The making of the first concrete house, Shamsher Ali
[02-09-2006]
The afternoon glare reached the low wall of bricks; the wall hastily soaked up water being sprinkled on it. The sum total of the first two days' work had been a foundation with an elevation of two feet. It takes one week and one day to make an entire house.
But how will this calcuation account for the day preceding this one week and a day?
The afternoon glare reached the low wall of bricks; the wall hastily soaked up water being sprinkled on it. The sum total of the first two days' work had been a foundation with an elevation of two feet. It takes one week and one day to make an entire house.
But how will this calcuation account for the day preceding this one week and a day?
Both had their own understanding about the small piece of land. The man with the cap was filling a map; the woman was conjuring an image of her home.
Those hands held nothing very special – just a thin, long thread and a big inch tape. These hands were formulating a shape for the tall grass and unleveled land – a shape before it is settled on.
A small group of people noisily followed the man, their yes fixed on the inch tape. That feminine voice carried a force; it drew the entire scene to her. “O bhaiya, measure our plot. My sons are old, they will start building from tomorrow.”
It had been heard that plots were being measured against receipt of a box of sweets and Rs. 100. Maybe the government servant with the cap had already received his sweets. He measured the plot and compared the plot number with his map, then made some marks with his pen.
The woman's voice and the work of the man with the cap stretch the 12.5 sq m land in two different perceptions. With measuring it, the man with the cap had finished his job. But the woman's hands will keep working her entire life, decorating and building her home.
Those hands held nothing very special – just a thin, long thread and a big inch tape. These hands were formulating a shape for the tall grass and unleveled land – a shape before it is settled on.
A small group of people noisily followed the man, their yes fixed on the inch tape. That feminine voice carried a force; it drew the entire scene to her. “O bhaiya, measure our plot. My sons are old, they will start building from tomorrow.”
It had been heard that plots were being measured against receipt of a box of sweets and Rs. 100. Maybe the government servant with the cap had already received his sweets. He measured the plot and compared the plot number with his map, then made some marks with his pen.
The woman's voice and the work of the man with the cap stretch the 12.5 sq m land in two different perceptions. With measuring it, the man with the cap had finished his job. But the woman's hands will keep working her entire life, decorating and building her home.
comments
No new comments allowed (anymore) on this post.