[Reader-list] the clearing of Barakhamba Lane last week

[Rana Dasgupta]

I've written before to another list that some of you
are on about the row of shelters on Barakhamba Lane
behind the office where I work.  The office is on
Barakhamba Road where there is a row of major
corporate buildings.  Behind the lane was a row of
huts housing some 200 people.  There was frequent
conflict between the corporate workers and these
people, since the former parked their cars there,
which then during the day became part of the apparatus
of street life - hiding places for kids at play, for
women washing themselves, etc.  The men of this
community also smoked a lot of hard drugs which was a
subject of much corporate conversation.

Last week the whole community was moved out.  There
had been some signs.  Increased police presence in the
days before.  Presumably they had issued some kind of
notice, though I don't think anyone did much in
response.  On this particular day, however, as I
arrived at work at 9.30 am, both ends of the streets
were closed with barricades and there were about 30
policemen there.  The officer in charge was surrounded
by about 20 women clamouring and protesting.  some men
had started to dismantle their own houses at one end
of the row.  they worked carefully, untying canvasses
from the wall, folding them up...  it looked like they
were allowing roughly two weeks for the task.  But
there was a bunch of men walking around spreading lime
around, disinfecting the street before they'd even
gone, so it looked as if other people were thinking on
shorter timeframes.

three hours later, when i came down at lunch time to
see what had happened, the street was completely
empty.  no houses, no people.  

i don't know where the people went.  the remains of
their houses were piled high on the back of trucks
that were just leaving.  about 100 policemen were
standing around with sticks, eating lunch.  young boys
were loading the last things into the back of a truck
(marked, for some reason, 'Press') - the most immobile
things: all the bricks and stones that were used for
furniture and cooking in the homes.  

It was an extraordinary transformation.  Three hours
before life was pretty normal.  People were cooking
and kids were playing in the street.  Watching TV
inside.  How these 200 people and all their
possessions had been moved out in such a short time I
don't know.  They had been there a long time and had a
lot of stuff, including TV, radio etc.  Even with the
use of considerable force it would be a difficult
thing to achieve.

the only real signs left were the various things
hanging on the brick wall at the back against which
they had made their shelters: calendars, religious
pictures, religious designs and some texts painted on
the wall, bottles of medicine, various rags and bags
hanging from nails and, in one place, a fragment of
mirror rather neatly concreted to the wall.

one of the things that was surprising was that these
people had been allowed to stay so long.  the
corporate crowd had always been unhappy about it.  so
why now?  the plot of land behind the wall they that
formed the back of their houses bears a big sign
saying , 'proposed plot for energy finance company
headquarters'.  i assume this is the immediate motive.
 or maybe the laying of cables which is going on like
crazy in this area.  anyway: now the cars of people
working in the buildings have gratefully taken over
the space where they lived and it looks as if they
were never there.

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