Drawing parallels

Mark Twain urf Samuel Langhorne Clemen's, ‘A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court’ is a must read for any technology buff. Somewhere in-between pages, he compares the intellectual work with labor kind of work, and, it is perhaps right to interpret that this work, whatever form it may be, is work; be it intellectual or labor, the bliss in it is in doing it. References to Gandhi’s understated (not much well known) ‘Village Swaraj’ tells the same in a different form.

Some notes gathered at SID bamboo craft workshop`

Click for album

Not too many words are here, except to appreciate a good design which enabled an opportunity for a plenty. In other words, the exercise went on for a couple weeks, with twenty-five craftsmen and another twenty-five students, and open to visitors, experts, and ideas, which should create further a countless learning opportunities. At School of Interior Design, CEPT, the workshop here gave some interesting directions to search for the meaning of ‘sustainability’ through hands on craft and exchange.

I could gather a few things with my random visits, perhaps research oriented, and I would like to share.

Most materials expand on heating. When bamboo is exposed to higher temperature conditions, one way is by putting it under a flame, the material’s molecules would move apart, therefore, allowing ease in bending. The bamboo craftsmen may like this. A design student who made me understand this, said,

“They say, this bamboo strip usually cracks when bent under fire, but see, you go slow about it and this does not." showing me the perfect bend.

The technology student was even more creative. After discussing with him no-life in the outer space and no oxygen therefore zero flammability, he was quick to add,

“If left in space, bamboo may take a free form on its own.” He did his best to make his eye, face and hand gestures all like that of a free form.

There were many other revisions.

Another point we take lightly, perhaps we must consider, is the health issue when bamboo is tempted to cut finely under rapid rotors and as a result genate dust. Smoothinly hummin rotor bladed machines- some fixed, some handheld, will produce dust like particles which fly all over. The air was so dusty with grains that things looked like a live 1600 ASA print. The bamboo grains I consumed through my nostrils most, smelt fresher an not toxic- well, sometimes, toxic smells nice too, but this smelt nicer. ‘The smell of freshly cut grass…’, as Richie Havens (Woodstock fame below) says, reminded me of the bamboo work small communities in rural India continue to do with bamboo saw dust floating in air, all around and about, humming their own folk tunes.

Easy Bamboo

CEPT canteen teaches many things. Here you see artisans of all and any types, from all or any part of the world, with most of them being professionals dealing with built environment and its spaces. There are amazing number of theories and suppositions in the canteen air, which have only increased in the confined space with the increase of people in recent years; hurried rock bands riffs go in the background too. They call it blues and they give you blues.

Leave that, one such theory suggested by a real-estate-artisan to me is - “target the army, man!” He doesn’t means shooting with guns, but rather explaining how an organization can use the Bamboo as an emergency material which can be simply crafted by its soldiers during war as well as during relief.

Bureau of Indian Standard’s IS 7344 1974 Specification for bamboo tent poles needs mentioning to that artisan.

Death of all Artisans

Imagine if the entire artisans in the world die in one go? Or alternatively, if the process is slow, very slow, dead slow?

Safety at Highway Construction

Allow artisans talk something on the issue of safety of road workers in Indian roads -especially highways, which has few lanes on either side. Where the issue becomes more visible.

Contractors, clients, consultants, all are now aware that road safety at construction time is important. The migratory daily wager too now. So, he is given a cap and a high vis(ibility) jacket. Boots hurt his feet. They work in groups, some doing the work, some holding a banner, which is custom made, is usually red inked. It says something like, "MAN AT WORK". The cordoned area has men, and some machinery, some big some expensive. You notice then you carefully maneuver or maunder your car not to hit anything.

Army Artisans and FOB collapse

This is in continuation to my previous two posts.

I get a phone call from an Artisan, who lives as far as Salinas. He tells me that after the games got over, the Army quietly unbolted the bridge and took it away for where it may need it the most, like, Leh, Ladakh or some remote part of the country, somewhere, while their another gang, their music band, played its home made and colonially acquired tunes to the amazement, claps and cheers of the people in the stadium to the conclusion of one more successful games.

Army Artisans

The concern over the issue of Footbridge collapse is genuine of the Structural Engineering fraternity, and in my opinion, takes us closer to an open exchange of open ideas (click for chain).

Commonwealth games are beyond halfway, and pre-start a footbridge collapse was a loud hue and cry along with anticipation - for example, here. I took part too (previous post). Also had come news (also Read here) flying in the ears that it took only a couple of days for the Indian Army to bolt up a quick bridge for use.

Commonwealth footbridge collapse

Khota: It collapsed!, The bridge in Delhi, by and for commonwealth.

Tota: Ok.

Khota: But, Tota, do you know why did it collapse ?

Tota: Yes, because, no one followed a proper design procejur!

Khota: You mean, no one designed the bridge?

Tota: Na re Khota, no one followed the procejur!!

Khota: I don't get it Tota. Indians, and not following procejur?

Tota: Khotaaaaa. Not only no procejur I mean, I mean no Design too. Thenga design.

Khota: Oh yes, now I know what you mean. Perhaps, this never would never happen in Queen's land? They do both. Follow procejur and do designs.

Tota: Not sure if it happens only in India. Say Luccki, no one died. Just some twenty odd were injured, some seriously. Well, you can say close to dying. Well, you can say, only injured. Just daily wage laborers. Come on, just a footbridge man not a big bridge.

**

Na re: Vocal expression for, maybe, 'No buddy, come on'

Thenga: Hand signal: Showing 'Thumb' to express that a deal went null and void.

Cleaners

Are these people called Cleaners a part of service industry?

Yes.

Is them a part of the building industry?

No.

Can they be part of the Building Service industry?

Maybe…uh huh.. surely

In Verbatim from Mark Twain

One can find many reference and online copies to old literature. Buying a paper copy is helpful to the eyes. A century and half down the line of Page 73 of Mark Twain’s, “A Connecticut Yankee In King Arthur’s Court”, has some relevance down here, I feel:

We were off before sunrise, Sandy riding and I limping along behind. In half an hour we came upon a group of ragged poor creatures who had assembled to mend the thing which was regarded as a road. They were as humble as animals to me; and when I proposed to breakfast with them, they were so flattered, so overwhelmed by this extraordinary condescension of mine that at first they were not able to believe that I was in earnest. My lady put up her scornful lip and withdrew to one side; she said in their hearing that she would as soon think of eating with the other cattle—a remark which embarrassed these poor devils merely because it referred to them, and not because it insulted or offended them, for it didn’t. And yet they were not slaves, not chattels. By a sarcasm of law and phrase they were freemen. Seven-tenths of the free population of the country were of just their class and degree: small “independent” farmers, artisans etc.; which is to say, they were the nation, the actual Nation; they were about all of it that was useful, or worth saving, or really respectworthy; and to subtract them would have been to subtract the Nation and leave behind some dregs, some refuse, in the shape of a king, nobility and gentry, idle, unproductive, acquainted mainly with the arts of wasting and destroying, and of no sort of use or value in any rationally constructed world. And yet, by ingenious contrivance, this gilded minority, instead of being in the tail of the procession where it belonged, was marching head up and banners flying, at the other end of it; had elected itself to be a Nation, and these innumerable clams had permitted it so long that they had come at last to accept it as a truth; and not only that, but to believe it right and as it should be. The priests had told their fathers and themselves that this ironical state of things was ordained of God; and so, not reflecting upon how unlike God it would be to amuse himself with sarcasms, and especially such poor transparent ones as this, they had dropped the matter there and become respectfully quiet.

One Rant

One brunt I heard some time ago from a friend who works in the field. No need to guess the name, for they are a plenty, they discuss a plenty; and the following words got stuck in my head -

“I work in this field because I am frustrated, and I am quite used to it. Frustrated! Because, we spend big money on international conferences; of course in the name of interaction, but when it comes to allocate some money to facilitate at the local level, not even a fraction is shitted. And they say they get no results. Bull shit. Maybe it is not that important and this is how things are. Some say, this is because they think this is the direction the development is supposed to take, and I am used to it.”

Woody Guthrie - I Ain't Got No Home

Lately Bollywood has been influencing me with their techniques. And I have learnt once again that - that is, if for long, you are not able to put some stuff on a story board, you put a song in between. You take it from the open source.

Off Value

Indian masons/artisans are of a great value overseas. Pick a current example - places like Middle East and around, where the Indian hardworking labor and finishing quality is appreciated more than their own home market.

Or maybe the house-owners at home may want to find what the value of this this good Indian masons/artisans is - monetarily as well as culturally.

The oil slick in the Gulf of Mexico

My Artisans screwed it up once again. Also, a few odd ten or maybe eleven lost their lives, and for long the fire was being looked to be doused.

While the problem bounces in both political and environmental zones, like a real bouncy rubber ball, putting the American prez’s existence into fix, somewhere it is realized that next time more resources are put into improving the safety case making of such difficult terrain and conditions of working.

Sometimes outliers outweigh the risk.