[Reader-list] corridors.. the new pathway/2nd posting

[sayandeb mukherjee]

the second posting is a continuation of the topic -
evolution of urban spaces which falls under the
heading - THE MAINFRAME. in INTERFACE, this time i
have posted one personal experience which may appear
refractory to the ruunning project.

THE MAINFRAME

the evolution of urban spaces..(contd)

...these havelis, palaces, kuthris or mansions were a
far cry from the present day houses, even considering
the basic lay out. Modern day pillar based
consrtuction was not followed in early days. Probably
from the early Helenic civilization 'four wall'
construction came into vogue and continued till the
19th century. In these type of houses, primarily the
four walls used to be constructed and they used to
support the beams which were necessary for laying
clay-tiles prior to the construction of concrete-roof
to keep provision of making another floor. but this
structural-technique could not provide any guarantee
for further projection in the z-axis, i.e. high-rises.
So mostly the space-occupation and expansions will be
in a horizontal basis. In the main premises of these
old constructions, one can therefore find a row of
rooms which were mostly living-cum-bed rooms that 
respectively belonged to individual subsets in a
super-set of a giant family. For this row of so called
living-cum-bed rooms, a common space used to run
throughout, consequently emerging a vestibular space
or a corridor-like-space. These spaces are markedly
different from that of present day in terms of
structure, utility and characterestics (that would be
discussed later). The space was extremely functional
used extensively during celebrations, rituals,
religious occasions and family get-togethers. There
used to be a guest/visitors' room (called 'the
baithak' in major portions of early India) which were
constructed at a distance from these row of
living-cum-bed rooms. This isolation was probably a
reflection of the then conservative social structure
where a kind of privacy for the women of the household
was maintained. One essential feature that deserve
mention was the separation of the kitchen, wash area
and a store-room. They also used to exist at a
distance from the main premises. The entire domestic
space were used to be territorized by a boundary or a
fence and within this, apart from the mentioned living
spaces there were a huge amount of open spaces which
are nowadays translated as residual spaces ( will be
discussed later ) in front and behind the main
building. The large main gateway of these mansions,
with a smaller doorway cut into it, led into an
interior courteyard  ( called 'the mardana' for
havelis of Rajasthan ). This was a space that
interfaced to the visitors' room and was where men of
the household spent much of their day. Beyond this
frontal courteyard, sometimes at the rear portion of
the living rooms, was the inner courteyard ( called
'the zenana or the 'uthan' ) where women of the
household had their privatized access. Depending on
the landlord/merhant's wealth there might exist
additional courteyards. In few cases, although rare,
these so-called residual spaces also included certain
barren land kept unutilized uncared and hence used to
get exposed to resurgence of nature or
bio-degradation. This concept of distantiated kitchen,
wash area and store room and the multiple existence of
courteyards has become non-existent today for it
appears quite irrational/impractical when one
considers the space-crises of today's world. 
With the changing world order these havelis, palaces,
kuthris ceased to exist. Nuclear families gradually
emerged, as it started disintegrating from the big
core family. Also with the establishment of the
British Raj in the early to mid-19th century, trade
shifted to the coastal ports of Bombay, Calcutta and
Madras. That was the time when the merchants/traders
majorly drifted to these port cities leaving their
hometowns.... (continued) 


THE INTERFACE

The followed text is a personal experience of Sanhita
who resides in Mysore. She shares early childhood
memories when intersected by the corridor-like-spaces.

...
That idea/ image is brilliant that you do not have to
worry about your child, that the child would discover
its “girlhood” in the corridor; did that mean that the
corridor is safe enough for any girl child rather than
the “road” where she had to play with her tricycle if
there was no corridor?....I have a doubt...a corridor
also can be a place to worry...of course for the
“girl” child. Anything can happen; anything can come
out of a shadowy corner of a corridor. I might be
acting like a pessimist; but can not help it. I can
share one experience of mine. At our old home there
was a long corridor; L- shaped; the long hand of the L
was the veranda in front of our room and our jethu’s
room; and the short hand, a little shadowy leads to my
another uncle’s room; I had a habit of running through
the corridor in my childhood; used to run to cross the
darken corridor hurriedly; and my big brother used to
hide behind the shadow at the beginning of the short
hand of the L to frighten me; he used to wear a mask
and a long black robe used to hang from his shoulder
just as it hanged from Count Dracula’s shoulders; and
imagine a little girl, running to shorten the duration
of the darkness and confronting the thing which she
wanted to avoid so much; but it helped me in a
positive way you know!! By confronting this same FEAR
every single time I at last succeeded to overcome it;
and still now I thank to my brother for this. But I do
not know whether every girl child is this much lucky;
most of the time some real Count Dracula waits for
them.

Apart from this, I did not have any experience of
corridor(ing!) before I came here; and for the first
one or two months I had a difficulty to SHARE myself
with others in the corridor; a ventilator is there
above every door of the hostel which opens in the
corridor; in spite of all my efforts, I could not keep
my habit of smoking private any more; its not the
question of hiding or anything like that; it was the
question of privacy which was hampered; every time I
light a cig I used to hear a voice telling “ who is
smoking in this lobby?”; and it continued till I
“declared” it!! I do not think that we share the
corridor; at least not I; even I don’t want to; it the
CORRIDOR which shares us.

Oh! This is very true; that we “judge” the urbanity
with this; after coming here, many a times I told
others that Mysore is not a city at all; it does not
have a high rise!!          


THE DATABASE

I have gone through the site below sent by Debkamal
Ganguly and have found certain rich and relevant
references which I would like to share with you all. 
http://foucault.info/documents/heteroTopia/foucault.heteroTopia.en.html
pls visit this site and suggest me whether these newly
evolved corridor-like intermediatory spaces falls into
the category of HETEROTOPIA.


anticipating suggestions and your kind responses 

sayandeb mukherjee





		
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