http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/It quenches the thirst of the thirsty, such is Nangla, It shelters those who come to the city of Delhi, such is Nangla. Flux CMS - http://www.flux-cms.orgX:8594500m Y:3309100mX:8594500mY:3309100mhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2008/03/14/mobile-sketch-01.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/571/<object width="425" height="355" > <param value="http://www.youtube.com/v/nbnSth4cxOY&hl=en" name="movie" /> <param value="transparent" name="wmode" /><embed width="425" height="355" wmode="transparent" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/nbnSth4cxOY&hl=en" /></object>Daily LifeNangla Lab2008-03-14T09:01:53Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/09/02/about-myself.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/554/[06-09-2006]<br/> <br/> From far it looked like nothing more than an empty field. As we neared it, small houses made of bamboo mats and poles could be seen. Some houses were adjacent to each other, while others were apart. I walked on and soon I found myself stading in the middle of a process of the making of a new part of the city.<br/> <script type="text/javascript" > var sc_project=2372997; var sc_invisible=1; var sc_partition=22; var sc_security="52a14dfe"; </script> <script src="http://www.statcounter.com/counter/counter_xhtml.js" type="text/javascript" /> <noscript>&amp;lt;div class="statcounter"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;a href="http://www.statcounter.com/" _fcksavedurl="http://www.statcounter.com/" target="_blank"&amp;gt;&amp;lt;img class="statcounter" src="http://c23.statcounter.com/2372997/0/52a14dfe/1/" _fcksavedurl="http://c23.statcounter.com/2372997/0/52a14dfe/1/" alt="web stats analysis" &amp;gt;&amp;lt;/a&amp;gt;&amp;lt;/div&amp;gt;</noscript> <br/> Two rickshawalas stood on either side of the lane. There were carts, one after the other; people were selling things. There were five to six shops. This part has taken the form of the first market in Ghevra.<br/><br/> <a href="http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/09/02/about-myself.html#post_content_extended"> Read whole post</a>Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-09-02T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/31/proud-days.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/542/[06-10-2006]<br/> <br/> "It doesn't seem to me you have come from somewhere else. You seem to me to be from here itself!"<br/> <br/> When she said this, it broke through Yashoda and my hesitation about it being our first day here. Smiling, we sat down on the cot that lay beside the cot on which she was sitting.<br/> <br/> Noorjahan baaji lived in a house of forty yards in Lakshmi Nagar's area number 8 for fifteen years. Now she has been given a plot of 18 sq m here. As of now, the plot has not got transformed into a casing supported by beams of concrete. There are few people around, and so Noorjahan baaji's heart is not in this place yet. "But so what! I have somehow made my place amidst others who live here, and I live among them."<br/> <br/> The narrow spaces between houses that have been constructed does not shy away from inviting others. It is prepared to soak in different kinds of presences into itself.<br/><br/><br/> <a href="http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/31/proud-days.html#post_content_extended"> Read whole post</a>Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-08-31T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/31/the-cot.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/545/[07-10-2006]<br/> <br/> There are three cots in her house. Sitting on one, the dark skinned Noorjahan apaa, with half the hair on her head having turned white, gold ear rings strung into the string attached to her spectacles, was intently opening the chain on a bag she was holding. Another bag emerged from this bag, shinier and more beutiful than the one before. She unzipped this second bag, and it revealed a third bag, more beautiful than either of the two before, and with fresher colours. Seeing this, a smile spread across my lips. I said excitedly, "Wow! Bag inside bag! It's looking so beautiful."<br/> <br/> Sweeping her hand over a bag she said, "My daughter gave this to me; she made it from the scraps of cloth left over each time she got a new suit stitched. She said to me, 'ammi, use them to keep your special things'." Saying this she began looking at the bags lovingly.<br/><br/> <a href="http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/31/the-cot.html#post_content_extended"> Read whole post</a>Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-08-31T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/31/the-shop-is-ready.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/548/[10-09-2006]<br/> <br/> A narrow opening – the slight wall of woven material has been cut open, the flap raised and kept in place with the support of a bamboo stick. This marks the house as being different from others. One can tell no one will stay here after 11:00 at night.<br/> <br/> The floor is cool with the fresh smear of mud and cow-dung.<br/> <br/> Just as one can sense there is an urgency in everyone to get their own land, a haste to make a home on it, one can also tell making a shop on the plot assigned to ones name is very important here.<br/> <br/> What kind of a life will a shop in the middle of the lane have? Will it be able to create its own market? It's not so important to work out these questions just yet. First let the shop get made; let everyone get accustomed to its presence.<br/> <br/> In the lane, a few plots still lie vacant, without anything built on them. Other than on these, work is being carried out with a kind of immediacy.Making of Nanglanangla lab2007-08-31T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/30/eight-days.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/533/[08-09-2006]<br/> <br/> “It takes eight days to make a house.”<br/> <br/> “Can't you do it in lesser time? The sooner it gets done, the better. There will be a roof over our heads and a place to rest. Then one will not feel reluctant to return home everyday.”<br/> <br/> “It's a 12 m sq plot, I am a mason. My hands and feet and not machines. It would be good for me if the job could get completed in lesser time; then I could move to my next job.”<br/> <br/> Eyes are trying to calibrate the measured plot of land from behind a veil, “Mistryji, how many bricks should I order?”<br/> <br/> The mason paused, looked upwards, moved his head from left to right, looked at the four corners of the plot. His lips moved slowly.<br/> <br/> “It will take 4000 bricks. If more are needed, then we will see.”<br/> <br/> “And what about the roof?”<br/><br/><br/> <a href="http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/30/eight-days.html#post_content_extended"> Read whole post</a>Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-08-30T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/30/strength.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/536/[21-09-2006]<br/> <br/> Right where Ghevra begins is a corner, where, under the shade of a huge tree, some hawkers gather. Vegetable sellers, sellers of summer drinks, spice sellers, people who manage STD-PCO booths – they have all created a feeling of a small market here. This place, and the way in which people here talk to each other and work, gives a glimpse of the capacity of people here to make their new space and spend their time in it. I spoke with one person here, whose name is Sunil. He must be around 25 years old. He is well built and he has a thick mustache. By profession, he is a truck driver.<br/><br/> <a href="http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/30/strength.html#post_content_extended"> Read whole post</a>Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-08-30T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/30/that-face-has-not-been-made-here-yet.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/539/[03-10-2006]<br/> <br/> Many words weave a space together. If a string is removed from a woven mat, the mat does not weaken. But the missing string is immediately visible. This is exactly how it is when there is an absence of certain words.<br/> <br/> Usually, when one sees four people having gathered and chatting, one knows they are doing “time-pass”. But words like time-pass, getting bored have not taken seed in Ghevra yet. Here, seeing four people together indicates something serious is being discussed. Seeing a group like this, people passing by unhesitatingly try to join in the conversations by standing near or far from the group.<br/><br/> <a href="http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/30/that-face-has-not-been-made-here-yet.html#post_content_extended"> Read whole post</a>Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-08-30T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/29/construction-has-begun.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/524/[17-06-2006]<br/> <br/> Countless people are being cast onto the land of Sawda-Ghevra. <br/> <br/> Those lives, which had once before transformed a barren land by infusing it with life force and decorating it, have now begun to descend on the land of Ghevra, to once again take on the challenge. Another struggle to give direction to the wayward lines of time has begun. The process of rehabilitation of settlements from Lakshmi Nagar and Shahdra has begun.<br/> <br/> One man has driven four to six bamboo sticks into the ground to create a frame; tied ropes around the frame and made a cover by putting blankets and sheets over them.<br/> The afternoon sun shoots rays like arrows to the ground. In the fields, each grain of sand seethes like lava.<br/> <br/> Construction has begun in Ghevra.Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-08-29T22:00:00Zhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/29/everyone-is-an-artisan.htmlhttp://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/id/527/[06-09-2006]<br/> <br/> Two men sat on the dusty ground, making a thatched roof. There was a big needle in their hands. They tightened bamboo poles to a bamboo mat with a twine they had strung through the needle. When, after standing near them for a while, I sat down beside them, they glanced towards me. I asked, “Are you making a house, or are you artisans?” They replied enthusiastically, “In today's world, who isn't an artisan! Everyone is an artisan, someone lesser, someone more than others.”<br/><br/> <a href="http://nangla.freeflux.net/blog/archive/2007/08/29/everyone-is-an-artisan.html#post_content_extended"> Read whole post</a>Making of Ghevranangla lab2007-08-29T22:00:00Z