Motornama: Tours - 01
Director: Shaina Anand, Ashok Sukumaran
Duration: 01:01:15; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 8.596; Saturation: 0.020; Lightness: 0.297; Volume: 0.336; Cuts per Minute: 21.679; Words per Minute: 30.266
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 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).
See also
Motornama Roshanara
New Delhi
Guide: Plug it in your ears.
Red: Okay, okay.
Guide: Who are you?
Red: Sorry?
Guide: Should I increase the volume?
Red: Yes, please do.
Ashok: Did you exchange it with anyone? Who's is this?
Guide: You didn't instruct me.
Ashok: Yes, do anything you feel like.
Guide: Here, take this.
Ashok: This is loose here, now.
Ashok: Give another one now.
Guide: Give another one here.
Ashok: You keep removing this, here..
Ashok: This is the last one... now did it stop? When he says play, then play.
Guide: Madam, now you have come from the Metro.. we will transport you quickly now.. if you would have come here a few years back, then you would have found horsecarts here. Now there are rickshaws..
Red: But even you were here 3-4 years back right?
Guide: I am driving the 'Ram Rathi'.. this is our jeep.
Guide: There is a new type of seed called BT cotton. Because of that the production has slowed down.
Red: Its slowed down?
Guide: Yes. Once you sow it, you cannot sow it again.
(Inaudible)
Red: So, does anyone stay here?
Guide: Yes.
Shaina: You can see the cooking shelf also.
Shaina: Basically, these industries which are left, they are all cottage industries.
Red: So these people who run the factories stay nearby or in the factory itself?
Guide: The ones who own them stay there.
Shaina: No you have to be behind because we are shooting.
Red: Was it always a transport area?
Guide: Yes.. they used to come and park the cars here. Now big companies have come up..
Red: So weren't there factories here, long back?
Guide: This is a transport area..
Red: So are there more shops like these?
Guide: Yes there are.. they make excellent motors here..
Shaina: Tarpoline.
Guide: Yes.. in this whole area and especially here..
Red: Had you ever come here?
Guide: Yes even I had come. No not like that.. we don't try to be heroic everywhere.. there used to be Britishers over here.. there used to be documentation going on here.. the workers used to stay there behind..
Red: Where is the factory of this place where the work used to go on?
Guide: Its in this place only. And right behind is the parking of your Metro.. there used to be people staying here..
Shaina: There were factories here.. 25-30 of them.. they were demolished during the Metro..
Red: So on this side of the wall there were factories and even people used to stay here.. all of that went with the Metro..
Guide: People did as they wished..
Red: Had the government given benefits?
Guide: As you saw in the previous factory, some people died there.. 3-4 of them.. but nothing happened.. if the people are only not there..
Red: So some people took their benefits and others just went off right?
Guide: Yes.. some just went away.. I have come here as a local person.. so I will automatically stay here.. if you come and demolish my rickshaw by any chance, then I will ask others for help.. but if nothing happens then what can I do? Let's go.. see up there..
Red: We are seeing this for the first time! Does it work even now?
Guide: No according to me.. all these are old artifacts.. they were of use back then.. the clock tower in the project is functioning.. so according to me even this must be working..
Shaina: If you would have installed a motor in it then it would work.
Red: No you don't need a motor.. it will work by wind power right?
Shaina: Yes.
Red: Actually we should have seen it yesterday as the wind was blowing very hard.
Guide: Wood is used here instead of bricks...
Shaina: Be careful Kajal, all the steps are broken.
Shaina: The kids here said this was a haunted mansion. And now these people are here since 3-4 years..
Shaina: Photo.. I will give them..
Yellow: This building must be very old right? British times.. no..
Shaina: Its since the British times but since 1895..
Yellow: Yeah I would say like early 1900..
Shaina: Because the ice factory here is since 1907... and the flour mill is since 1920.. these stone buildings are older than those also..
Yellow: Look at how its done..
Shaina: There is a small kitchen also.
Shaina: How's it going?
Shaina: Many people came today right?
Shaina: All the 15 people have come from one village itself.
Ashok: Now no listening to songs..
Shaina: Cover I think has been derived from the word 'Kabar'.
Ashok: Because when we were making car covers we joked saying we are making a coffin of a car!
Guide: There is a difference between cover and coffin. There is no distance between cover and a coffin.
Yellow: He is not pleased with your translation.
Red: So isn't there a workshop here of this?
Guide: We are riding a horse..
Red: Where did you get this old film?
Guide: This is a very old film.
Red: But, where did you get it from?
Guide: This? I got this and joined it..
Ashok: That's how you rewind..
Red: Oh my God !
Shaina: Talk to these people also they are here since..
Red: Since when are you here?
Old man: Since 40 years.
Red: 40 years! Then have you been inside the theatre ever since?
Old man: Its been years.
Red: Then when did it shut down? Its because there is a fight going on right?
Old man: Its because of an argument between four brothers..
Shaina: Did you too see movies here?
Man: Yes.
Old man: Its the most popular theater in Delhi.
Shaina: Its said.. it was the largest seater.. and its last film was love and war..
Guide: The poster is still there inside
Old man: There was no other cinema like this one.. we used to watch a lot of films here..
Shaina: Don't go.. wait there..
Guide: The wheat is chaffed here.. it is then made into flour.. it is packed and sealed.. the sacks are then stacked..
Shaina: Get down.. quickly..
Shaina: Actually everything is done manually..
Guide: Wheat has such absorption power that it gets sucked in automatically.. Let's go now..
Shaina: Massive.. its like Manchester or something.. full stone building.. and what you saw in the video is four storeyed.. from the top.. so long..
Guide: From below the flour goes to the fourth floor..
Shaina: And then through the pipe it comes down.. 1920..
Guide: This is one factory and then at Birla there is a bigger one..
Shaina: And then this was not shut down because of pollution..
Red: That's what I was thinking.. the others here were all shut down, right?
White: Okay you are talking about their bread or ours?
Guide: I am talking about the whole society.. now from here, Delhi (inaudible)
Shaina: Even these pipes.. the processing is all simultaneous.. they come to know that in these 8-10 pipes, rawa, in 8-10 pipes suji, in 8-10 pipes the wholesale flour... and in this pipe the no1 patent flour..
Guide: That's number 4..
Guide: It was started in 1907.. so it has completed 102 years.. it has taken permission but you won't go inside.. so I will show you... from where does it start.. please start sir.. who will start it? They tie the ice which is frozen to this ... then it is transferred.. this is like a ice tray.. below this is all the matter... this ice factory is very old and very big...
Guide: I have gone only once and captured this..
Red: So now we won't be allowed to go inside right?
Guide: We had gone on the roof and captured this... this is nitrogen..
Shaina: Ammonia..
Shaina: The big ones of machines are removed..
Guide: The big market of Asia.. it has been transferred there...
Guide: They remove the grains little by little... so these are the godowns of all the shops... some shops double up into godowns too... this box will be found in each lane.. if one shop is empty it will be found in the corner of the other shop... so all the rickshawallhs stay here...
Shaina: That's each person's house... between this is the tea shop's lane..
Guide: After they come in the evening they eat and have a bath..
Red: So all of you stay in this lane.. this is your house... so do the shopkeeper's take rent from you?
Guide: So we are like brothers.. we take help from them...they don't take rent from us... but the sweeper takes rent from us!
Guide: He comes early in the morning... he won't think if we are broke or not.. hey! keep some tea to boil... I will pay you now..
White: Is this always the case with you?
Guide: These shops here.. they have some people set before their shops... that's his status... ever since this has been there, this has always been there.. we always have been on the streets ever since then...
Guide: These are very old buildings.. this is a very old building.. this is where the sardars stay.. this is their bungalow..
Shaina: In the 'Kaand' a lot had happened.. a senior rickshawallah was saying that his rickshaw was used..
Guide: There are many such villages, including mine.. it is very far away.. till no one supports the company the umployed ones won't get employment.. I mean to say that the factory which is in my village... for example the mobile has a mobile tower... so the BSNL and Airtel companies.. or any SIM card think of buildign towers at multiple places... so the company will also be thinking that our old shoes can be sold at some market in some area... the supply will be more and there will be many shops...
Red: Even if it happens one will have to pay attention...
Ashok: See those people sitting there apparently..
Shaina: You and me can be in one.. Dinesh.. who else is with you?
Ashok: Sound is bad..
Shaina: Who is with you?
Ashok: That guy...
Brown: Put this on loudspeaker..
Shaina: No.. as much as possible.. give the pamphlet.. follow the guidelines.. so when you have to hear the song..
Ashok: Hold on to the connection.. just keep it in your hand.. this is pause and play... this is to change tracks..
Shaina: With Kuldeep..
Ashok: Our rule is basically to organize this and to do workshops with these guys..
Offscreen: My dupatta is gone.. stop stop!
Guide 2: You get knowledge from here.. you will find us rickshawallahs... autos or buses can't takr you in the lane of your house.. we only can take you till there.. 2,000 of us..
Ashok: You are going with him?
Shaina: Yeah...
Shaina: I will take yours also..How was it?
Black: It was very good and I never came to this part of Delhi... I didn't know what is going to happen... I didn't know what concept this is... its really different.. I never came across something like this... its a new experience for me.. its a very nice move...
Shaina: What did you like the most?
Black: The best thing was that the rickshaw driver who was taking us was explaining in a very excited manner.. that was the most interesting part of this whole errand.. everything is there to see.. he was telling about his life.. that was also interesting..
Shaina: Often we are asked how you can mix art and activism.. and I always anwer that its art only.. don't see it as activism.. but see what it can do.. so transformations which take place in people's perspective in a minor way.. then I think something happens..
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