Project Report III

Initially it was difficult for me to figure out the people in the massive place like City Walk Mall who are working there and living in places like Khirki Village. But gradually in couple of days time I managed to find few people. However I was unable to contact all of them due to less time scheduled for my project.

I changed the plan of interaction as I started meeting new people from Mall and Max hospital.
I had an introductory session and explained my project to each of them separately. I bought few copies and distributed those among the persons I met.

First I met a young man who works in a coffee shop named ‘Barista’ inside the Mall. This person works in the night shift as a kitchen porter. So on an evening, we fixed up a time for meeting in the coffee shop where he works. We had an introductory session.

Then I met a lady who works in a designer’s shop in the City Walk Mall. This woman works as a full time sales person. I spoke to her after her evening shift was over. She agreed to write about her experiences on Hauz Rani and the changes brought about by the Mall.

I tried to meet other two young ladies working as sales persons in two different places like boutiques/ accessories shops. But I failed to meet them due to their constant change of shift.

Another young man whom I met in a Herbal product shop refused to give me time even after the shift as he was scared of his employer.

I distributed posters and postcards to the people with whom we interacted in past few weeks to understand, learn and expand the knowledge about these people, who are settled at Hauz Rani. These posters and postcards were produced from the bits and pieces of information gathered through interactions with these people and also documenting their works through photographs. I had been to handmade Unit as well and found that one of the persons working in the unit was suffering from yellow fever, and was not able to work as a result he was not able to get his daily wages. I though of giving them a gift as part of the project a water filter, which might prevent the other labours from falling sick from the water borne diseases.

Finally, I went to handmade unit again for the last session with the people in their workshop. This way I was able to talk to all the people working in the unit as well as they were able to talk while working. This time we found a new person who joined the unit. He learnt this job while studying in school in his home town at Bairelly, and when he left school till studying at class 7, he went to Rajasthan to work. He left that job as the demand of work was decreasing. From there he came to Delhi and was at Jamrutpur working in a unit. Later he joined a factory. He didn’t like the atmosphere at the factory and joined this present unit.
This time I decided to ask them to speak on 3 words and associated to their each day them with their own individual life. The words were Samay (time), Awaz (sound) and Mohalla (community).

Again I met the young man from Barista, as he looked busy and was getting prepared for his night shift job at Barista, I was able to talk to him only for few minutes. He agreed to write his narration about his staying in Hauz Rani, working at the Mall, even after doing an MBA from Faridabad.

Again I met the nurses who work in Max and collected their narratives including the one who was away on her holiday. I collected the texts that they wrote about their experiences at work place and personal aspirations.

Later in that evening I met young lady, sales person from the designer’ shop again at the Citywalk mall. She confessed and was apologetic that due to heavy work load in the shop and her house, she was unable to log her daily dairy.
I had a talk with her after the shop, she works, closed at 9 pm. She talked about her regular routine at the shop, where she has to check the stocks everyday, coming of new acquisitions, discard of old stock, starting of sales. While I was in a dialogue with her Anuradha was documenting the conversation.

These narratives are supposed to be published on small book format.
The output of overall project:

1. Outdoor installation with audio
2. Interactive work with a projection
3. Book, cards
4. Blog [www.cityblogonline.blogspot.com]