Karimadon Colony, Trivandrum
It was now several days ago that we had a really interesting lecture on slums in India and theories on dealing with them. The talk was given by Shylaja, who is an architect affiliated with COSTFORD, our host organization.
Some interesting facts about slums:
-Mumbai’s major slum is the biggest in Asia
-1% of India’s population lives in the slums of Maharashtra state (of which Mumbai is capital city) – India’s 2001 Census
Previous attempts to deal with slums included demolishing them, as was the case during Indira Gandhi’s “Emergency” in 1975.
-A slum is established because it has good proximity/access to the kinds of work that people who live in slums tend to do – they’re very central. It’s all about location.
-A slum is allowed to establish itself in a given place because its land that no one else wants: flood-prone, noisy, etc.
-Razing the slums and relocating their residents not only hurts the people by displacing them, but it also hurts their employers.
A COSTFORD structure inside Karimadon Colony
Based on these facts, the newer ideas center around slum renewal. Slums end up being a good fit for COSTFORD for a number of reasons: government funding allots only a small amount per building, so the NGO’s “low-cost” technologies get put to the test, for one. Working with slum communities also fits in with the social mission of the NGO. To start, they build upon designs started by the late Laurie Baker, featuring stacked apartments that enable all tenants to have outdoor spaces/terraces for their use. More interestingly, since it’s ideal for all the building to have a common front/meeting space, building apartments on the back sides of these buildings is not desirable. But when you have stacked apartments, you end up with “dead space.”
COSTFORD then decided that the so-called dead space could be put to great use if it was designated for mixed-use instead, ranging from stores to libraries. Such space might also attract non-residents of the slum inside, they hope, and the process of interacting there would teach outsiders that the slum-dwellers are not scary alien creatures but actually people. Novel idea.
Family enjoying their terrace, Karimadon Colony
After hearing about many of COSTFORD’s slum redevelopment projects in Kerala (which they acknowledge are nowhere near the magnitude of the slums in Mumbai and elsewhere in India), we were taken to Karimadon Colony to check out these buildings for ourselves.
The slum community, Karimadon Colony, emerged over time as workers came to this particular area in the center of Trivandrum to “mine” the earth (not sure if that’s the best word) of the soil to make bricks for buildings elsewhere around town. They came from various places, often brought their families, and settled. The government provided some housing for them, but it wasn’t enough, so more recently they engaged COSTFORD to contract additional housing. The government had to bend the rules for COSTFORD a little; some of the work they were doing didn’t quite match up with local ordinances, so Kerala State issued a special ordinance that enables organizations like COSTFORD and Habitat for Humanity to more or less do what they think is best, regardless of current ordinances.
I’ve spent some time in slum communities up in Hubli – my organization collaborated with a student group from USC on a water-related project in a community called S.M. Krishnanagar, and my housekeeper, Durgamba, lived in what would be termed a mini-slum that my roommate and I ran through on our daily run. Therefore, I was mostly curious about how this place would compare…
We were promptly greeted by squealing giggling children, some of whom dared to come close and talk to us, and others who preferred to observe from a distance. The bolder of the children had fun asking us all our names, and the names of our fathers and mothers, and sometimes even telling us their ages. Kerala is known for it’s nearly universal elementary education, which has been a strong focus of the state government for decades. In fact , heavy investment in education has had a major impact on Kerala’s birthrate (much lower than the Indian average) and all other sorts of awesome Human Development Indicators. They call it the “Kerala Model.” Anyhow, these children were very excited about their guests, and a few of us quickly lost sight of the rest of our group while we were engulfed by children.
new friends, Karimadon Colony
As tends to happen, some stuck out more than others. One adorable girl attached herself to me and started telling everyone that she WAS me (or, rather, “Nasry,” which actually reminds me a teeny bit of people trying to say my name back in Uzbekistan). Sadly this girl didn’t make it into the photo here, though. The other girl (in the long pink skirt) was named Shahanas. They kept insisting the others and I come inside and meet their families, but we noted we needed to catch up with the group. So they came along with us, one girl clutching each one of my hands. There were a handful of boys as well. We made a lovely scene carrying on up the steps to meet up with the rest of the group. Once again, my friend told everyone that her name was Nasry (which I then had to explain was her way of saying Lesley), which is probably why I can’t remember her real name. The whole incident reminded me of how it’s almost impossible to travel places in India without a small but loyal band of children following you everywhere.
And then, language got complicated. These girls spoke only a little English, and I don’t speak any Malayalam (the state language) beyond “hello” and “thank you.” And of course they couldn’t speak Kannada, not that I remember much. So to make sure Shahanas understood me, I busted out my 2 phrases of Hindi. This led the girls to assume I spoke Hindi, and they proceeded to drag me around and introduce me to their mothers and aunties and whoever else (who were quickly able to perceive that I couldn’t actually speak Hindi). Again I was invited into more homes, but didn’t want to lose the group a second time. But I communicated with at least one family through a window, and they bestowed several large pieces of fresh jackfruit upon me.
on the roof of a building in the making, Karimadon Colony
This Hindi knowledge was a little puzzling, as I’ve heard that people here mainly speak Malayalam and English. South Indians as a general rule see the Hindi language as Northern Aggression, thus preferring to use English when Malayalam fails to communicate outside their state boundaries. My guess is that these girls were not born in Kerala itself and instead migrated here from somewhere in the North when their families came for work…
Another boy insisted that I salute HIS family through a window, and when I did, I was received an enthusiastic Malayalam equivalent of “cheers!” from the man I assumed to be the young boy’s father, hoisting his half-drunk bottle of beer in proper toasting fashion. A small reminder that despite the happiness and friendliness of the children and people I was meeting in the slum, it still had its problems. It’s important to keep in mind that alcoholism is a problem throughout the state and by no means limited to slum-dwellers, though.
We crossed from that part of the slum and rejoined our group in another, where workers were in the process of building a new house (left). Pretty cool to check out. Members of the community have to pay the government a small portion of the housing cost, since time has proven that without some small investment, people won’t really maintain their property. Those who want to can pay their share by working on the construction of the building, where they receive the same pay as all the others – 300 Rupees (roughly $6) a day. Actually not a bad deal compared to what many farmers make.
So, what did I learn? I learned that slums can raise many questions and highlight many aspects of a community. Also that perhaps accepting a slum for what it is and working with its residents to create a more positive environment is definitely a positive way to go. A slum really is a microcosm of a city, after all, in all its myriad parts and unknown corners.
