Motornama: Tours - 06
Director: Shaina Anand, Ashok Sukumaran
Duration: 01:02:29; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 22.900; Saturation: 0.194; Lightness: 0.226; Volume: 0.345; Cuts per Minute: 4.577; Words per Minute: 48.796
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 1: There are a lot of sales here. People go to the shops... there are only seeds sold over here in the shops.. they sell hybrid seeds here... okay? Now I will show you further around.
Guide 1: Have a look at this... there are many lanes such as this in Indira market. You will find boxes such as this in ech lane on front of the shops. When the rickshaw drivers and vendors come here in the evening, they settle here itself. This is the way it happens (inaudible).
Ashok: Speak once more about the boxes.
Guide 1: Come I'll show you.
Guide 1: This belongs to my brother. They keep their personal belongings in this. They come in the evening, open it and start their routine businesses. Where do you stay?
Ans: 'Gonda'.
Guide 1: They all are from Gonda. The shops here are all theirs. At each shop, there is a person from Gonda.
Guide 1: You can use the seeds only once. Using them again is futile.
Ashok: C'mon!
Guide 1: This is (?).. there (?) ... originally Babur ruled here.. he wrote the baburnama.. he wrote that people of India don't know discrimination.. so when the British ruled here, (?) ...
Ashok: Dead? Did you speak about the dead? I mean.. in the context of ice?
Guide 1: If I am a local and someone dies, and if I want to go back to my city then too, I will need ice.. 24 hours this place functions though it is winter.. no one drinks water.. what is needed is ice..
Ashok: C'mon go ahead...
Offscreen: The name of the MLA..
Ashok: It will be shown below... it won't come in the light right?
Offscreen: A shadow will come. It will be a big shadow. In the new light system.
Ashok: Sorry sorry!
Ashok: What rate did you mention? Rs. 2-300? For whom? You wanted right?
Shaina: Yeah they haven't seen it, tell them. You showed.
Offscreen: That up there is a watch made during the time of the Britishers.
Shaina: It looks wonderful from the steps.
Offscreen: Its very rare.. this form.
Offscreen: Who Ravi? He must be looking at the wood.
Guide 2: This is a factory of motors. You can see it.
Guide 2: Ten engines used to be repaired in an hour and used to be returned. Thousands of workers used to stay here. Now it's not so. Now there is not much work as the government says that you run trucks and cause smoke and cause pollution. And second reason is service sector coming up and the third reason is big companies are manufacturing cars and hence these garages don't work. The manufacturers say that if you buy cars from us, come to us for servicing.
Guide 2: It is working at a slow pace. No one wants to leave his house. They are just about functioning.. they are managing it somehow.. they had a lot of work before.
Shaina: This was the largest transport city in Asia - Roshanara Road.
Shaina: This is the head uncle isn't it?
Uncle: No its a block.
Shaina: Then what is the head?
Uncle: The head comes over it.
Shaina: When I came here for the first time I heard that a car has a head.. before I didn't know what a head was!
Uncle: They know how to use it..
Shaina: Hmm..
Guide 2: So sir, we will give you information as we go ahead.
Shaina: Bye bye!
Guide 2: Everyone sees what happens on screen but no one knows what happens behind the scenes. All this happens behind the scenes, sir. First a person carries the reel on his shoulders, then he fits the machine and then he fits the reel and then the film starts. But no one can see what happens behind the scenes.
Ashok: At times when the film used to go on two screens then half used to be seen here and half there.
Shaina: Listen to him!
Red: Half the reel was somewhere else and so the film used to start half an hour later in the cinema hall. It used to come from there and then used to go back there.
Guide 2: This is what goes on. The machine operates at such a speed that it shows 10 photos in one second.
Ashok: It is not one, there is a little difference.
Guide 2: Yes sir but it shows 10 pictures together in one second!
photo reference
Guide 2: This is what happens behind the scenes. All see what happens in the scene but no one gets to see what happens behind the scenes. All this happens behind the scenes only, sir. First, one person will set the reel. Then the motorman will start his work.
Guide 2: But what I mean to say is that pay attention the way I do. This first cinema hall which you can see - here films used to bve screened... but this is the one which got the license (to screen movies) after independence. It was that beautiful! It got the license after independence - the first license! And another peculiarity is that the seats that are being made today - 800, 1000 , 1200 - the seats used to be made in college in the same fashion here - 800 people could sit and get entertained.
Guide 2: So these are the two peculiarities of this place. And thirdly its very spacious. (?). But because of some reasons it has shut down.
Red: Something between the brothers..
Guide 2: Yes fight between 4 or 5 brothers. That happens but till the time it is famous it will go on. So sir, this was about Palace.. sir, we will take you further and give you information. Come, sir come.
Red: Old is gold.
Shaina: Lalji ka bhai bhi hamare group mein hai. Uska theek (?) hai.
Guide 2: He is quiet..
Shaina: He is quiet and how! He chooses his words and speaks.
Guide 2: So you aren't from Delhi right? From where are you?
Shaina: Mumbai.
Shaina: Today the lights are on - street lights. Otherwise they used to come on at 6 PM or they used to be switched off. They must have changed the timings.
Guide 2: You should not tell the way without asking anyone? Otherwise the unexpected happens.
Guide 2: Sir, I am stopping here to give information about a flour mill. I cannot show you inside but I can tell you about its functioning and so on. Come..
Guide 2: Come here sir.
Guide 2: The wheat gets loaded in the truck in the village itself and comes here. Then it is put into the machine.. even now 350-400 people work here. Before there were many .. but a machine cannot function without people at all. So even now, 350-400 workers work here.
Guide 2: Sir, when the wheat gets loaded in the truck and comes here from the village, then first people haul it and put it into the machine.. you see how the machine grinds the flour.. this machine is making the flour.. this way everything works here.
Shaina: This is 'channi'.
Brown: They used to get grains that were of different types. So now you are forced to use a grain that can function in this machine.
Guide 2 (simultaneously): First what happened was, at 4 in the night itself, our mothers and sisters used to grind the flour using a stone. But surprisingly, there was vitamin C - when our mothers and sisters used to take the grain and grind it using a stone. That used to have Vitamin C which provided strenghth.
Guide 2: But when all these artificial suji flours are being made - it gets burnt by the machine and all the nutrients are lost. Only the taste is retained. So what I mean by all this is, this is a motor. (?) is the name, sir. Look.
Guide 2: This is information on a flour mill.
Guide 2: C'mon sir now I will..
Shaina: This DVD has interuppted. Stuck.
Offscreen: No, this area is shut on Wednesday.
Shaina: Power.. load shedding time..
Red: Okay this is closed on Wednesday.
Brown: Its closed on Thursday.
Brown: New Delhi Flour Mill.
Shaina: 1920.
Offscreen: It's brand is Stag..
Shaina: If you had more time to give it a look, its quite interesting. This four storey building that's there, it gets pumped up and comes down through numatic pipes floor by floor.. then finally there is again packaging and..
Guide 2: Conserve water as without water everything is barren. (Says something in Urdu). I will tell you its meaning also. Sir, Rehman said to his friends while departing, don't waste water which you have. Save it otherwise the worse will happen. He started to say..
Offscreen: Recruit him in the media!
Shaina: Right!
Lady: Its not enough income - there is expenses of the kids.
Brown: You don't teach small kids?
Lady: It's in Hindi in all places.
Brown: You do really noble work. You give training?
Lady: No, they come to our headquarters to get trained. We can training.
Dark Brown: Okay if anyone gets injured..
Shaina: Barafkhana Chowk is very dangerous, sister.
Lady: It is dangerous! (Laughs)
Shaina: Everyone sports a knife and walks around!
Offscreen: Have you seen anyone sporting a knife?
Shaina: Have seen many.. people don't walk around brandishing knives!
Offscreen: You will find a lot of drunkards here..
Shaina: Yes, I know..yes a lot of fights happen around here.. I have seen a lot of those.
Shaina: Drive with Panditji..
Shaina: This is Panditji's own route.. the chaiwallah comes first and then the barafwala.. but he takes his own route..
Guide 2: But this will take an hour right?
Shaina: No.. first the market will come and then his house will come..
Guide 2: When you were coming from the ice storage, then you must have seen a boundary like park. There was an old temple back there.
Brown: Before Azadpur... vegetable market..
Guide 2: It was an old vegetable market. Now hybrid seeds are sold here. You can use this seed only once..
Brown: The factory which you showed.. the BT cotton for it must be supplied from here..
Brown: The seeds for BT cotton must be manufactured here only.
Guide 2: Yes you get it..
Brown: You must be getting BT cotton here only..
Guide 2: That you find all over India, sir. The numbers are greater there..
Brown: A vegetable market was here before.
Guide 2: No, not here.
Shaina: Panditji! I know you don't pay attention to the camera, but, please do so today.
Shaina: Come here!
Guide 2: We have brought you here to show a place in (?). Indira Market is very huge. But, every lane is like the other.
Shaina: This is a sample lane.
Guide 2: This wooden box.. in Lucknow there is a district named Gonda. 20,000 people from there live here. They drive rickshaws. In the evening when the shutters come down they sleep here.. they eat and keep their utensils and all in this box and leave..
Red: Oh! These are houses!
Guide 2: The project, since it is going on.. I came here with a lot of people.. I showed it to them and gave them information which we had.. we gave them information.. but I have a question in my mind, I want to express it but I can't tell it to anyone.. I want to ask sir... these hybrid seeds are being sold but each thing has its limits. The farmers earlier .. (CUT)
Offscreen: Even the pesticides are used a lot.
Guide 2: I mean to say that until this gets anyone's support it will continue to be this way... Like, if in one farm you put 2 kg ammonium, so one has to put 3-5 kg in that next year.
Offscreen: The soil becomes loose by that right?
Guide 2: Yes the soil becomes loose.
Offscreen: These are the old single commodity markets in Delhi. They supply all around India.
Shaina: And they are saying that when the vegetable market was made here in '72 that time during Indira Gandhi's rule, Indira market was established.
Offscreen: This used to be.. all old Muslim traders for partition.. vegetable market was the heartland...
Brown: These are all .. when the old traditional Lala's movement.. these are all old.. they distribute all around.
Shaina: So that means transport nagar also coming here was because of the wholesale goods ...
Brown: So in fact there's a..
Guide 2: There is a mould of iron... they put water in the mould of iron.. this is closed.. the temperature is set within...
Offscreen: Where did this video of the ice factory come from?
Guide 2: We had gone there once to the ice factory.. I have gone 2-3 times but don't know if anyone is in the right frame of mind or not..
Offscreen: This..
Guide 2: That is the Metro Rail going..
Offscreen:The Metro Rail can be viewed from the ice factory?
Guide 2: This is the part above the ice factory where..
Shaina: The condensors..
Shaina: Panditji just look here once and do it..
Offscreen: Stand like this..
Offscreen: This is Sony.
Brown:Nothing is Sony.
Shaina: Of course its Sony! What do you mean! What do you mean!
Offscreen: Local Palika..
Offscreen: What is he doing?
Brown: Shooting.
Offscreen: Shooting the shooting
Ashok: He's pulling the..
Guide 2: Please make way.
Shaina: Always interrupt... this is a dirty habit.
Ashok: He will (?).. now I turned the camera and .. like this.. so while shooting I was doing this.
Shaina: Drive straight not twisted..
Guide 2: What you can see in front of you is the clock tower. I am showing you this clock tower because it was made.. before there were mills and factories where work was done. There were 400, 500, 10000 people in one factory. They didn't have a watch to see the time. This was what the people referred to. When the bell rung, people used to gather and enter the mill and the gates would shut. All of them would start work. The second bell would be for lunch. In this way the bell would ring - people would come and go.
Guide 2: But its not just about the bell, it was a monument of lakhs and crores. Listening to the bell they would get time off. This was the bell. You see, it was made in 1940 by the name of 'Ram Roop Tower'. Its not a clock tower but it was the heartbeat of all the people in the factories. That's why I showed you the clock tower. But the beautiful part is, this clock shows the fixed time. Right now it is encountering some problem, but is does give fixed time. Daily I look at it myself but sir if you see it is run by a motor. This is our 4th or 5th Motornama.
Shaina: Lalji! You have to be put into the media only!
Lalji: There is a mill behind which has shut. It used to work a lot.
Shaina: Now the 5th.
Shaina: Lalji, leave Crown Motors for now. Straight to the printing press. It will be late.
Lalji: In 1890 it was in Lahore.
Brown: How perfect is the impression! One can't think its been done by a machine.
Lalji: This machine was in India itself. In 1983 it came from Lahore.
Lalji: All the Gondas stay here itself. All of them are affectionate about each other. They are like family members.
Shaina: Are all from UP?
Panditji: They are from Gonda Estate!
Lalji: We are like brothers to each other. We pray to Ram!
Shaina: He gives letters to some people and goes. Ravikant if you are nice to him tell him to give you a letter in Hindi... a lead letter.. he gave a lot of people.
Brown: He must be giving the ones which are of no use.
Lalji: Sir I want to ask you a last question. Please listen carefully. I gave you information on Motors, on walls and places.. I gave you information o Tripal.. I showed the flour mill... the tea vendor.. I gave information on the ice factory.. I told about the seeds.. I told about the clock tower.. I mean to say that see how much our country has changed.
Lalji: What was precious yesterday .. when an engine used to run a truck at first.. then it used to have a guarantee of not failing to work for six months. But the cars which are made today don't work and don't have a guarantee also. So much of change.. and second change is that people got displaced from the city to the villages. But I mean to say that look at this.. it has no motor or oil.. It functions due to our hardwork.
Lalji: This is what I want to say sir, that this is a deed of honesty and it should go on or not.. this is a request to you. Now the rest is upto you.
Shaina: Panditji I am taking you last! You do the last one.
Shaina: Can you lower the volume of the TV uncle?
Panditji: Lower the volume!
Panditji: We rickshawallahs.. this project is motornama in which we rickshaw drivers have to take our customers around the city. We have to narrate the unknown history of this place. In motornama.. motor plus nama.. in the sense something new and something old.. we introduced you to each type of motor.. we shared the information we had. These motors were the reason for pollution. They went away. But the rickshaw is also a type of motor. What I mean is there is no expense o diesel or anything in this.
Panditji: What is one man's meat is other man's poison. One person may like the rickshaw while the other may not. The person on returning home must be thinking that I came by the railway or metro or bus. But, the rickshaw drops him home. But there is also one person who made an application of Rs. 30,000/- against the rickshaw saying that there is a problem due to rickshaws and that they should be stopped.
Panditji: If they must be thinking from the perspective of pollution then there is nothing. In the whole of Delhi there are 9 lakh rickshaws.. first one should extinguish the fire in his car and then point to others. I stay in Roshanara in Indira Market. There are almost 20,000 people in Gondas who run rickshaws and which is everything to them. We request you that if rickshaws are stopped then where do the drivers go? Forgive us for our mistakes.
Black: Thanks a lot.
Lalji: I want to say something, sir. The ones who cause pollution don't have a notice the way we have. The ones who don't cause pollution and work hard and who are honest are the ones who everyone is against.
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