[Reader-list] gate ki kahani

Fri Feb 4 11:48:28 IST 2005

Hello,

Just thought that I should also add my two- bit to the discussions around
security.

Being familiar with New Friends Colony and Zakir Nagar very well, I can
vouch for the fact that yes, it is really inconvenient and annoying at
times to face security guards and locked gates etc. 

For those on this list who are not familiar with this part of South Delhi,
there are on the one hand these heavily gated/posh colonies like Friends
Colony, New friends Colony and Maharani Bagh.  On the other hand, are
pockets of localities/ mohallas and remnants of the earlier villages like
Julena, Zakir Nagar, Bharat Nagar, and  Taimur Nagar.

These different worlds for those who are familiar, will know, do not exist
in isolation, but through constant interaction/ exchange. Even if it is
something as banal as using a New Friends Colony road to get to Zakir
Nagar.

I am not very familiar with Maslow’s hierarchy of needs but I’m sure
security of sorts would figure there. It is human nature to want to be
secure- physically, financially emotionally, etc.  It’s not just the
State and the private security apparatus that would argue for the need for
security,  but other social structures that play upon fear such as
insurance, banking, health, education, real estate etc.

I know I’m really sticking my neck out with this but don’t we all live
in a state of fear? Some people more so than others. 

Maybe in Zakir Nagar the gate is superfluous/ a mere  status symbol for
Khadeeja’s  neighbour. But something alleviates fear here and  is
fulfilling the need for security. I know of families who live in Zakir
Nagar because they feel it is `safe’. So, I think some kind of security
apparatus would be formally or informally operational there. 

In Maharani Bagh, the physical manifestation of security could be a gate, a
security guard, a CCTV camera, in Zakir Nagar, it would be something else. 

Gates keep people out. They also keep people in- not necessarily the
residents but also who the residents want to come to this `enclosure’ of
sorts. FAmily, friends, acquaintances, and service providers. However the
threshold of entry would be different for everyone. I guess depending on 
how known is the unknown and how familiar is the stranger.

Cheers,

Iram

On 6:58:04 am 02/03/05 "khadeeja  arif" <khadeejaarif1 at rediffmail.com> wrote:
>   
> Yesterday I just happened to read a chapter from a fascinating book
> called Barbed Wire. I found the book lying at a friends place. This
> friend of mine is obsessed with the issue of Surveillance and Security
> in the city (Actually that is his research project). Anyways, I just
> quickly read the first chapter of the book. It is a fascinating account
> of the history of the barbed wire, its use for the control of the space
> based on the discourse of exclusion and inclusion. It led me think
> about the various such controlling mechanisms in our everyday existence
> and these very mechanism make us feel the need to have more security
> than ever (Mainly physical security). Some of the agencies through
> which we are made to be conscious of our own security are the TV news,
> about abduction/ terror acts/; newspaper reports of killing/
> abduction;/terror attacks; the announcements echoing in the air (in the
> markets/parking places etc); the presence of the gates/ fences/
> security guards and of courses the BARBED WIRES here and there.
> We encounter the everydayness of the city through various purposes
> like: work/meetings/college/ appointments/job hunts/ house hunt/leisure
> activities or may be, sometime, just a surreal trip to a MAD world
> where the normal world seems to be turned upside down.
> This constant mobility has become a hallmark of our existence within
> a city. It may result in our situated-ness or may assure constant
> movement in search of SITAUTEDNESS- desired by most of us.
> The forces to keep us alert as to assure our security are galore. 
> We are made believed that how important our safety is we dont know?
> There is need for some one out there to tell us about that. This is
made sure by creating a fear of the other (the outsiders/unknown/strange
> r/ and somebody who is not there, but CAN be there. So JUST BE ALERT!!!
>
> I remember one-winter night during my college days at MCRC, when
> venturing out in the night (going out to watch films, mainly at IHC, or
> sometime, if we had enough money, to see the films on the hall) was
> normal, rather most loved/cherished activity as it not only gave us a
> great sense of freedom but also meant interacting with the city at a
> different level all together (somethings which I never would have
> done/experienced otherwise).  We had neither gone to see a film nor had
> we gone to meet somebody, rather we were in the premise of our
> locality. We were actually not able to decide whether we should stay at
> Bharat Nagar (Where me, Pineneg and Tina stayed) or spend the night at
> Ritas place (Another batch mate of mine). Rita stayed in the A Block
> of New Friends Colony. Rita was also with us. It was 11 in the night
> when we had decided finally to stay at Ritas place.  We decided to go
> to Ritas place via a short cut, from behind the Bharat Nagar, without
> actually realizing that we were little too late to be eligible to cross
> the well-gated New Friends Colony. We walked for fifteen minutes, and,
> when we reached the A block, we were denied the permission to enter the
> block by the guards as it was already time to shut the gates and in no
> circumstances we could cross the gates. Though we pleaded to the
> guard. Rita: Bhiya main tau yahin rahti Ho
> Guard: tau madam aapko tau pata hona chahiye
> Khadeeja: Bhiya abhi tau 11 hi baja hai  ab ki baar khol dijiye..
> phir kabhi aia nahi karengay Guard: Madam yeh sab aapki suraksha ke
> liye hi kiya hai Rita: Bhiya, please!!!
> Guard: Nahi madam.
> Khadeeja: Fuck off!!!
>
> As the guard seemed really a tough nut to crack, we decided to go
> back to the main road and come from the front side of the A block (or
> the main road). This time again we walked for fifteen minutes and
> decided to take a rickshaw once we reach the main road of Bharat Nagar.
> As we reached at the main gate of the A block, we were once again
> denied the entry by the guard. This time the reason was the Rickshaw.
> The entry of a rickshaw is prohibited in New friends Colony and if you
> had come with one you are suppose to get down at the main road and walk
> inside. This time Rita asked us not to argue because she knew that
> entry of a rickshaw is impossible!! So its better not to argue!! We
> got down at the well-guarded gate and walked to Ritas place!!
> This incidence, in retrospect, made me think about the paranoia
> regarding security as the most overrated virtue these days. The
> narrative connects my memory lane to another story of a gate. I
> remember once some people coming to meet my Mama on a Sunday morning in
> our Zakir Nagar house and collecting 500 Rs each to put up a gate and a
> watchman at the entrance of our gali. I remember myself asking a very
> obvious and a naïve question:
>
>
>  Lakin gate laga kar fayeda kiya chor tau kahin se bhi aa sakta hai
> kiyonki yeh gali tau charo taraf se khuli hai aur sab jagah se
> connected hai/
> One uncle who came to collect the money responded: lakin humay tau
> puri koshis karni hai. Aajkal mahol  bohat kharab hai.
> Anyways, everybody agreed to have a gate and a security guard to
> PROTECT/ SAFEGUARD all of us. The money was collected. Gate was
> ordered. The watchman was decided. Next week the gate was up and
> everyone was feeling HAPPY and SECURE.
> Some people in the neighborhood including one of my aunts took it as
> a status symbol and were feeling really proud.
> Weeks passed. All celebrated gated ness of the lane. What difference
> did it make to our life in terms of making it more secure? Nobody
> knew!! Or, there was no way that one could have possibly known.
> One month passed. Time was to pay the salary of the watchman. Money
> had to be contributed by everyone!! Gradually the dispute over the
> monthly salary of the guard sprung up. People who actually contributed
> for the gate and advocated the need to be SECURE backed out to pay
> anymore. When the proper money did not come even to contribute for the
> salary of the guard, he was asked to leave. After sometime, on a Sunday
> morning, somebody found out that one of the gates was missing. Somebody
> said that the people who actually came up with the idea of the gate
> have sold it out; somebody suggested that Chor le gaye hai. Finally,
> nobody could discern anything more concrete except for the fact that
> the gate was missing.
> Well, for two or three days it was a hot debate but gradually the
> conversation faded out and nobody actually cared, as nobody bother or
> feel the need to have a GATE actually. After sometime the gate was not
> a topic of the debate at all. The one door of the Iron Gate was
> standing tilted, but recently it has also been found disappeared. This
> time I doubt if anyone has noticed it missing. This is just a story of
> a gate but an interesting one!! For the obvious reason!!
> Yesterday a friend of mine from Aajtak was telling me that she is
> going to shift to the A Block of New Friends Colony. I should better
> tell her about the great security that an individual is assured in New
> Friends Colony. And, she is going to be really SAFE in New Friends
> colony. Gate Hai Naa!!!
>
> Khadeeja
>