been using it for a few hours a day, immersing ourselves in each other's narrations. Yesterday, we brought each other up to date with our pasts and possible futures.
A had tried to enlist in the army, but failed the endurance tests because his shoes were too thin, his feet had bled. Without bribe money and with a father unable to support any further studies, he had left U.P. in anger. (A was a brahman.)
S, the youngest member of our group is a runaway from Bihar and had boarded a train to Bombay at age twelve. He was picked up by a man who befriended him at Dadar Terminus and gave him work in a tea stall. A couple of itinerant jobs later, he was picked up by the police and put in the baccha jail (children's remand home) from where he was transferred to the baccha jail in Delhi, which didn't have as high a wall as Bombay's. He escaped and landed up on the street near the Ghanta Ghar where he still lives, now age 17.
R did chikan embroidery and jari work, until his employers changed to machine embroidery. He dislikes cycling and the city, and would love to go back to the village.
D, 19 landed up as bonded labour in Gujarat. He and two of his colleagues were duped into the job, kept away from each other and made to carry sixty kilo loads up four floors. They managed to meet and escape together, to be fined and cleaned of their money by a TC at the railway station, and then traveling on one ticket the three of them made it to Delhi, jumping off at the main signal before Sabzi Mandi to find their way to Ghanta Ghar, where they knew many people from their town, Gonda, would be there.
V's family plagued by agricultural debt and an added cost of a phalanx surgery in his teens, made him drop out of school. He worked in a dye casting factory in the area, till one day, after making a technical blunder which caused the dye to turn to clump, he ran away for fear of having to re-pay an amount way beyond his means.
N used to work in Jaipuria mills, behind Ghanta Ghar.
Almost all of the others arrived directly to the Ghanta Ghar on GT road and did an early stint in the seed market before renting cycle rickshaws. Most lived on the street in the Indira market or in a shared space with stored seeds in one of the many beej-godaams (storehouses) nearby.
On day one, Vijay had read out his novella. Across seven chapters, a sharp and brutal narrative, and the landscape of Delhi had unraveled before us. Today, after some warm up exercises we concentrated on the sounds around us, then loosened up with some gilli-danda. Two versions of Sita-Swayamvar were performed; L as Ravan was hilarious. After a tea break, we began working on the script for Motornama Roshanara.
The days flew past, they remain for us some of the most precious leisure time in recent past. Where else, besides through an art project could we come together: us, some theatre types, and twenty-five young men who spend most of their day and a good part of their night pulling rickshaws. With the rickshaws chained together and parked in a ground outside the Bagh, we walked, sat, paused, debated and crafted the project. Each evening we returned to the streets, every one of us a little more awake, and wanting to bring observations and impressions back to the circle. On the last day of our meetings various stickers and decorations arrived; the cycle rickshaws were proudly outfitted. The next day, the rickshaw drivers returned to their everyday location, waiting for customers outside Pulbangash metro station.
New Delhi
No, listen you are educated, I am not.
But tell me, I am from U.P
Assume that I was very poor before I came here,
But could it not happen that tomorrow you could take my place.
Can it not happen?
Our workshops took place inside Roshanara Baug. This is day one. After some warm up games we began a 'getting to know each othe'r session. Vijay Kumar was reading from his journal, a notebook of thoughts, rants and essays he has written over the course of a month. He was talking about life as a migrant from UP. He says something provocative that elicited a snide remark from a casual onlooker, a young lad. Vijay takes off on him offering him (and us) a harsh coat of reality. In summaru: Were all precarious. You too can land up in my shoes! Don't be so cocky about your place in life!
conversation
migrant
theatre
worker
Roshanara Garden
The land is not shrinking, nor is the sky expanding, but the population is definitely growing.
After completing your studies in college, you will definitely roam on the roads, you will definitely see things, and then definitely laugh.
And God has given you this gift, that you will as it is keep on laughing. And your need for everything will keep on increasing. Won't it?
You want to be a doctor when you grow up, but your younger brother will say that he does not want to be anything.
I'll directly be a colonel...I don't have it me to be go beyond that.
Tomorrow... look on your backside, There stands your enemy 'area'.
You know this?
If tomorrow he declares attack, you will either have to move behind to U.P. or if you flee backside you will reach Bihar, or else will reach M.P.
If you go in another state...do you know who are the people from U.P?
Do you know people from U.P and Bihar?
Don't label them as 'people from U.P or Bihari'!
No, no...
See U.P and Bihar folk as your brothers. Do you all understand?
If tomorrow war breaks out on the border, the border which has been created...there it does not matter whether you are from U.P. or that you are from Delhi, a "smart boy"
'My hair flowing like the wind' (Hindi proverb signifying reckless freedom)
These things do not happen over there. There, irrespective of caste, each man has to fight.
You all do understand that?
But there is no border war going on here. I'm just giving you an example.
Sita Swayamvar being acted out by the rickshaw wallas. Akhilesh has been writing poems, he reads out his latest:
"Meri Jaan hai Ricksha, Mera Iman hai riskcha" -my life and pride is my ricksha. (full poem coming soon.)
Ram Surat sings a song from an old HIndi film
Nadiya Ke Paar (across the river) and suggests we use this as an audio interlude to the ricksha tours.
Lalji , the born performer shows off to others. This is how we will do it!
Every human being has one thing...Mother Goddess has given one thing to everyone...Do you know what is it?
It is a tongue(voice)...the ability to speak.
Love is such a thing by which humans can get everything in this world. Love is the one such thing.
And God has given everyone the ability to speak.
But with this ability one says something wrong to another, or does wrong.
But let's just end this topic now.
What is this Rajan? ...You sent out such a big invitation, and didn't invite me?
You've organised such a big meeting!
Forgive me...Forgive me. Such a mistake...I had sent out the invite with the messenger but...
Sit, sit.....
In Delhi, My rule!
For seventy-five years, Its been my Raj.
And this bow!
Lovely Sita will be taken away by me, King of Lanka.
Do 'acting' just like this, all of you!
(clapping)
What is this thing?
(song)
Heart is filled O beautiful, its holding me, my love.
The day will pass by, let me drive the cart, let me drive,
In which direction are you taking me, O guide.
We set up Camp at Pulbangash, The riskshaw has become famous...
First let them sit in the rickshaw
and then talk to them.
"Yes sir will go, but for a minute have a look at our metro, the pride of our Delhi!
It runs very fast
And sir... Ok forget about these things, lets move on ahead"
The Roshanara landscape offers quite a transparent view of the many layers of history whose witness it is. An observant person would notice the falling-water building of the 100-year-old Baraf khana (ice factory). Or the row of houses sliced in half, living rooms and kitchens with cupboards eviscerated, visible from the elevated platform of the metro station. Or the faded and locked cinema building, the mechanic shops going slow, the black oil that stains everything deeply, the innermost parts of engines lying everywhere, things in their nth cycle of repair.
Outside the metro station, the rickshaw driver asks if you have an hour to spare, and if yes, adorns your head with headphones and places in your hands an mp3 player. He points to the metro, to the new speed that brought you here, and the synchronicity of the moment. "You have come here by the new metro. Not so long ago, there would have been a horse cart to take you home from here. Now it is me." He takes you onto the main road.
Vijay's voice begins the audio guide: "They say that rickshaws are non-polluting. But if you see, in NCR alone there are about 9 lakh young men who pull rickshaws. You see them in the street all day long, but you cannot say where they disappear at night. In just this area around Roshanara road, there are some twenty thousand of us from just one district, Gonda, in UP. If I include feri-walle and push-cart-wallahs, then I wont be able to give you a count."
See this is our metro, the pride of Delhi.
You must have arrived in it.
Have heard about it, but have never traveled on one, or seen one.
If you had come some days ago, you would have had to travel on horse cars.
But in todays time we are the horse-carriage.
It is only the rickshaw-wallah who can take you in any lane.
Pul Bangash Metro Station
OK. let's go now. Turn it on.
Put them in your ears.
OK, OK, sorry!
OK, the sound can be heard
Should I increase the volume?
Yes, increase it. Increase a little bit on my side also.
Is there any sound coming?
Pul Bangash Metro Station
(song begins)
People say that rickshaw-wallahs do not create pollution.
But if we go to see, there are more than nine hundred thousand young men who pull the rickshaws in Delhi.
In the day you see them pulling the rickshaws on the road, but nobody knows in which lane the rickshaw-wallahs disappear in night.
Take Roshanara road and it's surrounding areas, there are more than twenty thousand men from one district, Gonda town, who pull the rickshaws.
And if I include the men who pull hand carts and hawking carts, then, brother, I've lost count.
Pul Bangash Metro Station
The rickshaw has taken a sudden left turn off Roshanara Road. The metro PA bleeds into your ears, "Do not befriend any unknown person… Do not touch suspicious objects…" You've reached the end of small residential lane, where the metro wall cuts past houses, partially demolished. Wheels begin to turn, and turning around you see a cotton threading factory, behind what looks like the door to a house. "Most industries were moved from here due to pollution judgements, CNG conversion, sealing drive, or the metro. Only small ones in people's homes survive." Compensation, papers, hybrid cotton, Gandhi, farmers, seeds, farmer suicides...the conversation meanders. Each rickshaw puller has his own story; many of them come from agricultural backgrounds. The endpoint of industrial processing resonates differently with them all.
(announcements)
Please inform the nearest metro official about any suspicious person.
Walking on metro tracks or defacing metro property is a punishable offense.
Sir, turn off the song....
Look at this carefully.
The wall that you are seeing sir is itself saying that 'I am new'.
The reason for building this new wall, sir, is the metro.
When the metro was passing from here, there was less space for her to pass.
So see sir what she did to create a path for herself. See it, its in front of you.
Sir, this houses have been demolished!
When the metro didn't get her way she didn't look out for anything, and like an elephant who keeps on walking, whether an ant dies beneath its legs or a cheetah, she doesn't see anything, sir. In the same way, the metro went passing by.
1. Pul Bangash metro station.
(audio track - intro by Vijay Kumar Misra, metro security announcements and outro)
2. Back lane to view buildings still standing but cut in half by the metro project, opposite to a threading factory inside a house. Most small scale factories were closed down in the MCD sealing drive of 2006. Few survive inside residential premises, like this cotton threadingfactory.
People who had the documents for their houses got compensation, and those who didn't, don't know where the hell they have gone.
Then there were some huts up ahead, wherein people used to live.
Ahead. Yes, up ahead. Even those huts were demolished.
Some people even died over there, rest of them left.
After this, let me show you the threading...
See it for yourself, earlier it was ran by pedal, now its motorized. It hasn't been motorized recently, but has been like that for quite a while now.
Most of the factories have been shut down or have relocated to bypass, only the factories that are in houses remain.
Earlier it was the spinning wheel, now it has a motor.
Oh the Gandhiji one?
Yes, Gandhiji one!
Pul Bangash Metro Station
In Maharashtra there is a village called Vidharbha. It was cultivated on a large scale in its rich black soil.
But the sad thing is that now the yield is really low.
Why is it low, sir?
This is why...there is a new variety of seed coming...called 'hybrid'.
The farmers must be very upset with this new kind of seed
Yes, they are very stressed. The farmer will always be tense cause he's left with nothing.
He sowed the wheat seeds...then he got eight quintals of wheat. The next time when he goes to buy the seeds, the shopkeepers say that a very good kind of seed has come this time, if you sow these, you will reap ten quintals.
So one will think that the last time he got eight quintals, this time he will get ten quintals.
Uncle will you let us know which kind of threads are made and how are they made? Is there any special kind of thread made here?
-No. These threads are made for household purposes.
And where is the thread sent to?
-The thread is further sent for processing
Thank you.
Should I switch it on, now?
-Yes.
Roshanara Road
(song)
In which direction are you taking me, O guide
Wait, halt, this charming path
For a while let me look, let me look
In which direction are you taking me, O guide
In which direction
For the first time I have left my house, with a stranger
Getting familiar with the stranger, will emit fragrance from your body
Friend, sweetheart or stupid, call me whatever o beautiful
If we halt anywhere, the day will pass by
Let me drive the cart.
As you leave, the song on the audio is "Kaun disha mein leke chala re batuhiya", in which direction are taking me, dear guide? Don't close your eyes, pretty one, the day will go by, let me pull the cart. But this is the first time I'm traveling with a stranger. Then get to know me, take me for a companion, a lover or a fool…
The scenery shifts rather dramatically, workshops give way to colonial buildings, the road is unpaved, the rickshaw jostles up a uneven dirt road. You pass Roshanara Mansions, built in the 1890s, a weather cock, stone warehouses and sheds. Once the British left, their accountants, who hailed from Gujarat and Rajasthan moved into the property, rented out some quarters to incoming Punjabis. You enter a high metal gate at the end of the lane, into a big courtyard with a gloomy building. Beyond the boundary wall is the metro, and beyond that the Sabzi Mandi railway crossing. Children are playing, a ball hits a stool acting as a makeshift wicket. Cricket is played seriously all around here, in the shadow of the Roshanara Cricket Club.
But what else is happening here, now? Strangely miniature cars, covered in silver-grey tarpaulin, offer a clue. "They used to say this was a haunted house", the rickshawallah explains, "but recently a few brothers from Bikaner have got to work. They live and work upstairs and have made it habitable
again. "
You are led up creaking wooden stairs in darkness. On the second floor, blinded by tube lights and reflective material, your senses adjust to the sight. The entire place is swathed in silver-grey tarpaulin, electric sewing machines on each end whir away. Fifteen workers, all from one village in Rajasthan, labour through the day, making about four hundred car covers daily.
This is the 'tirpaal factory' a three-year old business doing rather well on the margins of the fading "motor works" industries in the area. But there is a lot more to see, and talk about! The rickshawallah pulls you downstairs, out of the compound and its trough of urban history.
Repairing is done over here.
This road from where we came in, is called Roshanara road.
Pul Bangash Metro Station
After our independence, it remained like this for thirty, thirty-five years. But some of our brothers from Bikaner came and inhabited it and made this place accessible once again.
Otherwise, people used to call it a haunted house.
Thats how it was. Come!
During the British period there was a huge warehouse for tents over here and when the Britishers left for a while this space was used for producing gunny bags.
Gunny bags that are used to pack food grains like wheat or anything else which are transported from villages in trucks.
Gunny bags are also called 'bora' in Hindi. So it was used for production of gunny bags. It went on for a few days after which when there was no business.
The people left and this place remained shut for many days.
This way sir....
This place belonged to the Britishers and they used to stay here and used to their book-keeping and accounts for trade in here. And when they left, outsiders came here and claimed this place and started staying and after that there came this tarpaulin factory.
OK. And a tarpaulin factory was established over here. And then they stitch the tarpaulin such as the ones in front of you in shapes of cars which are used as car covers.
-Oh
tarpal is...
tarpaulin!
So, on the other side of the wall people used to stay, and also there were factories.
But with the construction of metro everything has gone!
Yes, everything has gone, even the people.
So some who stayed back took the compensation and the others went away just like that.
It's not like they just went away one day. When I have come here alone just a local individual. then automatically I live in fear of you. By chance if you come and break my rickshaw, the least I could do is ask you for help and if you don't, what could I do, you tell me?
Yes or no? The hundred-two hundred rupees that I have to put back on that or give to the police... its better I take my rickshaw and leave. Let's move.
Do you want to look inside?
-Yes, if we could see it.
This way.
The haunted house!
I will show you this thing which tells us about the weather. You will enjoy this. See there.
-Oh! Weather-vane, I told you!
There's even a vulture is sitting on top of it!
Even I am seeing this for the first time in my life.
You are seeing it for the first time.
-So does this work, when the wind blows?
In my opinion all old things are not futile even today, they can be of use. Like in the project, there is a clock-tower. If that can work in spite of being such an old machine, I think even this can show the direction of the wind.
This was built during the British period. There is no concrete in this, it's made of wood, totally.
-What if there's a fire?
It'll burn down.
How many covers do you'll make in a day?
-Four hundred
And how many people are there in total?
-Fifteen people.
Are there covers for all kinds of cars?- Yes, all kinds
Even for bikes?- Yes.
We make them for every kind of cars, except for airplanes and trains!
And except for the cycle-rickshaws!
No, no we will even make it for cycle-rickshaws....
Have you'll ever made one?
Never made one, but will make it!
Come on sir, there is a lot of things that needs to be shown.
A lot of things are still remaining.
So isn't there a workshop for these?
For what?
For these headphones? Everything is manufactured here, even headphones could have been manufactured here...
I happen to be riding the horse, but the horse isn't mine!
That sure shows!
You don't see a tiled roof building in Delhi for a long time.
It's very rare, this form.
This is now in Kerela and...
It's a Bombay kind of building....Right now you could be in Bombay.
It's very tropical.
An unscheduled stop at Hyde woods. An old carpentry factory. We are told Rashtrapati Bhavan's furniture was manufactured here!
Yes sir, where is Ravi?
Ravi.... He might be looking at the wood.
On the way back to the main road, you pause at the many mechanics still at work; lathe workshops, engine boring shops, motor parts reconditioning units. The 1.3 km long Roshanara Road used to be Asia's largest Transport Nagar, says a young man who has inherited the legal battle from older men, mostly Punjabi and Sikh owners, who formed the Roshanara Road Re-conditioners Association. Fighting "sealing", filing public interest litigations, procuring stay orders, he sees the end of the loop. "I just visited the Habitat centre and saw this exhibition called Delhi Vision 2020. We don't exist in it! Roshanara Road's future is as a luxury residential area! Somehow we survived sealing and all that, and we hope to keep fighting but were not able to cope with recession and the competition amongst us… even the unskilled labour who we train, leave us to become our competitors."
For some the tour deepens here; the rickshaw story and the one of the motor come close enough to touch. The journey timed at 60 minutes can take half a day, people drift into long conversations, traversing different threads of the urban "modern", in the heart of Delhi.
Roshanara Road
With a single truck, ten-odd engines would arrive and sir, within an hour they would be repaired and sent back. This was because there were thousands of workers over here who used to repair them in an hour. But it isn't like this anymore. Neither are there those thousand workers, nor is there that type of work. Why is it so? Because the government says that, you'll bring the trucks here, create smoke and spread pollution, you'll are not needed here, stay out of the city. The second reason sir: 'No Entry'. And, sir the third reason is that the big companies who are manufacturing cars, say their work cannot be done in these garages. They say that you are taking the car from us, so you have to come only to us for its servicing. So, sir because of these reasons, the work of these people have come to a stand still. Little-little work is happening. Nobody wants to leave their house. In the same way they are striving to work, trying to make ends meet, but their work has taken a beating. It's in front of you, you can speak to them.
Bye, bye
Now, when the sealing and all happened, work got reduced.
Earlier according to our will, we used to work till eleven or twelve in the night.
Earlier we never used to leave before eleven.
-And now?
Now we shut the shop by seven.
And there used to be a lot of work to be done, a lot...
That's why I am here actually. Roshanara Road Re-conditioners Association. It includes spare parts shop, engine boring shops, head boring shops, lathe workshops and reconditioning part shops. It was Asia's largest transport center. It took people one and a half to two hours to cross this 1.3 km of stretch... on an average. There used to be so many trucks, there was no power steering, they were all manually driven, which took time and thus there were traffic-jams. And now it is such that whether you are on a bike or a rickshaw, you wouldn't need to use the brakes on this entire road. Officially it's a 'No Entry' zone for 24-hours. For trucks. Officially it's a 'No Entry' zone for 24-hours on Roshanara Road. Hence transport cannot survive. We are fighting the case for the workshops on the basis that the workshops are not are not dependent on the physical presence of trucks. We are dependent on mechanics who dismantle and bring us the parts like heads and stuff. There are even other motor parts and generator parts and not only truck parts. We are fighting the case on the basis that we do not have a direct involvement with the trucks. In one of the cases of Hemrani-Mehra case, we have got some success. We have organized a committee and filed an affidavit stating that we would not encroach or park our vehicles on the way and what not. We acquired a stay order on that basis and hence are surviving. We are fighting another case against MCD, because they had issued some show-cause notices against us which said that it is the High Court's order that there should should be no encroachment,the traffic movements should be smooth, and a policy was implemented to close down all the shops that were related with trucks. So I told them to even close down the hosiery shops as the truck driver goes to buy clothes from them. On his truck. Somehow we have survived sealing and I hope we will survive again. But we are not able to understand the recession and competition amongst us.
-So how are you'll united together?
Just because of the cases, we are all together.
What is this 'Motornama'?
-Do you know what's a '
Vasiyatnama'?
Yes.
-In the same manner this is called 'Motornama'. In a will, a person gives away his property and in 'Motornama' we make people aware of the history related to motors. You can also come with us, we will show you around and inform you.
It is named 'Motornama', but you are taking people in the rickshaws?
-If we don't take you in rickshaws, how will we take you from one place to another,
And if we don't take you, how will we inform you.
Which television will this interview appear on?
This interview will definitely appear on Zee television.
When?
Sir, I don't have the confirmation regarding that. But it will definitely appear. Yes, it will definitely appear. Thank you. Thank you too.
Other stops en route include Palace Cinema on Roshanara Road, said to be Asia's largest seater when it was built in the 1940s, the first cinema to get a license under the Union of India in 1948, now derelict and locked up for the past ten years in a familial property dispute. Here, propped up on the trunk of a Banyan tree under which sits a paanwala and a mochi (cobbler), both witnesses to the glory days of Palace, is a video showing the loading and working of a carbon arc projector. Its motor runs at a precise speed to allow 25 frames of film to pass per second, giving us the illusion of cinema. And showing the people working the motor, loading and unloading film reels, running with them sometimes to the next cinema where the film would be showing, with a two-reel delay.
Palace Cinema
View Palace cinema from the gate, watch a video of projection motor under the banyan tree with commentary by the cigarette stand, mochi and watchman. Palace cinema was Asia's largest seater (800) when it was build in the 40s. It was also the first to get a license under the new Republic of India in 1948. It has been lying closed for eight years due to family dispute.
This was the first cinema to get the license after independence.
There were four brothers, they had a quarrel, don't know what had happened, but that is why this place has closed down.
How many years has it been shut?
It has been ten years.
Seventeenth reel.
Have you seen this kind of cinema in Gonda?
No. Not at all.
When do they go to Gonda?
Now that I am in Delhi, I watch it in Delhi.
Now they are Delhiites. May as well forget about Gonda.
At times when a same movie was shown in two cinema halls, half reel used to be at one hall, the other half used to be in other. Hence the cinema hall would delay the movie by half an hour. So the reel would come from there and play here and go back and forth. It used to work like that.
We head next to Siddharth Dhaba, where a longer video shows the interior of the Delhi Flour Mills next door. A tower-like grain silo and a four storey high brick building is processing wheat into rawa, suji, atta… many kinds of flour, since 1920. Many of the five hundred loaders and laborers living and working in its godaams are migrants, like the rickshaw wallahs.
I want to hear the song.
You want to hear it, so here you go.
Let's leave brother. Ride the rickshaw slowly.
(song)
The world doesn't understand such a small thing
If one perseveres(keeps on walking), he will find every treasure
Friends, let us always keep going along like this together
The fist is mightier than the (open) palm...
Rikshawalla: Never show anyone the way, unless they asked, or else something unimaginable would happen. Take a turn ahead.
(song continues)
As we come across difficulties, we overcome them along the way
Even if the mountains stand, together, we can break them.
For the one who understands this, the path is a blast (2)
Delhi Flour Mill
Stop at the Factory gate of the Delhi Flour Mill, which is fully functioning. It is the only mill left in this area, as is it supposedly non-polluting.
But the government has removed many of the factories from here because of the pollution. But this mill does not contribute to pollution, hence the government has not removed it. Had it been removed, the common man would have had to bear burden of it.
Why are we stopping here?
-To tell you about the flour mill.
Sir, we cannot take you inside the mill, but we will inform you through this video. This way.
After that I will tell you what all happens and how.
First,the wheat comes from the villages in trucks. Then after it is taken to the mill. Even now 350 to 400 people work in this mill.
That's not...That's not real.
-Sorry?
That's been done on the editing.
-What?
The mill shaking.
-No, no, they are actually shaking.
As much as this?
-Yes, yes.
These are sorting machines.
They are carrying gunny bags.
It's being loaded, the wheat.
Should I switch it off?
Hi
-Hello
How are you feeling about this tour?
-We never knew that such things existed in Delhi.
As in...? Such tours?
-No, we never knew such places existed in Delhi. All we would see was just traffic. It's a very good effort but was publicized less. Very few people are aware of this.
Yes! That's just what we are doing so that people are aware of it.
Back on the road, "
Babu, samjho ishaare …" understand the signs, fame and respect if you keep on moving... the famous Kumar brothers song leads you into a lane just off Roshanara Road.
But only if you have gained the confidence of your host and guide by now, will he lead you off the route, into the Beej (seed) Market. There in a small lane, he offers you tea at their
adda, Gurudev's chai stall. If he has taken a liking to you, he will buy you mathi or samosa, and tell you that he actually lives here, or closeby. In the many 'duplicate' lanes of the Indira Beej Market, he may show you small wooden trunks stowed outside the shutter of each shop. They are for storing utensils, provisions, clothes. "Thousands of us live like this, on the pavements of the seed market when it closes." At night, the air is full of cooking and familiar tongues, men huddled close in the summer or winter.
Indra (seed) Market
(song...)
What thing is wealth? Its about moving on.
What thing is dignity? Its about moving on.
Drive oddly-crookedly, have fun
Drive oddly, have fun
Drive crookedly, have fun
Aside
Sir, understand the signals
Horn calls, pom-pom-pom
Here, anything moving is called a car, o dear
Pom-pom-pom
Head into Indra Beej (seed) Market. (audio track: Babu Samjho ishare from film Chalti ka naam gaad). This stop was optional, and depended how much engagement the rickshawala had with his travellers. This is where a lot of rickshaw drivers live, their trunks hidden under the platform of the seed shops.
OR
they were taken into the opposite lane for a quick break at their hang-out: Gurudevs Chai stall, where there is time to talk more over tea and snacks.
Grand Trunk Road
Sir, I will make you taste the
mathi from here. You will praise it yourself. But just give me two minutes to return.
Yes, By then the tea will be ready.....
Yes sir.
It's very touching, it's very intimate. Because he is telling his story. And through his story we are getting into the whole space. And like the local metaphors which they use in their daily lives... So it's not something constructed from outside, but like coming from inside. It's very nice.
See, when we come here to visit, for these people also it's like a unusual experience. That they think, I mean who are these people who have come out of the blue and suddenly roaming around in these rickshaws. Rickshaw-wallahs taking them around. So for them I think this is also a very unique kind of experience. So I think in that case, perhaps we become the exhibits.
This is not sown in the fields. There are many shops who sell it, it is sold in bulk. It is also supplied in small shops around here.
In present times hybrid seeds are sold over here
Was this where the wholesale vegetable mart used to be?
No, no, it's not this.
We have come here to show you a 'sample' of such a lane. Indira market is much bigger than this. But here is a minimum. Every thing has a copy 2 and copy 3, meaning each lane is a like a copy of this lane. All the lanes are alike.
Means all the lane are duplicates of one another?
Have a look at this one lane itself. Here you can see a sample unit of a wooden trunk. So here, there are vast number of people, who belong to Gonda town near Lucknow, meaning a minimum of twenty thousand.
From Gonda?
Yes, they work as hawkers and pull the rickshaws. So when they are done with their work, they have their meal and then store all their vessels and stoves in these trunks and then lock it and go.`
Oh so these are similar trunks.
These are their houses
So everybody here hails from Gonda?
Yes, all.
Hey, where do you come from?
-Gonda.
Everybody is from Gonda. In every seed shop in Indira market, you will find a person from Gonda.
Has it always been like this? That your trunks are kept here and...
-No, no it's not that simple. These seed shops you see here... if a person is lucky enough to get a job in one of the shops, he will try and get his other four brothers to the same shop.
OK.
-That is their status.
Do the shopkeepers charge you any rent?
-No, it's quite straight forward, they may ask us for help, but they don't take rent. But there is one thing. The sweeper over here, Oh boy! He will somehow extract his rent. He needs it and will definitely take it. He will come early in the morning, would not even think whether the person has any money or that his pocket has been picked... 'Look brother, its tea time, call for a tea for me quickly'. If he is not complying, he will run and loosen the valve of his tyres. 'I will remove the air or else... So when as it is you would have to pay two to four rupees for filling the air in the tires, why not give him a cup of tea!
Back on the road,
"Babu, samjho ishaare …" understand the signs, fame and respect if you keep on moving... the famous Kumar brothers song leads you into a lane just off Roshanara Road.
But only if you have gained the confidence of your host and guide by now, will he lead you off the route, into the Beej (seed) Market. There in a small lane, he offers you tea at their adda, Gurudev's chai stall. If he has taken a liking to you, he will buy you mathi or samosa, and tell you that he actually lives here, or closeby. In the many 'duplicate' lanes of the Indira Beej Market, he may show you small wooden trunks stowed outside the shutter of each shop. They are for storing utensils, provisions, clothes. "Thousands of us live like this, on the pavements of the seed market when it closes." At night, the air is full of cooking and familiar tongues, men huddled close in the summer or winter.
We didn't get permission to go inside, but we will show you the inside of it on this recording. When I had gone in for the first time, I documented everything inside- There is a sound that it makes. A rope is tied over it and the ice that is ready is pulled out and quickly transferred. The customer waits outside. This gunny bag..has been earned by the ..(?).
This is the ice tray.
The ice is beneath the wooden planks over here. The ice factory is very old and huge as well.
-Yes.
It is very huge.
To the Baraf Khana (ice factory) -established in 1907 down Grand Trunk road.
Baraf Khana
We are now lead into the chaos of the old Grand Trunk road (that runs from Chittagong to Peshawar), before you reach the ice factory at the corner. An older rickshaw driver recalls the 1984 riots, his goods carrier cycle carting bodies of massacred Sikh neighbours, ferrying slabs of ice from the baraf khana to morgues and homes. For you, he pulls out a small video player from his pocket and shows you the interiors of the factory, shot recently. Outside, police as well as civilians dressed in neon jackets labelled 'Civil Defense' shunt a row of rickshaws, part of our spectacular trail of musafirs and guides, ordering them to clear the road. As we set off again, the audio plays a long, extemporaneous monologue by the young and spirited Lalji. "How can I come to you, even if I want to, before the clock strikes 11? Remember the bells of 11, for till then there is a no entry for rickshaws." His 'confession' moves on, to the perils of a night on the street at the mercy of some young men of Malka Ganj, who command them off to the ridge only to mug them at knife point. "That little piece of metal has so much strength… and look at me here, dragging around this massive beast of iron…"
"They married me off and said, boy stand on your feet. Now my wife sits pretty in the village, she tells me over the phone that she bought a 5kg razai (blanket), I say good... if you are happy, I'm happy. She will never know if my pants are torn at the crotch, and much less that I sleep in the open, wrapped in a single sheet."
The denseness of GT road engulfs again; you are traveling through scales of life so awning, so perilous and yet present, able… If you were burdened with even a fraction of this load you would collapse, some feel. On headphones, Prahlad Singh Tipania's rendition of a Kabir saakhi envelops us with: "an effigy made of five elements, given the name, man. In one split second, the body could disintegrate, all that was there is gone… The gardener will seed a 100 pots, but only in season will they spring".
Sir, carefully look at this. This is the factory, ice factory. We will inform you more on this. Have a look at it. Sir, we will inform you more on this, come this way.
Rahman save water, without water everything is extinct.
Without water nothing will form, neither pearl nor human or dough. Slowly and steadily water is depleting, money is being made from (selling) water.
-You are right.
Prior to this ice wasn't made in India?
-It was started by Babur
How many years has it been?
-Hundred years. The ice factory is hundred years old.
Hundred years
-Yes, the ice factory is hundred years old.
Haven't they changed it. Didn't they build anything else in its place, something new and big. Didn't think of that?
SA: You went in?
SS: My dream. ...I mean, I had always thought of this kind of very dimly lit place. And the smell of ammonia was not... I didn't know that- that they use so much ammonia. The ice slabs under the floor, good place for murder mystery.
SA: Oh, but this is 'Murder Chowk'.
SS: Because there is a lot credits in the seed market that goes wrong.
The ice factory chowk, sister, is very dangerous.
It's very dangerous, even the clock tower is dangerous.
That is why we've stopped a bit ahead
Everyone here walks with a knife.
It is a lot crowded, that is why we've parked a bit ahead.
Even if I want to, how am I supposed to come till the hour hand reaches eleven. I have to remember the hour hand at eleven. There is a no-entry till eleven o'clock, from eight to eleven o'clock. No-entry will be imposed at eight in the morning, and till eleven you'll wait for it to be eleven. At 11 o'clock, when the whole world is washed cleaned and fresh, you go out on your rickshaw to earn forty-fifty. Just when you've earned about forty-fifty rupees -its three, again a no-entry is imposed - three to six!!!. Now you would think - why from three to six? After six people return home, take a walk, cook, eat. So, if you want to earn what is left with the owner, then you have got to book. So you get shoved around from six to twelve, by which time there the no-entry has been lifted, for trucks, after nine. If one is stuck in there, can return only after two or three o'clock, regardless of whether he is hungry, thirsty or in whatever state he is in. Everyday I shell out fifty rupees and say,"Brother here take this and prepare a meal, I'll be back soon after earning some forty-fifty rupees in an hours time. Only to realize that I am stuck in no-entry and was unable to pay him. So I've to sleep hungry all night. Had food, yet there is no peace. Had my meal, washed up and you came - "Will you go to the clock tower?". "Yes sir, will go".
Why do I need so much money? Because I know that if you leave I will have lost the chance tp earn ten rupees. Sir please come, its better that the food be better digested and at least I'll have ten in my kitty rupees. At least it'll take care of the next meal.
Yes, you are right.
Or else go to 'malkaganj' with all the earnings. Two drunkards would come by - "you are willing to go or not?". Letting them sit is criminal and if not then they will rave and rant -'do not be seen on the road again'. And if you let them sit then what will they ask you - 'go to the hills there is some work there'. Near the hills - what are they doing, they would remove a knife and - "Hey Rickshaw puller do you want to die or give want you have earned." So I made fifty- hundred odd rounds to earn a hundred and fifty rupees, you showed me a big piece of iron and took it away. That big piece of iron has so much power, even though I am traveling with such a big piece of iron. You're the spectators, you're are making me drink. And if I fall while intoxicated, then I'm gone. The policeman will come and say 'Hey, you drunk? Are you drunk? Come on. Stand up. Where do you stay? What will the poor guy say when he's so drunk. Come on. Get in. Go and wipe the floor there.
Everybody says,I'll ask my father. When I have no father, whom can I ask? I have no support. I am the director of my own film, I am the lawyer, the judge and the accused. I am everything. Because I was married off and told to stand on my feet. Why am I pulling the rickshaw? I have brought someone's sister or daughter, she should eat in peace. She should live with dignity even if my pajama is torn in the crotch area. She should live properly. With lipstick on her lips, she should always be glowing. Yes, phalanva is earning in Delhi, that is why his wife always maintains herself well. She doesn't see, where I sleep in an only mattress.
She has got a fat mattress made for five hundred rupees, she said on the phone. I said it's up to her to decide, I have a nice long blanket for myself.
She got herself an anklet worth one thousand rupees. I said to her that if she is happy, I am happy too.
There are many things in this poor man's heart, if you see. And if everything was readily available, neither you would've met me, nor I would've met you.
Up Grand Trunk Road past Robin Cinema and old Sabzi Mandi (audio track- Lalji aur Lali, monologue by Lalji followed by + zara halke gaadi haako a Kabir bhajan sung by Prahlad Singh Tipania in Malwa folk style)
'...In a split second it can disintegrate, all that was there is gone,' says Kabir. Then cycle rickshaws are like human beings too, effigies of many elements, built with love, impounded and sold as scrap.
(song)
The effigy of five elements, you gave it a name 'man'
In a split second it can disintegrate, all that was there is gone
Slowly, says the heart, everything happens slowly...
As the gardener, who sows a hundred pots,
which blossom only when the season comes
Hold the reins gently, my dear driver Ram...
Be slow and gradual with your pace, dear driver Ram...
My colourful cart, it has wheels the colour red
The one sitting on the front seat is a playful young girl, but the one at the back, is God.Hold the reins gently, my dear driver Ram...
Be slow and gradual with your pace, dear driver Ram...
The lady cried pitifully, for the departed lover...
So says Kabir that the one who brings the two together is the one who separates them.
Drive gently (calmly), my dear driver Ram...
My dear driver Ram...
playrick
Ghanta Ghar (clock tower)
What you are seeing in front of you...
-Yes...
This is, Sir, the clock tower. There used to be a bell. Sir, a bell used to ring in this tower. So, when the bell used to ring, everybody used to get into the mill, after which the gates used to shut. Everybody would start their respective work. When the bell rang the second time, it would be their lunch break. This is the clock tower which was made in 1941 and was named Ramroop tower.
A pause is taken in front of the Ghanta Ghar, the clock tower on GT road, the motor of time. Factory days are remembered, when the clock would strike and workers would enter and leave the large mills that dominated the landscape, when truckers would come to the Sabzi Mandi with wholesale vegetables or stay the night on Roshanara Road while the lorries were repaired. Your last stop is a letter press in use since 1893, brought to Delhi a year after Partition, in parts and by friends, via road from Lahore. In silence now, we hear the sound of roller, ink, plates and pages meeting, driven by a turning wheel. Man has been given many special things, articulate limbs, a tongue, speech. We could add to this, the printing press and the motor, new limbs that would replace the old. But things don't quite follow such linear logics of technology or development, even as time thunders on. Hirawal, a Patna-based youth group sings the exuberant and cathartic "Samay ka pahiya chale re saathi" (The wheels of time go on my friend…), which drives you to the gate of Roshanara Bagh, where your host, eyes, motor and guide, bids you farewell, but not without a few parting words.
"It is difficult to sum up, to each according to his nazakat and ideology, but the problem as you see is how to fit ecology, city and human. What do you think? Where do we fit?"
You enter the Bagh to see the public artworks installed for 48 degrees C.
Earlier there was Birla mill over here. When work used to happen here, there was no clock. So, the clock tower was constructed to help the workers work according to time. Thus the clock tower became famous over here. The factory for which the clock tower was made is now closed.
There was Jaipuria mill, the clock tower and the Birla mill over here. Both closed down.
SA: In '96 or 200?0
-Madam in 1993 - Birla mill.
There is an objection if the rickshaws halt here even for two seconds. There are a lot of restrictions to rickshaws, here.
Due to the pollution, all the factories were sealed. After that, just see, how many shops have come up.
Roshanara Road
TV_protest songs
(song)
With the speed of steel horses
Fire melts into ice, my friend
The wheel of time is moving, my friend
The wheel of time is moving
The earth shakes, the sun shakes
So do the moon and the stars
The hillock shakes, the fort of repression shakes
So do all who exploit
Streams break out, mountain to mountain
Iron melts like wax, my friend
The wheel of time is moving, my friend
The wheel of time is moving
Day and night, moments
Keep moving forward
With old ways and new beginnings
Everything takes shape
Amidst the storm, blooms
The seed of immortal life, my friend
The wheel of time is moving, my friend
The wheel of time is moving
Sri Laxmi Printing Press, a motorised and fully functional letterpress from 1893, brought from Lahore in 1947.
But now there is no cold, you can wear only a shirt if you like.
Now a motor has been installed. Printing is done by rotating this. As of now no one is there, or else could have shown you how it works. Today is Sunday, a holiday. The person who prints has gone to roam around.
Earlier it was powered by (worker's) legs.
It was used in Pakistan since 1890.
Usually they work with a piece of thread, then block, then goes into the press and then you print. Letter press and threader. These are the two machines which are common. So the ink goes on top of it and then it prints.
For correction you have to remove that.
What is that used for? The circular one.
-Dye is used on that. That is dye.
Impression is so soft. Even in such big moving press, the impression is made so carefully, that no one cannot think that it's the machine working.
See there is a display. It came in 1948 from Lahore to India. And this beautiful motor is making it work and even prints as you can see it. So, Madam, with this we end our 'Motornama'.
Roshanara Garden
Roshanara Motornama tour guides:
Rajesh, Raju, Lalji, Ajay kumar, Dinesh, Saddam, Ranjit, Rakesh, Tirloki, Durga Prasad, Nankhe, Panna Lal, Ramesh, Ram Bahadur. Vijay Kumar Misra. Akhilesh, Ram Surat, Ram Sajiwan, Ram Sajan, Raj Kumar, Suresh Kumar, Anil Kumar, Dharam Raj, Nihroo.
Theatre workshops: M. Azam Quadri with assistance by Ankur Taneja.
Production: Kuldeep Singh Chauhan
Motornama logo design: Studio Chalk
Legal research: Mehak Sethi
Special thanks to Mahmood Farooqui, Vijay Kumar Misra, Akhilesh and Laljee.
Thanks also to: Hirawal, Manisha Shetty, Kajal Bharadwaj.
From 48 degrees C thanks to: Pooja Sood, Gayatri Uppal, Manoj VP and Manjari. Gada and Siddharth.
In Roshanara: Harjeet Singh, Amit Mehta at Next Generation Graphics, Sunil Anand at Sri Laxmi letter press, NK Sawhney at Delhi Flour mill, Siddharth Dhaba, Guards at Palace cinema, Crown Motors, Gurudev's tea stall.
Roshanara Motornama was part of 48 degrees C - held in New Delhi, December 12 to 21 2008. Curated by Pooja Sood. Organised by the Goethe Institut, Delhi.
A project by Shaina Anand and Ashok Sukumaran
Edited by Shaina Anand and Radhamohini Prasad
(song)
When the man stood up in the jungle without fear
He harnessed speed in his fist and started moving the wheels
With hard working hands, the road to freedom is paved.
The wheel of time is moving, my friend
The wheel of time is moving.
(credits)
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