[Reader-list] wall magazine from cybermohalla at lnjp

[Shveta Sarda]

dear all, 

Ibarat is a wall magazine taken out by the Cybermohalla Project. Its 
12 participants range from 15 to 23, and they plan to print it once every two 
months. It is pasted up in almost 25 places in their neighbourhood - LNJP 
Colony, which is near Ajmeri gate in New Delhi.
 
This is the english translation of Ibarat 02. The hindi Ibarat can be viewed 
at http://www.sarai.net/community/cybermohalla/ibarat02/pages/page01.html

shveta


============================================


Ibarat#02
An inscription, a write-up

A monthly publication from the Compughar

July 2002

________________________________________________________________________


A dialogue

We promised a new Ibarat every month, so here we are again. A little delayed, 
though, because of several reasons - the realisation of our dream to go to 
Bombay, school examinations of the Compughar team, relatives' marriages, and 
power failures from time to time.

We were really happy to read your suggestions, which you wrote on the blank 
sheets we had placed on the walls alongside the last issue of Ibarat. 
Suggestions about the need to increase the font size, inclusion of the names 
of lanes we had missed out, other topics from the basti on which subsequent 
issues may be based. When we read them we felt you really do consider the 
Compughar as your own.

The topic for this issue of Ibarat is 'work'. When we all sat down to discuss 
it, we realised there were many facets to work, and that these are related in 
myraid ways to every thing. For instance, their relationship with god, with 
place, with tools, with time, etc. It is about some 'works', this Ibarat.

After we carried bhai Mohataram's interview in the last Ibarat, it became much 
easier to have conversations [for publishing] with other people. Many people 
volunteered to tell us things related to them. We hope that, as with the last 
one, you read this Ibarat with affection.

Our request to you is to not spoil your own toil. What we mean is that you 
take care of this Ibarat because we try to search the history of our basti 
(settlement) or that which is related to it and put that in it. If we don't 
know our basti ourselves, then the government or its workers will not let us 
get introduced to its life. This is a result of our collective efforts, then 
why not let this be the ladder to create an identity of the basti.

Don't forget to give us your suggestions. We will return again with another 
Ibarat. Till then, Khuda Haafiz.

-----------------

Work
What is work, in reality? What women who stay at home and do is also work. 
That is also work which fruit vendors, those who sit on tea shops and those 
who sell things from sweet shops do. And that is also work which people who 
sweep and collect garbage, that is sweepers, do. But then why do people view 
different kinds of work differently? Why are there so many points of view to 
work? Probably because people also see work as good and bad. For instance, 
people who sweep and collect garbage are considered 'fallen'. People keep a 
distance from themwhile walking, as if physical contact will cause disease. 
But why don't people realise that if it weren't for these people, who would 
collect the garbage? If no one collects garbage, there will be piles and 
piles of it. Then we wouldn't have tall buildings, only towers of rubbish. If 
only people understood this, work would not be thought of as big or small, as 
good or bad. Because work is only work. Every human being works to earn to 
fulfil needs at home. For instance, a butcher butchers thousands of goats, 
buffaloes, hens etc in a day. Many people wonder, doesn;t he get frightened? 
Doesn't his heart feel merciful? But to say all this is wrong, because that 
is his own work. If he starts feeling merciful, scared, then who will do his 
work? If buffaloes, goats and hens are not cut up, they will outnumber human 
beings. Then there won't be any space left for humans to live.

-----------------------------------

A day in the life of a woman 

I have written about a woman. What all work she does from morning till night. 
The woman I am writing about is called Dhanno. Dhanno wakes up in the morning 
at 7:00 a.m. At 7:30 she makes tea for her son. And wakes up her younger 
children for school. At 8 she readies them for school. At 8:15 she collects 
all her utensils and washes them. At 8:45 she finishes this work. At 10 she 
wakes up her young daughter. And tells her to go switch the motor on and fill 
water. From 10:30 to 11:30 she washes clothes. At 12 she cleans the house, 
from inside as well as outside. She does this till 12:30. At 12:45 she 
strains out the water from the clothes and takes them to spread them out. 
Then she rests till 1:30. At 2:00 she goes to the market to buy vegetables, 
spices and other things for the house. She returns from the market at 3:00. 
And tells her daughter to cook the food. She cooks. At 3:15, her elder sister 
come to their house. She prepares tea for her. Brings some snacks. And chats 
with her sister, laughing all the time. She eats her food at 4:00 and goes to 
sleep at 4:30. At 5:00, her daughter Shanno asks if she can go for her 
tuitions. 

She asks, may I go? Dhanno says, no. Shanno insists. At 5:30, she gets up, 
angry, and starts abusing her. At 6:00, she goes and sits under a tree near 
where Bismillah stays. Chats a little. There was a slightly mad woman there. 
She was passing by. She caught hold of her hair from behind and laughed a 
lot. The woman walked away, abusing. At 6:15, Dhanno comes back home. Makes 
tea. Switches on the television and sits down. Her children return from 
school. They ask for food. And the children say, ammi, we are hungry. Give us 
food. Their mother raises her eyebrows and says, get lost, you've just come, 
and want food immediately. At 6:30, Shanno returns from her tuitions. Dhanno 
says, impertinent girl, I had told you not to go, still you went. At 7:00 she 
switches the television on to watch it. And listens to old songs. Then the 
call for prayer (azaan) is made. She switches the t.v. off. Offers her 
prayers, and gets up at 7:30. After some time, there is a fight going on 
somewhere. At quarter to eight, she goes out singing. The song was, tum yaad 
na aayaa karo, yaad aane se pehale tum aa jaya karo, chhota sa milan tha, ho 
lambi judaai hai. Aa jaao ke jan mere honthon pe aaee hai. After watching the 
fight, she comes back, laughing, at 9:00. Eats her food at 9:10. Then keeps 
watching television. And makes some handicraft material. By 10-10:30, she 
finishes the work and goes to sleep. 

-------------------------------------------

Work and god

The relation between work and god is very deep. Everyone takes their god's 
name before commencing work. For some people, work and god are equals. If 
someone hits against something, they take their god's name. What some people 
in the basti said about work:

Maulvi (one learned in Muslim law): Work gets you respect, and work gets you 
god.

Bhai (brother) Chavva (butcher): Work increases when you take god's name.

Naresh: God gives us hands and feet to work. If we don't work then leave alone 
roti/bread, we won't even get grass to eat.

Zaibun Khala (aunt): Work is begun by taking god's name. With god's name, work 
becomes abundant. For instance: some women or men get up in the morning and 
pray to their respective gods. Children keep repeating Ram or Rahim's name. 
Old people keep sitting in temples. For some people, praying or reading the 
namaaz itself is work. For instance pundits and maulanas [hindu and muslim 
temple priests repsectively]. Beggars also beg by taking Ram or Allah's name. 
At the time of their exams, children remember many hymns or kalmas in Allah's 
name.

-----------------------------------------------

Work and place

In this basti, work is done in accordance with space. For instance, those who 
make surma dani's, pipes, items from thin metal sheets into which they drill 
holes. People have started many enterprises in their homes. Enterprises in 
which women also are involved. Women do several kinds of jobs. Like 
handicrafts, embroidery, sewing, printing and selling things in sweet shops. 
Women have mostly started handicraft work and they get their orders from 
Shakur Ki Dandi. Sometimes dealers themselves bring raw materials. When the 
goods are ready, it is sold in some market or some grandshop.

Cloth for embroidery is brought from Turkhman Gate and Sui Walan. Designs are 
already printed on them so no mistakes are made while someone embroiders. 
Women can do this work really well beacause in earlier times it was very 
important that women learn sewing and embroidery. Here men and women both 
stitch. Women use the machine that is operated by hand, while men mostly use 
the one where feet have to be emplyed. We think clothes can be stitched 
better by using the machine operated by foot. There must be only one or two 
people who get their stiching jobs done outside. 

The are many kinds of shops here. Some sweet shops. Some people have opened 
shops inside their homes, and some of them, outside. It's commonplace now to 
open sweet shops.

-----------------------------------

Work and time

There are some kinds of work in our basti that happen on time. For instance, 
the doctor's shop. There are five doctors' shops in the basti. One is 
Mohamaad Ahmad's as well. He opens his shop at 9.30 in the morning. Shuts it 
by 2.00 in the afternoon. Another is of the doctor from near the temple. It 
is known as the shop of the doctor from the temple. Mohammad Ahmad is known 
as the doctor from the masjid.

There are some workhops as well. But they do not follow a time schedule. 
People who live in the basti work here. In our basti there is a workshop that 
belongs to Laaloo. They make boxes here. Eight children work here. Three of 
them go to study in the morning. They work from 2.00 to 8.00. There age is 
between eight and ten. Two are in the second standard. And one is in the 
sixth. Five boys have stopped going to school. Of these eight children, four 
know the work from beginning to end, while others only know parts of it. 
These must be around 17-18 years old. If they want, they can open their own 
workshops. But they work with Laaloo. I spoke with Laaloo bhai. He lives in 
Ganj Mir Khan, but comes to LNJP colony for work. Diwali time is good for his 
work. After Diwali, the work flow reduces for around 1-2 months. The boys who 
work with bhai Laaloo get Rs 800-900 every month.

-------------------------------------------

Work and tools

Some work can't be done without using tools. For instance the work of a motor 
mechanic, carpenter and electrician. Even though all work needs tools. Tools 
make our work much simpler. For instance when we put a screw in something 
with our bare hands, the screw will remain loose, while with a screw driver 
the work will not only get done faster but also be stronger. There are some 
tools that can be found at home: for instance scissors, pliers and knives 
will be there in every house because a woman's work can't get done without 
them. 

Then there is some work that just can't be done without tools. Like a tailor 
can't work without a pair of scissors, wood work, without a saw. All tools 
have been created by humans to make their work simpler. Children who study in 
schools have as their tools pens.

The names of some tools are such that they are strange to hear. For instance a 
motor mechanic's tools such as spanners (pilakpana, churmai ki goti, 11 ki 
goti), magnet puller and colour pooler etc. People also respect their tools, 
specially men. If by mistake their foot touches their tools, they pick it up 
and kiss it. Some people keep their tools near god's feet. They believe this 
will ensure their work will be done well and the (Hindu) god/dess of wealth 
Laxmi [i.e. money] will come. My father is a tailor. He doesn't let us cut 
our nails with the pair of scissors he uses to cut clothes. He says the 
scissors earn him his daily bread and it isn't good to use it to cut nails.

---------------------------------------------

Work and rhythm

A relationship between work and rhythm is seem everywhere. When a person gets 
bored while working, s/he takes assistance of rhythm (songs). Usually it is 
seen that when women and girls do there morning household chores (sweeping, 
washing utensils etc), they play a tape and keep humming along with the 
songs. Decks also keep playing in workshops because when work is linked with 
rhythm the work does not seem difficult or huge, because a lot of our 
attention is on the words or the tune of the song. On Sundays, everyone 
(children, adults, youth) are on holiday and either go out or stay at home 
and listen to music. There are many handicraft enterprises and worksjops in 
this basti and from which a lot of sound of songs can be heard. There is a 
workshop near where we live, where a lot of people work. Their door opens 
towards our home. There is a staircase there which they use to go up and 
down. One day they were playing the deck in very high volume at 11.30 at 
night. We were sleeping on the roof. My mother got up and asked them to lower 
the volume and one small child replied, saying they wouldn't. Before my 
mother could open her mouth to say anything, one man got up and lowered the 
volume. Then ammi came back and to the roof and lay down. Not only adults, 
but even children like to listen to music when working. A small child listens 
to a lullaby from his mother while sleeping, this shows that whether or not a 
child knows about the world, s/he knows about rhythm. A relationship with 
rhythm makes work less burdensome.

---------------------------------------------------

A conversation with Hamid

"But I won't give this interview," he said, laughing. "Why?" I asked, raising 
my eyebrows, immediately upset. "Oh no, you're thoroughly prepared to ensnare 
me.!" I connected the walkman, head phone and microphone and said, "No, no, 
there is nothing like that, ths is just for us."

"No, I don't want my voice to be recorded. Elections are due very soon. I 
don't want for there to be any problem for my men."

"Oh no," Farzana baji, who was there with me, chipped in. "No harm will come 
to anyone because of this, least of all to you." Farzana baji, who;s a little 
plump, short, has eyes of medium size, thin lips, a full, rounded face, wears 
glasses. She tried her best to convince Hamid, but he wouldn't relent. 
Insisted that he'd give us an interview, but minus the recording. "I'll tell 
you every thing just like this. You write it down." I didn't have much 
choice.

Azra: So tell me, why video games?

Mr. Hamid: Why video games? Actually, I'd gone to watch the film Chanakya 
once. I'm talkingof some three to four years ago. I was stepping out of the 
cinema hall when a shop caught my eye. You haven't got your tape recorder on, 
have you?" He glanced towards where the walkman was, cutting himslef short. 
Then picked it up to check. Replaced it when convinced and resumed speaking. 
"Yes, so as I was saying, that shop caught my attention. There were more than 
three to four games there. Some many children were playing. And with them, 
agging them on, were their parents, shouting out their encouragement. Seeing 
them I thought, wow, this is some game even parents don't disapprove of. If 
we have this in our JP colony, then, though not play along with them, at 
least parents will not disallow children from playing. The thought stayed 
with me, though I didn't act on it. Then I went to meet a friend one day. He 
had started a video game shop with someone. This is by the side of Delite. I 
saw that there were many children there as well. I asked my friend how much 
he earned in a day. He said anywhere between a hundred and hundred and fifty 
per day. Without power failures, a hundred and fifty, otherwise, at least a 
hundred.

That's when I really seriously thought about it. Children seemed to be really 
hooked to it, and it could be a part time job for me. It looked like a good 
mental exercise for kids, as well as a source of knowledge for them. I had 
some money of my own, so I started this.

Azra: So why did you take a loan?

Mr. Hamid: Yes, I had taken a loan with Mohataram bhai's help. I'd started a 
box factory with that. I thoroughly enjoyed that. I worked on both 
simultaneously. Video game on one hand, and the factory on the other. I 
employed a boy here, for the game, who managed things a little. And another 
boy in the factory. And I would oversee both.

Azra: Do you play vidoe games?

Mr.Hamid: No, I don't play. Sometimes some friends come. We chat a bit. (He 
smiled). Sometimes I play one or two tokens.

Azra: How much is one token worth?

Mr. Hamid: 50 paise. This much because people here are poor. Children 
shouldn't fight with their mothers for money. 50 paise is affordable.

Azra: But if it is so inexpensive, why do people still object?

Mr. Hamid: That's because children wanted to sit here from morning to evening. 
Sometimes a child is away from home for hours, though not here. But when 
parents see them, and the child happens to be here - even if the child's been 
here a couple ofminutes, though away from home three hours - they think the 
child's been here all along. They would beat the child. I used to fight with 
them on this. But I used to follow a rule - I'd send the child home by my own 
self. But this would happen if I wasn't paying attention. But I enjoyed all 
this very much.

-------------------------------------------------

Some more stories about our lanes

There are some lanes that, though they have their own name, are known by the 
names of other lanes. Like the lane of Bihari Kalam's hotel. It is also known 
as Bismillah's lane. Some others call it Bangladeshi lane. We have heard 
these three kinds of things:

Angoori: Very few people know about this lane. Often we give our house number 
for identification. Or say that we live behind Bismillah's shop, or tell the 
name of the Bengali hotel, Kalam's Hotel. I am from Bengal. And many people 
in this lane are from Bengal. It's been thirty years since I came here. Then 
there were no houses here. There was an open field. We cleared the area and 
made our house. In our lane, a lot of people make their purchases from Nan's 
shop, Ram Das' shop and Zakitr's shop. We know the names of lots of lanes 
here, like Allah Rakhi's lane, Maulana Naeem,Kullu, Roshan, Masjid, Zukur, 
Zebun's lanes. At least a hundred people live in this lane. From UP, Bihar, 
Delhi, kishan Ganj. We fight, but we make up as well. Specially there are a 
lot of fights over matters concerning children. Or about incidents 
surrounding boys and girls. About fifteen days back,a boy used to live in 
someone's house on rent. He teased a girl. We got together and threw the boy 
out of the colony.no one tolerates such things here. We want everyone to know 
about our lane. Here women are employed in handicrafts and making tea as 
well.

Zarina: From Roshan's side, this is the first lane. It starts here, and ends 
here. Here men are mostly hawkers, mostly of fruits. Women do handicrafts and 
sewing work. 90-100 people live in this lane. 

Anita: Our lane is behind Sunil's shop. Many internal fights happen here. 
There is a fight for every small thing. Sometimes over water, sometimes over 
children. Fights happen inside homes as well. Women are engaged in 
handicrafts here.

Rizwana: Our lane is spoken of as the second in the first lane after Arvind 
hospital. This first lane is very long. Some seven to eight lanes join it. 
But our lane is one of the smaller ones associated with it. This lane has 
only six rooms. Only 30-40 people live here. Men here work in tea shops, as 
tailors, in paan shops, groceries. Women here are involved in handicrafts and 
kaarchob (embroidery done by fixing the cloth in a standing frame.) In this 
lane is also the facility of a telephone. Calls come on this phone. Mostly 
from Sitamarhi, Ludhiana, Narela. Many fights happen here, huge ones. Within 
houses, and also outside.

---------------------------------------------------

For our brothers:

You wanted to know what we do at the Compughar (building). The time has come 
when we give you a reply to this question without saying anything. Like you 
used the Ibarat boards as raw material to burn for warming your hands in 
winters, there is now a book [Galiyon Se / by lanes] that you can use as fuel 
for cooking for a whole month. A book in which we have tried to tell, to 
narrate, to say many kinds of thoughts, reflections, realities. Now you can 
think for yourself this: how much fun must there be in something as spicy and 
seasoned as this book.

----------------------------------------------------
Articles, photographs, design, layout by the Ibarat team at the Compughar, 
Cybermohalla

Ibarat team: Azra Tabassum, Mehrunnisa, Shamsher Ali, Suraj Rai, Shahjehan, 
Nilofer, 
Yashodha Singh, Bobby Khan, Babli Rai, Shahana Qureshi.

They can be contacted at compughar at sarai.net

Translation by shveta (shveta at sarai.net)
http://www.sarai.net/community/cybermohalla/ibarat02/pages/english02.htm
---------------------------------------------------------

Cybermohalla is an experimental collaborative initiative between Ankur, a 
Delhi based NGO and Sarai, for the creation of nodes of popular digital 
culture in Delhi . The Compughar (Media Lab) is located in LNJP basti, a 
working class settlement in Central Delhi.

Write to cybermohalla at sarai.net
About Cybermohalla: www.sarai.net

Galiyon Se / by lanes: 
http://www.sarai.net/community/cybermohalla/book01/bylanes.htm
for orders, write to dak at sarai.net
or Sarai, CSDS, 29 Rajpur Road, Delhi 110054, India