Motornama: Feedback and Reflections
Director: Shaina Anand, Ashok Sukumaran
Duration: 00:41:29; Aspect Ratio: 1.778:1; Hue: 18.472; Saturation: 0.263; Lightness: 0.142; Volume: 0.311; Cuts per Minute: 3.880; Words per Minute: 46.001
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
Offscreen: Keep all these covers.
Ashok: You have the covers?
Offscreen: Yes, keep it with you..
Guide: How did you find the ride on the rickshaw.
Black: Very good.
Guide: Some people say that this rickshaw business should be shut.. so what do you have to say?
Black: No they should not be shut down. Especially the lanes in Roshanara, are very small.. personal autos won't work here.. if rickshaws are stopped then people will face trouble.. on the roads even small rickshaws will work for the public.. they should not shut.
Guide: Okay, rickshaws will be there but what about the rickshaw drivers? Okay, that's not an issue.
Ashok: So, first I want to tell 2-3 things. Firstly I did not find a single person till now who has gone to anyone and said what you are doing is wrong. I haven't found anyone who said this is incorrect. I never heard or saw any such thing. From whatever angle you may see, our project has been successful. Okay. From wherever you see - I never saw anything that made me feel that you are not doing a good job or that you have been doing crap.This is our first win.
Ashok: This is a very big thing. We did not know that such a thing will happen - that people will like it or not. The credit for this goes to you because we did not speak to them but you did. Okay? Secondly, I myself.. we were in Mumbai.. we were thinking now what do we do, whether we will come back or not and how everything will go.. we are very happy because we did not expect to do this really..
Shaina: We took the risk together..
Ashok: This is a project and this is the last round..
Shaina: We have the permission for this project..
Ashok: From my side I just want to say one thing, that I am very happy and we both are totally with you. (Everyone claps).
Ashok: So we want to ask if you found this effective or not?
Guides: It was very effective.
Ashok: So in what ways was it effective? Lalji tell us something.. you had gone on a big trip right? More than any of us..
Lalji: The programme that you did was liked by us all.
Shaina: No that's not what we are asking.. what did you think was the best about it?
Lalji: I can tell waht I can think of, sir.. I met different people.. we thought there was no difference between us and them. If we love them, they will love us back. We got a lot of love and that's important to us.
Ashok: Anyone else.. Panditji even you went on big trips.. you know how we started with you? Do you remember?
Shaina: Yes, the manner in which we met!
Panditji: A person's life isn't limited to his family.. there are other things too.. its not just about us but about the whole of Delhi.. just as I am sitting here and you are standing there, I don't know what you are talking about.., but if we come closer, then we will be able to communicate.. imagine I am 24 years of age.. I was born in 1983.. so I drive the rickshaw here.. I take 3-4 rounds of a lane in a day but I did not know so much about it..
Panditji: I realized also that each person thinks differently.. with us sitting here, I feel that I am troubling you the most but that's not the case.. if we are working hard then its goo for both of us.. we were able to tell the public what we do.. we told how everything came into being.. otherwise no one would have heard us.. we could talk to people without hesitating..
Panditji: All classes of society got knowledge.. (inaudible).. we saw that you were cordial with us.. you would have had some other project if not for this one.. but by this project, even the rich people interacted with us.. whoever and whatever class a person may belong to, if he can love, then he is capable of anything. In this city, you will find many people - they love their family. They want to spend time with them. But when he is out on the streets, he will not look anyone in the eye. He does not care about anyone. Forgive me if I have been wrong.
Shaina: Akhilesh what do you have to say? See, our aim with this project was different. And today I will tell you.. today you will understand that we wanted to make a project on rickshaw drivers. Motornama which we have made is a vehicle. Take a tour through the Motornama and understand the rickshaw drivers and come to understand their story, their attitude, their talent - someone makes poetry, someone writes songs and understand their feelings and experiences.
Akhilesh: I took around a lot of people and I understood that we are from the same category. I felt that we belonged together. I felt nice to talk to people on a close basis.
Shaina: What did you feel locally? This is your area.. roshanara road.. did somethign change during this tour? Did the behaviour of the locals towards you change?
Lalji: As I worked with you, that time I realized, everyone realized a lot of things like the first cinema hall.. many people were shown new things.. when I asked them about it they knew the usual things.. but they did not know the history.. inspite of being from Delhi, they did not know the history around them. We passed by these lanes but we did not know a lot of things. Motornama is a revolution, its for the betterment of the country. An awakening was created among us. We got a lot of knowledge.
Shaina: How did you find it?
Guide 1: It was nice..
Shaina: What was important to you? Personally?
Guide 1: I passed by these lanes many times but now I discovered a lot of things.
Shaina: So what will you do with this knowledge now?
Guide1: I will find out more about what I came to know now..
Bhola: I also liked it.. came to know a lot of things.. met new people.. got to meet you.. met fellow rickshaw drivers..
Shaina: Speak again..
Bhola: Came to know about motors..
Shaina: What do you think of the tours - not the motors. Anything else? The person who sits in your rickshaw tells you what to do usually.
Bhola: Till now it was like that. But now we got to interact with them.
Ramcharan: I liked it. We got to interact and talk to the people.. we could explain the history.. we also got a lot of knowledge..
Shaina: Any feedback?
Bhola: Rickshaws should also have motors.
Shaina: We are having a private meeting here. You may sit quietly if you want to. We are working here not whiling away our time.
Bhola: If there are motors in rickshaws they can be driven smoothly.
Shaina: Then it will become an auto.
Ashok: Does anyone want to say anything?
Guide 3: I felt very happy to work in this project.. I never imagined I would do something like this.. I felt happy to meet you..
Shaina: How will you feel tomorrow? Will anyone go on a tour?
Chacha: I used to tell about the cinema hall. And whatever we used to tell used to earn us a lot of fame - people took pictures of us.. that's because we explained everything to them. They used to praise us.
Guide 4: I felt happy meeting you. We got a lot of love. We felt confident. We got to learn a lot.
Ashok: Now lastly..
Guide 5: You came from Mumbai to Delhi and didn't know any of us (inaudible)... many people in Delhi don't know where the ice factory is.. they dont know the history behind things..
Shaina: We will post Kuldeep.
Ashok: We are going tomorrow. The MP3 players will be with whoever has them. We will come here tomorrow. Talk to Kuldeep today - we have to return these things to the company. We have to show them everything - damaged or not. Everyone had a small headphone - get them. Do you have any bag Panditji in which there are small headphones?
Ashok: The rest Kuldeep will give to you. These have to be returned to them. We will be here for a bit tomorrow - we will do shooting and all.. we won't have time to meet you all.. so now we are saying goodbye to you.. some things have to end on a good note... I hope everything has been smooth.. so now we are saying goodbye..
Ashok: I will be coming here sometimes.. so I hope you remember be and recognize me even then.
Black: You have to meet us too.
Shaina: If any of them come to repair their shoes to to vuy a ciggarette, then attend them with love.
Ashok: If anyone asks about Motornama in the future, then talk to them too.. take them on a tour if you are in a mood..
Shaina: But don't take them around for free, that time.
Ashok: Lastly, love everyone.. we all played the game as we didn't know each other.. take care of each other.. I loved mangoes and bhindi if you remember.. remember each others likes and dislikes.. stand by each other..
Shaina: This can be a rickshaw driver's union of sorts..
Ashok: I will give my number to everyone who is here.. if you need anything, anytime, give us a call.. Kuldeep wants to say something..
Shaina: City and fruit both.
Kuldeep: City - Nainital.. fruit.. mutter..
Shaina: How did you find the project and working with all of them?
Kuldeep: Motornama was very good for me and I got a lot of experience.. dealing with all of them was different.. everyone was very good.. working with you both was very good.. I think more of such projects should take place..
Shaina: A lot of people told us - artists and experts told us that this was the best project of all.. when we see a sculpture in a garden then we have nothing to do with it.. but they got to learn a lot from this project. Our aim was to create awakening.. we learnt a lot from you all which you will never understand. We cannot explain how much we learnt in the one month we worked with you all.
Shaina: We became much more mature people and gained 10 years of knowledge.. we are city people.. we know very little in some departments.. this is one thing.. I think the 400 people who came must have changed their opinion on things now.. they will have a different perspective now.
Shaina: They will discuss it among themselves.. they must have had an awakening.. a realization..
Ashok: The shooting that we are doing will be made into a film of sorts.. it will take a month or more.. I will give copies of it to Gurudev or to anyone you want. You must see it to know what was made of it..
Ashok: You mean to say our luck was good.
Shaina: We came on 21 November to meet you..
Ashok: Its been a month today. A lot of things change in a month. Lets clap on this note. We may meet or not - you woll get your films.
Shaina: I have been told by Panditji that Akhilesh has written a poem. Make us listen to it..
Akhilesh: Stay in my heart forever. You will be there in my dreams. (Everyone claps).
Shaina: Repeat it.
Akhislesh: Repeats.
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