South of Pune in Western India is a spot on the Deccan Plateau – also a geomorphological name for this basalt-rock dominant region. An urban visitor here obviously would enjoy the unique landscape in its rural surrounds, and perhaps also the Reinforced Concrete cum Brick buildings which mostly in last ten to twenty years has started to densely dominate this landscape - considered an indicator of development by many.
One local farmer who also has worked his way out of the fading drought in these last few decades, is economically more secure now, and now plans to build his new house with this new composite system, i.e. cement, steel and bricks. When I asked him, “When you have so much of stone around and earlier you used to build beautifully styled houses with this stone, why would you need this kind of steel-cement-brick-stone combination house?”. He had replied, “But where on earth do you get a stone mason nowadays!” - With perhaps a mix of sarcasm and irritation on his face. Sarcasm - because, he must have been wondering why stylish looking city people like me would so easily recommend an old way house to a villager folk. Irritation – obviously, because of the unavailability of the Stone Mason -who is now a Modern Mason. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have minded a beautifuller house? Now, like many enlightened urban and a built environment professional if I wonder about quality, safety and sustainability of these houses, which are homes, I also wonder what avenues exist to empower and inform this villager and this most important guy, the mason. Doesn’t the system needs to resource its development in this direction too rather than the constant bureaucratic old schemes such as Reverend XYZ Awaas Yojna (Free or subsidized housing schemes for the poor)?
One local farmer who also has worked his way out of the fading drought in these last few decades, is economically more secure now, and now plans to build his new house with this new composite system, i.e. cement, steel and bricks. When I asked him, “When you have so much of stone around and earlier you used to build beautifully styled houses with this stone, why would you need this kind of steel-cement-brick-stone combination house?”. He had replied, “But where on earth do you get a stone mason nowadays!” - With perhaps a mix of sarcasm and irritation on his face. Sarcasm - because, he must have been wondering why stylish looking city people like me would so easily recommend an old way house to a villager folk. Irritation – obviously, because of the unavailability of the Stone Mason -who is now a Modern Mason. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have minded a beautifuller house? Now, like many enlightened urban and a built environment professional if I wonder about quality, safety and sustainability of these houses, which are homes, I also wonder what avenues exist to empower and inform this villager and this most important guy, the mason. Doesn’t the system needs to resource its development in this direction too rather than the constant bureaucratic old schemes such as Reverend XYZ Awaas Yojna (Free or subsidized housing schemes for the poor)?
