Under Construction

23 July 2010

15:19

I invite all of those who are suffering through a sizzling hot summer in the northern California valleys to visit Bangalore. . . The weather has been nothing but cool with low humidity and scattered showers. It is a blessing to spend a summer out of that heat.

One of the biggest happenings this week is that our office building is undergoing construction. We showed up Monday morning to find a truck with a bed full of sand and a dozen or so young men mixing piles of cement in the space traditionally used for meetings, meals and other gatherings.

Initially, I was told that the kitchen walls were simply going to be extended to encompass a pre-existing foundation protruding from front of the building. As construction progressed, it became evident that a second story was going to be built onto our little shack. When I asked John about it, he just looked at me and offered a smirk characteristic of a spirited child that was caught doing something that he wasn’t supposed to do but was still overwhelmingly proud. He went on to claim that he was in fact encroaching on the surrounding land and also wanted additional office space. I shook my head and chuckled in amusement.

On rickety wooden ladders, with low-grade cement-sand slurry, and without footwear, the men have been hard at work all week. I recognize some of them from slums that we have visited. Work in the office continues despite the showers of crumbing debris and clambering of tools. No complaints are voiced.

The roof on the office buildingis thin tin sheeting. Wednesday, a hole was punched through it by accident. It was during one of the typical monsoon storms and countless pans of water had to be collected. No problem. Yesterday, gritty rubble continued to fall through this hole onto the desks andrugs. No problem. Today, a 4’x3’ slab of roofing material unintentionally broke loose and fell into the main space of the office. No one was hurt, but shelves and bulletin boards were damaged. With a gaping hole in the roof, large fragments of brick and cinder blocks continued to tumble down for an hour or two. I moved my work outside for fear of physical injury and laptop harm, but no one else seemed concerned. So it goes.

It has been a rather slow week. A cold has been cycling the office, and everyone seems to be working at a lower energy level than usual. I have been out mapping with a fancy GPS device, am learning the ins and outs of ArcGIS, have been exposed to the biometric database collection process, have attended a loan-giving ceremony on the outskirts of Bangalore, have aided in Settlement Survey data collection, and have had a few meetings with Sir John and Sir Thomas.

Having one day a week to pose as a weekend is a difficult adjustment. On Sundays, the entirety of Bangalore

goes to church (if necessary) and then stays home. They believe in reserving the day off strictly for resting welland eating well. Contrastingly, Sundays are my day to see the city and to exercise. At this point, I feel completely confident that I can travel anywhere within the city limits of Bangalore alone by

bus without too much effort. I’ve attended a performance of Gabriel Faure’s Requiem by the Cecilian Choir. I’ve see the play Robinson and Crusoe at the Ranga Shankara playhouse. I’ve spent a full day wandering around the infamous Lalbagh Botanical Gardens. I’ve mastered the layout of my neighborhood within a one and one half mile radius. Add eating, sleeping, laundry by hand, running several miles, reading, socializing, and other various chores . . . time seems to be scarce.

Over and out.