Construction

The economy is certainly not slowing down in India. This is evidenced by the amount of construction going on around where we live.

There are house renovations, extensions and new buildings, both residential and commercial, popping up everywhere.

On our daily walks we pass a lot of these sites and wave to say hello to the workers. They are always friendly, and as is the case with all Indians, love to have their photo taken.

The amazing thing is that nearly all construction is done by hand. They bring in a big mixer for the foundations on multi story buildings but everything else is done manually. Most scaffolding is made from bamboo or thin tree trunks and tied together with rope. It is all transported to the site by motor bike or pedal power. It is quite a site seeing these bikes traverse the traffic with 5 metre lengths tied to the side of them.

The work teams comprise men and women with the women doing most of the carrying of sand, bricks etc from the footpath to inside. All the sand is sifted on site by the women then placed in large saucer shaped dishes and carried on their head. A short handled shovel/mattock called a mumti is used for digging/shovelling/cement mixing/clearing on site. It is amazing to see how efficiently these are used. To us they seem to be backbreaking devices but often they are the only tool seen on the site.

The most spectacular feat witnessed so far is a woman self-loading her head with bricks. She has a small round pad of cloth on her head, squats by the pile of bricks then loads her head generally with eight bricks in a 2 X 2 cross formation. When loaded, she rises to her feet, walks inside and unloads them and comes back for more.

Most digging is done with a crow-bar – Aust. term? 2 metre long metal bar shaped to a point at one end and with a flat plate on the other end. All the work is labour intensive. The people working are lean and very fit. They work extremely long hours. In fact at the moment there is a renovation happening outside the Hostel and the men were still there at 7.00 pm last night after a 6.00 am start.

Reinforcing for concrete is all bent/shaped by hand on a board with three metal bolts and joined with small pieces of wire.

They work very hard and during their breaks will find a large shady tree and lie down for a sleep on the footpath (no mat).

On most of the large building sites small slum-type dwellings are erected in which the workers live for the duration of the building.

Some of the buildings are very modern. There seems to be a move from the rendered buildings with small windows to the more modern glass panelled buildings. It is amazing to think that they are still doing most of these by hand.

Modern building in progress

 

Chennai's 'Bunnings' Hardware
 

A mumti in use

 

Large mixer used for foundations

 

Plaited Palm screens to block view of construction 

 

Bamboo scaffolding

We were told that in the +5 storey buildings in the centre of the City they are using more modern methods ie cement trucks to deliver concrete and some pre-fabricated walls but in the suburbs it is still a very manual process.  We continue to be amazed at their endurance!