From karthik.guevara at gmail.com Sun Jul 1 03:42:53 2007 From: karthik.guevara at gmail.com (karthik guevara) Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2007 16:12:53 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting "Music from the margins : Gaana songs as a subaltern phenomenon Message-ID: <2fd660060707010342r650958d7m7538ef0e6a2ecb7@mail.gmail.com> Hai I am D.Karthikeyan currently a student stipendiary at CSDS sarai. Following is my first urban study posting for the research project. "Music from the Margins: Gaana Songs as a Subaltern Phenomenon". In this posting I am giving a brief introduction to the concepts of culture and subculture. In the remaining postings I shall discuss on how Gaana music as a form can be called as an sub culture by tracing the genealogy of Gaana songs and how it came into existence and to look into the cultural aspects of Gaana songs, its lyrics and find out how it helps in the identity formation. CULTURES AND SUBCULTURES A MINIMAL DEFINITION The word culture can be referred to the level at which social groups develop distinct patterns of life and give expressive form to their social and material life experience. The culture of a group or class is peculiar and 'distinctive way of life' of the group or class, the meanings, the values and ideas embodied in institutions, in social relations in systems of beliefs, in mores and customs, in the uses of objects and material life. Culture is the way social relations of a group are structured and shaped: but it is also the way those shapes are experienced, understood and interpreted. (Hall "et al.," 1975, p.10) Culture just like different groups and class are unequally ranked in relation to one another and they stand in opposition to one another in terms of domination and subordination along the scale of cultural power. The classification and ordering of the world through structures is based on the power, position, and the hegemony of the powerful interest in the society. The class, which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it ? Insofar, therefore, as they rule as a class and determine the extent and compass of an epoch ? they do this in its whole range, hence among other things rule also as thinkers, as producers of ideas, and regulate the production and distribution of the ideas of their age: thus their ideas are the ruling ideas of the epoch. (Marx, 1970) The dominant culture of a complex society is never homogenous in structure it is layered reflecting different interests within the dominant class containing different traces from the past. Subordinate cultures will not always be in open conflict with it. The culture, which becomes the dominant culture, need not necessarily be without any opposition, there are subcultures, which grow within the dominant culture therefore challenging them from within, or what E.P.Thompson calls as "warrening it from within". (Thompson, 1965) The Birmingham school also view youth subcultures through the prism of class and suggest they are doubly articulated to a parent culture (the working-class) and the dominant culture. Subcultures are defined here as "smaller, more localized and differentiated structures, within one or more of the larger cultural networks." (Hall "et al.," 1975, p.13) There is a distinction to be drawn, however, between subcultures and other resistant or alternative cultures : Working class cultures are the home of subcultures, while middle-class cultures create counter-cultures. (This can be understood in the case of 'Bharatnatyam' in India how the Middle classes of Madras city especially the Brahmins appropriated the dance through a process of sanskritisation and made it an nationalized cultural identity). Subcultures must be understood, foremost, in relation to the hegemonic forces of the dominant culture so class-based correlation can be made. Antonio Gramsci's notion of hegemony elucidates how a fraction of working-class culture, youth, comes to have its expressive elements curtailed and its lived reality circumscribed by the operation of hegemony. Society in a much wider sense can never be one-dimensional and the working class is never completely absorbed by the dominant class. The occupation of these lacunae is understood as "winning space," a negotiated version of the dominant culture's values that the working-class has appropriated as an alternate moral system permitting legitimization of their means of expression. Subcultures can also be a set of cultural practices that develop their own history and structure, ones, which are detached from the symbolic and social firmament of the dominant culture. Subcultures must distinctively exhibit enough shape and structure to identify them selves different from their 'parent' culture. They must be focused around certain activities, values, certain use of material artifacts and most importantly territorial spaces that significantly differentiates from the wider culture. The subculture is a symbolic structure, which tries to resolve the contradictions that exist (latent or manifest) in the parent culture. The subculture, although a symbolic structure, depends upon territoriality to anchor individual members to a collective reality. It is debatable whether the contradictions of the parent culture can be solved. Subcultures merely transcribe terms at a micro social level and inscribe them in an imaginary set of relations. Music subculture can be defined as a group of identifiable musicians' audiences, groups and participants with shared identities and values. Subculture theory requires attention to look at a music culture, which operates on certain logics: the symbolic, the social, the spatial, the temporal, and the ideological or political. Subcultures are enunciated through particular symbolic practices and forms of communication: specific styles of dress, music, speech, textual production, and deportment. Subcultures emerge at particular kinds of geographic locations and material spaces, and engage in particular uses of those spaces. Gaana songs are a sub-culture of Chennai urban culture. Gaana in simple words is another name for 'Tamil Rap' song(s), which is getting transformed into a viable commodity by entering the market and undergoing a process of sanitisation. It comes across at issues like Politics, urban poverty, caste, violence and sex. Gaana songs came into existence as part of the urban culture and it has its roots in the slums of chennai. The Gaana as a popular cultural form is distinct in structure, rhyming verses while talking about the loves and lives of the slum people. Gaana comes from a mixture of different Tamil dialects and other languages the Dalits, fisherfolk of Chennai encounter. References Karl Marx, The German Ideology (London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd 1987). Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (London: Hutchison, 1976). Phil Cohen, "Subcultural Conflict and Working-Class Community," in eds. Ken Gelder and Sarah Thornton The Subcultures Reader (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 90-99: 94. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070701/9a6d9bfb/attachment-0001.html From sadan at sarai.net Tue Jul 3 08:02:53 2007 From: sadan at sarai.net (Sadan) Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:02:53 -0400 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Renu Cherian on city and cherisma Message-ID: <468A651D.2040206@sarai.net> Dear All, Find below a posting sent to me by Renu Cherian. She is currently a sarai-csds student stipend. hope you will enjoy reading it.comments and responses should be made either on this list or can be sent directly to Renu on renucherianp at gmail.com wishes, sadan. Hi friends, This is my first posting. My study analyse how the charismatic movement constructs its own religious space within the community. I have selected a popular Christian Charismatic Movement in Kerala, whose head quarters is at Kottayam town (Kottayam town is also the district head quarters of Kottayam district). I have given fake names in my writing. And I have named the Christian Charismatic Movement as ?C.H.M?. Participatory observation and fieldwork were followed for the collection of data. It was an interesting experience for me. Here I am going to share my experiences with you. Here in my first posting I am presenting a regular worship pattern followed by ?C.H.M?. In the coming postings I will discuss more about the performative elements of worship. ?C.H.M? has lots of worship centers or churches at main city centers in all over Kerala along with several centres at various parts of the country and outside the country. Two persons started it about 10 years ago; I name them as John and Thomas. They are the main pastors of this movement (The charismatic Figures of the movement). ?C.H.M? conduct their worship in a big tents constructed with G.I poles and G.I sheets. Worship is conducted on every Friday and Sunday at daytime. More than thousands of devotees assemble there for the worship in a day. Men, women and children participate in the meetings. Among the worshippers, women are the majority. People from all classes, castes and religion came to worship there. Although people from the lower middle class background, form a significant proportion of the gathering. A DAYS WORSHIP [Worship at ?C.H.M? church in Kottayam town] Here I shall demonstrate a regular worship of ?C.H.M? to comprehend the pattern that convey out of it. The convention starts at 9a.m with a song. At the beginning, main pastors are not in the stage; junior pastors are initiating the meeting at this time. They give short messages and sing songs. Malayalam and English songs are sung with the accompaniment of musical instruments (drums and organs). People are instructed to wave and clap their hands according to the music. When the mob is in high sprit, one of the main pastors of ?C.H.M? appears on the stage. Now he is triggering the meeting. He, after a song, selects a bible portion and starts his message. In traditional Churches, the priest delivers the message by standing still at a place, while here in the ?C.H.M? worship the pastor is always moving around the stage, shouting and exhorting the people. The worship is a blend of speeches, songs and prayers. Along with these there are special prayers for the miraculous healing of the affected. All through the worship, the whole mob is actively and emotionally participating. They are crying, shouting, clapping and waving through out the meeting. During the message the main pastor, ask the devotees to give hands to the adjacent one and repeat some statements which are spoken by the leader, or ask some questions, or say some wishes to the person near by. Example; ?God will relieve you from all of your troubles, and sufferings? ?Jesus Christ has the power to do many thing.? Some times the pastor asks the devotees to ask some questions to each other. Example ?You please say any one of the blessing which you have received from God during the previous week?? Both of them will answer the question to each other. This enables an active participation from the devotees. PRACTICE OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES During the prayer, devotees are clapping their hands and singing according to the music played. And as the rhythm increases their clapping frequency increases, and they say words, which are not at all familiar to the present society. Some of them utter sounds that resembles to howling. For the devotees, this is holy ritual, called speaking in tongue. While for a layperson it is only crying, shouting and uttering of meaning less words. For gaining the power of tongues, the crowd begins to utter ?sthothram, sthothram, sthothram?(it is a Malayalam word) which means ?glory, glory, glory?. This finally leads to saying of strange words, which they call speaking in tongues. Example: SHANTHALALA?. SHANTHALALA? It is meaningless only to those who are outside this worship. However, for those who are participating in the worship and practicing the speaking in tongues, it is meaningful. They consider these words are as the gift of holy sprit. Here the Holy Sprit is considered as the power behind doing all these things. They call it as spiritual awakening, which is the most precious goal of all who approaches the Charismatic movement. Those who experience spiritual awakening have the feeling that they are near to God. And so God will hear their prayers and will fulfill it. Here one can view a kind of extreme confidence in devotees. This hysterical condition is experienced in every meeting. During this highly emotional condition of mind they make prophesies. PRACTICE OF HEALING Then comes the time for miraculous healing. During the prayer meeting the main pastor speak out the names of some diseases (example: body pain, arthritis, heart problems, cancer e.t.c) and state that, the person with these diseases are going to be healed at this instant. He then asks those people to stand up. And a lot of sick people stood up. Then the main pastor announces the entire believers to pray for the cure of these persons. He along with the community of believers starts praying. Then the main pastor says that ?Jesus will touch you now. You are going to be healed at this moment ? He adds, ?Satan and his bindings are going to be broken. And you are going to be cured now.? At this point the mob becomes highly excited. Then after the prayer for miraculous healing, the pastor asks healed one to lift up their hands. We can find that about 85% of the sick were healed. And then the healed ones are invited to the stage to deliver their testimonies. RECEPTION OF NEW COMERS The new comers are received in a particular way in the meeting. They are asked to stand up at their places and few members of ?C.H.M? reach these persons, embrace them and pray for them. The whole community is also praying for the new comers. Then a card is given to them, which is wished-for to be returned after recording their personal details. OFFERTORY Offertory is taken in the course of the meeting. There is no demand for the offertory. Gathering can give according to their will. The concerned people collect the money. The money is then brought to the stage, and the pastor prays for the offerings and also for the whole community. EUCHARIST (Holy Communion) Then the Eucharist is conducted. Bread in trays and Wine in small cups are placed on a table in the stage. After glorifying it by the main pastor, it is distributed among baptized devotees. After theEucharist the pastor prays and thus a regular meeting comes to an end at 2 o?clock in the afternoon. Here we can find an important thing that this worship group has no written liturgy, and also the ritual practices or performances don?t follow any regular order. Here I conclude my brief description of the one days worship. From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Tue Jul 3 06:32:58 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:02:58 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Invitation to an evening of Astrophysics and Blues, 7th July at ESG Message-ID: <468A500A.3070903@bgl.vsnl.net.in> Dear All, We invite you to a fantastic combination of a talk on *"High Energy Aspects of the Solar & Stellar Coronae" *by Dr. Vinay Kashyap, an Astrophysicist at the Chandra X-Ray Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), Cambridge, USA followed by a concert by *"Sarjapur Blues Band"*. The talk is at 5 pm and the concert at 7.00 pm on Saturday, 7th July 2007 at ESG. Details of both programmes are enclosed and we invite you to participate in both. Kindly let us know in advance if you will participate so we can make appropriate seating arrangements. Please also pass on these invitations to your friends and colleagues. Looking forward to your participation. Bhargavi S. Rao -- Environment Support Group (R) 105, East End B Main Road Jayanagar 9th Block East Bangalore 560069. INDIA Tel: 91-80-22441977/26531339 Fax: 26534364 Email: bhargavi at esgindia.org or esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070703/8131da30/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Vinay Kashyap_SolarFlares_ESG_talk_070707.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 77451 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070703/8131da30/attachment-0002.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Sarjapur Blues Band_ESGInvite_070707.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 351037 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070703/8131da30/attachment-0003.pdf From mansilight at gmail.com Wed Jul 4 05:03:20 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 17:33:20 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second posting: Whose lake is it anyway?-1 Message-ID: <998c34570707040503x19abb295k5525f72d5c6ae8c1@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, We jointly present our posting in a single essay this time. Parts of this essay go into our paper draft. Do take time to read through. We presented our work to our institution and it was well received. Meera, Sreeja and Sowjanya. Whose lake is it anyway?-1 Birth of the Hebbal 'lake'- Physical and Social Bangalore has two unique topological terrains ? North Bangalore and the South Bangalore. North Bangalore is a relatively more level plateau and lies between an average of 839 to 962 meters above sea level. The middle of the taluk has a prominent ridge running NNE-SSW. There are gentle slopes and valleys on either side of this ridge. The Hebbal Lake situated in this low-lying area of the valley was once part of this large wetland landscape. It was made into a deeper lake and part of a chain of interconnected tanks through impoundment to meet the town's water requirements in the 16th century by Kempe Gowda I. As the city grew big the drinking water for the city could not be sourced from these lakes alone and the lakes were reduced to an inlet for sewage, storm water drains and cattle bathing places. Meanwhile the physical boundaries of the city have been expanding taking Hebbal into its folds: the suburban became the urban; the village that was 'Hebbal' on the road to Hyderabad became a town enroute the new international airport. The lake caught in this urban influx found itself subsumed as a part of an urban park making a transition into visual and recreational space. With the physical transformation of the lake from a wetland marsh into a drinking water reservoir on to being a component of a public park, the social meanings of the lake constructed by different people and its waters has also been changing. The features of the lake which indicate its health or integrity have also changed according to the anthropocentric view of the lake. When it was being used as a drinking water reservoir potable water quality parameters were its markers. In its new avatar the discourse of lake restoration highlights visual parameters of vastness and blueness. Silt and water plants disturb this aesthetic notion and the idea of a lake drying up as a part of its natural cycle does not fit this new portfolio. 'Artifact' of nature Rolston (2004) claims that human beings are naturally political and build themselves a polis in which they can socialize. According to him the architectures of nature and culture are different, and culture always seeks to improve nature, yet the management intent spoils the wilderness. Culture processes by their very 'nature' interrupt evolution. Fear is the general response of the urban dweller to the wild. Communities would be happier with plastic plants and trees. Despite this, human beings have dimensions within themselves which relate to the wild and the rural. Parks and gardens package this wilderness and nature for the urban dweller. A tamed nature is the desirable halfway artifact that brings the wild into the safety of a totally built space. "Still, our homes are cultural places in their construction, but there is always a natural foundation, a sense of belongings to the landscape. For all those boundaries that we defend against the external world, our virtues are not confined to those of maintaining our separateness. "( Rolston, 2004) Nature is thus adopted into the urban but it is under the terms of urban living. While nature is unpredictable, unstable and constantly changing, the artifacts of nature are as frozen as the built environment. No erosion, denudation or asymmetry is allowed unless planned for. Flower beds are laid with seasonal precision to mask the natural flowerless state of plants. New species of flora and fauna are introduced for aesthetic appeal alone. Lakes are maintained full even in hot summer months. This 'aesthetic' value is then added as an amenity to market real estates. Thus land, air, water and living forms are brought to the service of human markets. These habitats are complexly embedded. They are not just contrived because they contain aspects of nature. At the same time they are not merely receptacles of nature, they are not mere substitutes for natural landscapes. These are managed ecoscapes. It is in this management that the various politics are played out ? politics of man and nature, politics of aesthetic values and utilitarian values, politics of state and civil society and the politics of the public and private. Whatever the nature of these ecoscapes, they are associated with culturally shaped values. The lake and its environs are meant to embody all that the urban is not. The experience of nature is seen as that which purifies and restores. Thus it's a space for activities that assume a high value such as those connected with parenting, spending time with loved ones, leisure or intellectual activities and fun and health activities. The park is also seen as a laboratory to learn nature appreciation. Nature journalism adds to this social construction of nature with a steady stream of exotic photographs and articles aimed specifically at the urban middleclass Indian. The park planners are thus merely catering to these particular social constructs. The question that then becomes central is which construct is being commodified in the present management of the lake. This shapes both the inner architecture of the lake and the actors involved in the business of lake development. This is why boating, food courts and amusement will get a legitimate 'public' space in the lake. This conceptualisation of a public park as a visual and recreational space for the urban dwellers is a recent phenomenon. The best urban spaces were always imperial gardens which were reserved for the ruling elite often out of bounds for the common urbanite. Urban planning before 20th century contained recreational spaces for the ruling class but largely ignored the needs of ordinary city dwellers. With the acknowledgement of the importance of open and recreational spaces in promoting public health, the public park movement for the common public began in Europe in the 1830's. In Europe andUnited States two distinct phases are identified. Early parks emphasized the natural landscape offering a pastoral or wilderness component to the urban environment of straight lines and rigid angles. The second phase saw sports facilities invading park environs which were originally designed as quiet retreats. The mixture of sports and landscape created a new concept of public parks and linked recreation . Dayton (2000) The conceptualization involved in the present restoration plan of Hebbal Lake involves a singular notion of the public. Our study reveals that the public is manifold with different social constructs of the lake. There is also a multiplicity in the claims and discourses of lake management. The next posting will present the field notes of our rapid ethnographic study containing key informant interviews. References Drayton, Richard, "Nature's Government: Science, Imperial Britain, and the 'Improvement' of the World", New Haven, Yale University Press, 2000. Rolston, Holmes III, "Environmental Virtue Ethics: Half the Truth but Dangerous as a Whole" , 2004 from URL - http://www.cep.unt.edu/ISEE2/rolston.pdf accessed on 03/07/07 From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 5 05:45:59 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:15:59 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation in the Mall. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707050545l30aea478pfd17f05b8feb74a2@mail.gmail.com> Hello all, My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of this process of transformation. My first posting looks into issues of gentrification, and class regulation in the malls. The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the 'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or 'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial atmosphere' within these premises.) Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation from other groups. Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies to attract a particular income group, while at the same time dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural design and interior d?cor appeal to the specific tastes of certain groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is completed.) Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and 'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the consumer from all sides. (I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an attractive sensorium inside the malls) From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 5 05:51:38 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:21:38 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] IstPosting. Gentrification an Class regulation in the Mall Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707050551p7c2fa314g42aa718e2df8bfb3@mail.gmail.com> Hello all, My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of this process of transformation. My first posting is a partial account of the cultural and sociological aspect of the Mall, as I look into issues of gentrification, and class regulation. The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the 'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or 'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial atmosphere' within these premises.) Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation from other groups. Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies to attract a particular income group, while at the same time dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural design and interior d?cor appeal to the specific tastes of certain groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is completed.) Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and 'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the consumer from all sides. (I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an attractive sensorium inside the malls) From sebydesiolim at hotmail.com Sat Jul 7 06:57:25 2007 From: sebydesiolim at hotmail.com (sebastian Rodrigues) Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:27:25 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] IstPosting. Gentrification an Class regulation in theMall In-Reply-To: <7fe7fedf0707050551p7c2fa314g42aa718e2df8bfb3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Very insightful posting indeed. Malls besides being an isolosionist economy is emerging as powerful social and cultural segrationist too, infact more so! Looking forward to your future postings! Seby Visit my blog at http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=17 >From: "ipsita sahu" >To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net >Subject: [Urbanstudy] IstPosting. Gentrification an Class regulation in >theMall >Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:21:38 +0530 > >Hello all, > >My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study >of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider >suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization >and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of >this process of transformation. My first posting is a partial account >of the cultural and sociological aspect of the Mall, as I look into >issues of gentrification, and class regulation. > > The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row >along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street >arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior >space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the >traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor >shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically >along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the >'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously >separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street >experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, >uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The >boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily >function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these >exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus >territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing >two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones >without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the >society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of >the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent >and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security >guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East >Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to >prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, >vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or >'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven >or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to >keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial >atmosphere' within these premises.) > > >Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find >temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and >distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a >hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better >calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall >space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and >produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of >memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and >difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the >city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and >attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary >refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and >overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides >the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part >of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has >become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large >cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and >reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial >grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in >functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who >are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the >absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the >only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's >clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become >effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, >community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social >regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the >broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means >of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they >also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation >from other groups. > > Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and >lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social >phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the >society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular >mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these >malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the >associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a >particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have >already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space >structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of >consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it >has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups >within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. >However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic >prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies >to attract a particular income group, while at the same time >dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and >the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes >and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural >design and interior d?cor appeal to the specific tastes of certain >groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The >malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a >distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the >Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal >Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is >regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is >completed.) > > >Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in >mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who >frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does >not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some >loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the >place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings >and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the >mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of >the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its >turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and >'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the >multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the >limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. > >The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into >real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional >street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate >consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an >enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street >arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the >shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement >provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance >viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive >facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the >mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the >consumer from all sides. > >(I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall >in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the >use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an >attractive sensorium inside the malls) >_______________________________________________ >Urbanstudygroup mailing list >Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > >To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit >https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup _________________________________________________________________ Wedding bells are ringing. When's your time to walk the aisle? http://ad.in.doubleclick.net/clk;112111293;17571293;v?http://www.simplymarry.com/timesmatri/faces/jsp/UserTrackLandingPage.jsp?origin=hotmail_taglines_ros_june07 From yashdeeps at hotmail.com Sun Jul 8 22:32:29 2007 From: yashdeeps at hotmail.com (Yashdeep Srivastava) Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 15:32:29 +1000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. References: <7fe7fedf0707050545l30aea478pfd17f05b8feb74a2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: In the light of Ipsita's very interestin post, just though I might share an article that is due for publication in Indian Architect and Builder and is due for publication in August 2007 (Kaiwan, has very kindly agreed to let me share it with the urban study group). I thought it might be of interest... Regards, Yash MAL(L)PRACTICE: Creating Architectures of Consumerist Privilige in India's Hinterland Yashdeep Srivastava On a trip to Lucknow in India, about a year back, for a family wedding, I was confronted with urban imagery that I had come to expect in metropolitan India but was unaccustomed to in smaller cities. Since it was a wedding, one was prone to consumer indulgences that led to visits to Lucknow's favoured shopping precincts like Chowk, Aminabad and Hazratganj. While the old bazaars of Chowk and Aminabad remained as vibrantly disordered as before, the ordered colonial arcades of Hazratganj appeared tired and lacklustre. The reason for this neglect materialised, barely two hundred metres from Hazratganj. Saharaganj is a new shopping mall that has become the draw card for the urban middleclass that once thronged to Hazratganj. In the days to come, I was to discover more such shopping malls[1] that had sprung up adjacent to middle class and elite housing colonies like Gomti Nagar. Unlike Kapurthala and Faizabad Road, which are inspired by discarded business district models popular in the west in the 60s and 70s, which were vigorously pushed by local development authorities, Saharaganj is a shopping mall and is similar to those in the suburbs of the developed world. Saharaganj was a bustle even on a hot summer afternoon just as the covered walkways of Hazratganj used to not too long back. Physical changes were rapidly overcoming Lucknow at a rate that I had never witnessed before and I imagined this must be occurring in India's other regional cities too. The purpose of this essay is to draw attention to the changing urban form of India which is a stark reflection of successive government's liberal economic policies. Through the example of Saharaganj, it demonstrates the impact of state economic policies on Indian society as a whole and its widespread influence on the control and domination of public urban space through the complementary mediums of architecture and private real estate development in India's regional centres. Neoliberalism and the middleclass Since India's foreign exchange crisis in the early 90's, successive Indian governments have adopted neoliberal economic policies that were originally championed by the Reagan and Thatcher governments in the US and UK and disseminated globally by the IMF and the World Bank. Neoliberalism marks the withdrawal of governments from the task of regulating the market or indeed participating in the market through state-owned industry to facilitate equitable resource distribution among their populations. The protagonists of neoliberal policies believe in the market as the ultimate, impartial and self-correcting arbitrator for all human wants and needs. The adoption of Neoliberalism is often manifested in the privatisation of state owned industries, the liberalisation of capital and commodities markets, increased private participation in the development of property and civic infrastructure and the decline of state subsidy for essential services[2]. Neoliberalism with its emphasis on markets understandably favours the elite and the middleclass in Indian society, who have the wherewithal to influence or participate in market dynamics. The emergence of shopping malls and multiplexes like Saharaganj are symptoms of this phenomenon that relocate the public realm into the private domain of the privileged classes[3]. Lucknow Lucknow is the capital of Uttar Pradesh and the administrative head quarters of the state government. From being an important urban settlement and the capital of the Avadh principality in the Mughal era, it was relegated and neutered into a regional centre, complete with an attached cantonment, in the colonial days. Today, it remains a modest urban centre, with limited influence on the larger polity of the Indian federation, partly abetted by political intransigence and a lack of vision by its political leadership. Lucknow's own history has largely moulded its urban fabric. From the Baroque palaces and mosques of the decadent yet culturally enlightened Nawabs of Avadh to the utilitarian yet grand colonial arcades of Hazratganj or Charbagh Station, layers of the region's history can be read in its streets and landmarks. The dawn of the of the postcolonial era is marked by iconic structures of self-rule like the Vidhan Sabha and more recently state-led development of architecturally droll institutional precincts in sectors of Gomti Nagar and middle class housing colonies like Indira Nagar. Many of these iconic precincts and structures are imbued with meanings of a bygone era and have easily slipped into contemporary semiotic lexicon, albeit with new meanings. Hazratganj is one such precinct. While Aminabad and Chowk are traditional markets of pre-colonial vintage, Hazratganj has the dignified air of a colonial promenade in close proximity to the former British cantonment. Its rectilinear colonnaded footpaths, reminiscent of Connaught Place, flank a wide road no longer than perhaps a kilometre. Anchored on one end by a now defunct India Coffee House, it is a strip of fashionable shops with anglicised names. Amongst others, the precinct is the site of a now closed art deco cinema theatre called Mayfair, which predominantly showed Hollywood films and also housed the British Library. It was where the memsahibs of the Raj strolled leisurely on warm summer evenings. The colonnades of Hazratganj were for Lucknow what Benjamin's Arcades were for Paris - a single spatial repository of goods from around the world (Benjamin 2002). Post-independence, Hazratganj continued to be the privileged shopping street, especially for Lucknow's upper classes and aspiring students from the neighbouring university. In the seventies, Hazratganj expanded to include Janpath, a non-descript but beloved shopping ensemble of dubious architectural merit. The act of leisurely strolling in Hazratganj has a quaint and colloquial epithet-'ganjing'. Hazratganj and ganjing are intricately woven into the memories of all generations of 'Lucknowites', who in turn bestowed multiple layers of meaning on 'Ganj'. On this visit, Ganj seemed to have lost that buzz and appeared rather dull. The grand colonial patina of architectural style that once lent it dignity now looked jaded and decayed. Saharaganj The stark reality of changing times and shifting loyalty comes to fore when you cast a glance at this shopping mall, curiously called Saharaganj. Lucknow's focus of capital and desire has moved barely a few hundred metres away from its old haunt and the very idea of ganjing has undergone change. Just as a vacuous devouring of espressos on the Janpath deck replaced passionate discussion on Nehruvian socialism in India Coffee House, McDonald's cappuccino within air-conditioned Saharaganj is redefining the hackneyed hype surrounding shaam-e-Avadh or evenings of 'Oudh'. India's liberalised economy and growing consumerism are reshaping and altering her urban scapes, not just in the metropolitan commercial hubs, but in hitherto smaller urban nuclei too. Saharaganj is Lucknow's first shopping mall, claims a national architecture magazine, and India's third largest. Inaugurated in November 2005, the report reads like a press release and a publicity exercise by its promoters proclaiming its opening with much fanfare. The developers claim to have created a 'new look' for Lucknow with the aim of ".introduc[ing] modernity in the city, which till now has been known for historicity." It further suggests that the mall is a catalyst for bringing ".a certain lifestyle into the lives of [its] people" and is an attempt to ".redefine Lucknow" as a 'modern' and 'upcoming' city (A+D 2005). The promoters in deference to popular belief have portrayed Lucknow as a backward town and linked modernity with shopping malls. Shopping malls, in turn, are projected as symbols of national progress by politicians to capture the imagination of the upper classes. In cleverly appropriating the word 'ganj' and coupling it with the developers brand name, not only is the notion of Lucknow's public space privatised, in its spatial design, it is gated as an idea. Intimidating aluminium-clad boxes with liveried security are in stark contrast to the physically open and once unapproachable promenades of postcolonial Hazratganj. The box and its single entry perform the task of screening 'riff raff'. As if that was not enough, the alienation is completed by the daunting signs and signage that conspicuously signify access to status that that was once merely a muted aspiration for the bulk of the socialist-minded Indian middleclass. These visual devices of exclusion are not new tactics for mall managements to divisively categorise the public; a few years back a shopping mall in Mumbai demanded that visitors produce credit cards as a rite of passage into the mall! These practices create a whole subclass in our cities that are relegated to the role of non-citizen. While they are direly needed to perform menial tasks in the emergent economy they are simultaneously excluded from participating in the city's civic life. They are seen as a necessary 'evil' to be tolerated in India's path to modernity. Thus it is common to see municipal authorities passing laws against hawkers, tucking away the poor behind elegant facades of slum redevelopment or the forcible appropriation of land to build special economic zones or to even turn Mumbai into Shanghai! Seen in isolation, some of these schemes could appear to be benevolent attempts to improve conditions for the poor, they are in fact manipulations to further the privileged classes' collective image of modern India at any cost. For architects and the middle class alike, modernity and development reside in the images popularly associated with modernity, thus promoting a cult of 'image at any cost'. The Indian middleclass itself has undergone change which is quite evocatively captured in the Bollywood film Bunty aur Babli. Here the middle class protagonist's aspirations can no longer be contained in their small town, represented commonly as bastions of old value with an inherent inertia to change, they escape to crime and the lights of the tumultuous big city for the fulfilment of their desires and recognition. Far from being a self-conscious consumer, raised on Gandhian ideals of austerity and state-engineered socialist rhetoric, the new middleclass are conspicuous consumers who spew with conviction the state's liberal mantras of progress. No longer is the main street shopping strip model like Hazratganj or a bazaar like Aminabad acceptable to this class, abetted by access to world media, aspirations for consumption and lifestyle are calibrated against the western standard of the mall. This has a direct impact on the already deteriorated environmental quality of Indian cities in addition to issues of equity and access to resources. The demands on energy to air-condition and power these structures are very large when compared with the climatically sympathetic bazaars or even arcaded shopping strips of the past. However, shopping malls reify the very core of the liberal paradigm where increased consumption of resources and goods is a reflection of growth and consequently national development. However, this opens up another area for discussion which is not the main objective of this essay. Nonetheless popular notions of modernity remain central to the discussion. Derived from a modernist and colonial preoccupation with hygiene and public health, Dipesh Chakrabarty (2002) argues that the public space or bazaar is the space of chance encounter with the unfamiliar 'other'. He valorises the bazaar as a place where traditional concepts of inviolate communities are rewired to precipitate temporary familiarity between disparate social groups. Not Saharaganj, it is a zone of exclusion precluding the possibility of that chance encounter with the other in class terms. By extension, shopping malls become the space that is 'subject to a single set of communal rules' where the sense of the outside is reversed - the bazaar becomes a socially homogenous extension of the house. Architects, apart from being largely middle class, are also beholden to the private developer for their livelihood as professionals. Like the protagonists in Bunty aur Babli, they are enamoured by the glamour and recognition that the media and professional awards can bring to them. As vendors of a dominant image of modernity, they are drawn into perpetuating and supporting the larger game of liberal interests and fulfilling desires while whetting new ones through their manipulation of space and articulation of facades. They are thus the agency for creating and supporting enclaves of privilege and design thus becomes an act of subjective indulgence and self-gratification tempered by prevalent architectural fashion forecasts consumed by the upper class. This is in sharp contrast to the high ideals of architectural Modernism and marks the departure of Indian architecture from its principles of spatial justice for social causes towards a post-modern architecture of the fa?ade that maps market forces. Each of these objects stands in splendid isolation of the urban fabric that surrounds it, like the ego of the maverick architect who designed it. The city becomes a motley collection of icons, where the signs of imperfect participation by construction workers are erased by perfectly engineered fa?ade systems and symbols of consumerism. The architect, the Modern hero, the harbinger of social change turns into an artist in pursuit of self-gratification when not surrendering to market forces. Conclusion We perpetually live in changing times. The shift from bazaars to shopping strips to malls is but a feature of the progression and evolution of human life on earth. Each era of change brings with it a new vocabulary in all forms of expression. Space is produced by society to mirror its dominant preoccupations as the social theorist Lefebvre (1991) has said. The Indian government's economic policies are changing the urbanscape not only in metropolitan areas but in smaller cities as well. As the government increasingly relies on privatisation and the market to meet the basic needs of its citizens, one is confronted by the unleashing of deeply divisive forces that deepen the already immanent class divide that earlier governments had strived to fill. Clearly, only the needs or rather the desires of a few are being met by these policies and yet its icons like malls and multiplexes have come to dominate skylines and public space. Shopping malls like Saharaganj embody and express much of what this economics entails. By enclosing the hitherto public realm like the bazaar into imaginary fortresses of privilege, these structures rob the city of diversity and difference. Instead they paper over difference with a universalised aesthetic imperative for global produce. The private control of public space, and by extension the diversely opinionated Habermasian public sphere, smothers the voice of difference within a civilised society. This is an anathema to modernity even if the icon itself may suggest otherwise. Architects and planners in surrendering to these vested interests abdicate their responsibility to society. Rather than using their training to offer a more equitable vision for society, they push their idiosyncratic expression as a brand-building exercise for their patrons, further impoverishing the Indian urban fabric. They steal the cities of the rich qualitative vitality of human life that marks them apart in the first place and of something that their counterparts in the developed world endeavour to inject into their own cities. Understandably, it is difficult to change the government's economic policies in the face of a 9% growth, however it is incumbent on architects and the middle-class others who shape urban habitat to demand and demonstrate equitable access to resources and the public realm. Not just for themselves but also for the huge sub class that is without a voice or wherewithal to influence outcomes that affect us all. Let us be modern, rather than simply look it. 2518 words BIBLIOGRAPHY A+D 2005, Events - Sahara Ganj Inauguration, A+D, Vol: XXII, No: 12. (pp. 32). [December 2005] Benjamin, W. 2002, The Arcades of Paris, The Arcades Project (pp. 873 - 874). Cambridge Ma: The Belknap Press. Chakrabarty, D. 2002, Of Garbage, Modernity, and the Citizen's Gaze. In D. Chakrabarty (Ed.), Habitations of Modernity:Essays in the Wake of Subaltern Studies (pp. 65-79). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. Harvey, D. 2005, A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lefebvre, H. 1991, The Production of Space. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Stiglitz, J. E. 2002, Globalization and its Discontents. London: Penguin Books. Voyce, M. 2007, Shopping Malls in India: New Social 'Dividing Practices'. Economic and Political Weekly. pp 2055-2062. June 2, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] A collection of shops connected by a single covered or enclosed walkway on one or several levels - the term represent a building type that has come to be accepted as a universal. In colonial times, 'The Mall' represented the high street shopping strip most commonly found in hill stations or summer retreats for expatriate British officers in the hills. [2] Refer to Stiglitz's and Harvey for a detailed discussion, both recent visitors to India (Stiglitz, J. E. 2002, Globalization and its Discontents. London: Penguin Books. Harvey, D. 2005, A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.) [3] A recent article in the Economic and Political weekly highlights this phenomenon (Voyce, M. 2007, Shopping Malls in India: New Social 'Dividing Practices'. Economic and Political Weekly. pp 2055-2062. June 2, 2007) ----- Original Message ----- From: "ipsita sahu" To: Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 10:45 PM Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. Hello all, My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of this process of transformation. My first posting looks into issues of gentrification, and class regulation in the malls. The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the 'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or 'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial atmosphere' within these premises.) Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation from other groups. Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies to attract a particular income group, while at the same time dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural design and interior d?cor appeal to the specific tastes of certain groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is completed.) Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and 'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the consumer from all sides. (I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an attractive sensorium inside the malls) _______________________________________________ Urbanstudygroup mailing list Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup From aliak77 at gmail.com Mon Jul 9 00:01:36 2007 From: aliak77 at gmail.com (Kath O'Donnell) Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 17:01:36 +1000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. In-Reply-To: References: <7fe7fedf0707050545l30aea478pfd17f05b8feb74a2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <383607190707090001v2df97eb2u8a3d6027f0a076da@mail.gmail.com> interesting posts and topic. just out of interest, what do the urban poor think of the malls? and are they taking people away from the local markets/businesses. this was a problem in Australia (Brisbane) when I was growing up and malls were becoming more popular. many of the local shops/stores/businesses closed down or tried to move to the malls but couldn't afford the rent there. is this a problem in india too or does the larger population there still allow for the smaller businesses as well as larger malls? I think the larger malls allowed for the urban sprawl in brisbane - the city spread outwards (instead of upwards) with centres of malls in the suburbs for people to find all they needed (?) in one spot rather than having to go into the city to the larger stores. (not sure if we're meant to comment/ask questions on these posts or they're just for posting) there's some interesting topics on this maillist though. cheers kath On 7/9/07, Yashdeep Srivastava wrote: > In the light of Ipsita's very interestin post, just though I might share an > article that is due for publication in Indian Architect and Builder and is > due for publication in August 2007 (Kaiwan, has very kindly agreed to let me > share it with the urban study group). I thought it might be of interest... > > Regards, > > Yash > MAL(L)PRACTICE: Creating Architectures of Consumerist Privilige in India's > Hinterland > > > > Yashdeep Srivastava > > -- http://www.aliak.com From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Jul 10 03:49:56 2007 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:19:56 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] URBANIA Schizoid Cityscapes outlook article Message-ID: <86b8a7050707100349oe5cf006sc7cee22639f276ad@mail.gmail.com> Atul Loke A priest on a Mylapore bylane attends a call URBANIA *Schizoid Cityscapes* *Techies are rebooting urban equations. The cussed natives are revolting, the converts are rejoicing.* Sugata Srinivasaraju | e-mail | one page format | feedback: send | Special Issue: The South Special - *The Bangalore-vs-Bengaluru tussle wasn't just about a change in the name of the city, or a debate about extricating it from the chains of colonial history. It represented a gnawing social split, and symbolised how the 'majority' had been excluded from the tech revolution that Bangalore has witnessed since 1995. It was a logical and obvious fallout of a digital divide that happens in all hi-tech cities. * - *With its faux-baroque curlicues and soaring columns, Chennai's Citi Center Mall is a hump-backed monster that squats a few kilometres from Mylapore, the city's oldest, historic neighbourhood. While some gawk at the mall's high-ceilinged stores and pastel-coloured gelatos, others talk about the growing disconnect between this new landscape and the old. In Chennai, the traditional insiders seem to have rejected the prosperous outsiders. * - *Adman Anvar Ali Khan feels Hyderabad is probably the world's "ultimate schizophrenic city". Until the 1990s, it was known for decaying monuments and old-world culture. Suddenly, it morphed into a global IT hub and was featured in international media?in magazines like * Fortune *and * BusinessWeek*. "It was like time-lapse photography. Both these cities lie parallel to each other, but rarely intersect," concludes Khan. * *** Every city is several sub-cities that coalesce, converge, conflict with each other, or remain disconnected. This is especially true of tech geographies, like Silicon Valley, where the contrast is exaggerated. In 2000-01, during the height of the New Economy hype, over 60 individuals became millionaires every day in the Silicon Valley, while 15 per cent of children under five years lived in poverty in one of the counties, Santa Clara. In India, the issue is more complicated by an interplay between tradition and modernity, and an internalised collision between the old and new values. Ever since Andhraites winged their way to the US by waving their H1B visas, and the American workers got Bangalored due to outsourcing, many southern cities witnessed a dramatic and radical transformation. Brahmins became entrepreneurs (as one of them says, "I don't want to be working for someone else for life"), it was no longer indecent to flash one's wealth (epitomised by swanky cars and glitzy houses). And boasting about one's success became an inherent part of life (a former colleague says that "the south borrowed all the wrong things from the north"). Citi Center Mall, Chennai. Today, in the southern cities, there is a clash of cultures?cool cats rub shoulders with their conservative counterparts, and career-capitalist segments are engaged in endless debates with the academic-ethical classes. In Bangalore, Koshy's (like Calcutta's Coffee House) coexists with NMH Tiffin Room. Chennai's IT hub on Old Mahabalipuram Road intersects with urban villages. And, in Hyderabad, says Khan, "Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla complex seems to have been grafted into Lucknow's old Imambara area." Explains Solly Benjamin, an independent researcher: "Bangalore is, in many ways, a 'divided' city. The glass-walled office complexes, malls and entertainment centres contrast with the squatter settlements." Adds Mohammed Habeebuddin, a social worker in old Hyderabad: "Young girls here now complete education to work at a call centre. But many others don't give a hang about IT." Comments M.S.S. Pandian, an economist: "There is a huge gulf between the prosperous south and north Chennai. It's creating a condominium culture. t has made people in the north to seethe with anger." To get a sense of this divide in physical terms, just take a look at the new socio-economic maps of Chennai that are being plotted by The Madras Office for Architects and Designers. They distinctly show that the modern clusters of atms and restaurants (serving international and Chinese cuisines) have cropped up in the southern part of the city. Says Pandian: "Unlike in south Chennai, one can hardly find an ATM in north Chennai." Similar borders now define Bangalore. But the more major changes are reflected in the daily lives of the city-dwellers. *Money alone doesn't mark sub-cities. New and old values clash, tradition and modernity seldom marry.* A theatre festival organiser, who recently moved from Pune to Bangalore, categorically says that she's "still seen as an outsider, even though we are allowed to work within the artistic community". She points out that when she was first called in to organise an important festival, "lots of people, very old and good friends, were really pissed off. I was shocked, but it is true. Cultural anxiety is economic anxiety with a mask on". It is in Chennai, the last among the cyber-trio to change, that the tensions are more visible. Margaret Zinyu, a colour specialist with Ford Motor, talks about her experiences while looking for a house. "It was difficult to find one as most ads advertised for families, vegetarians, or Brahmins." Malavika P.C., an artist and graphic designer, recalls that her house search encountered several moralistic questions since "I moved out from my parent's home in Chennai itself". She concedes that the city is opening up, but maintains "it's still far, far more conservative than the other places I've seen". Harpulak Bahadur, a senior manager with a leading KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) unit, agrees. "Even between Chennai *Cool cats and conservatives snub each other. Capitalists lock horns with the academic-ethical classes.* and Bangalore, I think Chennai is still conservative in more ways than one. For instance, I still find it difficult to enter pubs in Chennai that do not allow stags. In Bangalore, I can easily offer to buy a drink to a girl outside any pub and enter it. That's how easy it is. In Chennai, I still struggle! But Chennai is also changing because of the outsiders," he explains. Like in Mumbai, moral policing has caught on in the south. Nitya Raman (name changed), a local who works with a financial services firm, narrates her harrowing interaction with the cops. "Last month, I went to a friend's place after a few drinks at a pub, and his neighbours called the cops. They complained that my friend was running a brothel. Since my friends didn't understand Tamil, I intervened. I realised that I was a better 'enemy'?a local who didn't stand for any values. I was physically dragged to the police station, and spent four hours there. It was one long nightmare." A fashion show at Garuda Mall Rightly or wrongly, Bangalore has had its share. Dance bars were shut down as they were "corrupting the youth". The pubs have been instructed to close at 11 pm, with the last order at 10.30, because of high-profile shootouts. And the city police regularly conducts breath-analyser tests to prevent drunken driving. A few mainstream colleges have an unwritten rule against the wearing of jeans and miniskirts. And there are regular complaints by old-timers about the immorality in the tech world. Although ad-filmmaker Mohammad Ali Baig says it is wrong for the non-IT sections to envy their counterparts in the Hitec City, he agrees that there is a cultural degradation. "Step into any BPO in Hyderabad, and it is difficult to tell one employee from the other. All of them look like copies of each other. Their aspirations are monetary, their dreams and body language the same. It is like a dead culture. The IT sector, while fulfilling monetary requirements, will only lead to a robot-like society," he feels. Rues Ali Khan: "My generation of Nehruvian youngsters had different values about life, education, work and money. I know of youngsters in their twenties who have been put through a good education, but instead of pursuing a career like we would have, they are basically hustlers. They do a quick assignment or deal, make money, and hang around and 'chill' for a few months. Then they do it all over again. Logically, it makes sense: you earn well, you enjoy. But somehow it seems a flaky way of life to me." Prasad IMAX on Necklace Road, Hyderabad Gnani, a noted columnist and writer in Chennai, agrees. *Chennai has its chunk of ATMs and swanky restaurants in the south. Bangalore too has such polarisation.* "The trouble today is that we are seeing a breakdown of the feudal culture and the start of a capitalist one. In the old culture, a servant cared about the master as he was taken care of by the master. But there is no such personal relationship or emotional bonding in a capitalist culture," he says. "Sections of employees in new-age firms, who crave for pubs and an active nightlife, are already alienated from the society in some way. Unlike the '70s, the middle class no longer feels that it is the keeper of the society's conscience." More importantly, some experts believe that the so-called economic benefits of the wired and wireless world have only accrued to a minute segment of the society. For example, the ballpark figure often quoted by industry leaders is that IT has created about three lakh jobs in and around Bangalore. The spillover effect has generated another six lakh jobs. Even if you generously take the figure to be 10 lakh in a city with an estimated population of 6 million, it constitutes a poor minority. Benjamin explains the issue from an inequality perspective. "At present, almost one-third of Bangalore's population *Old-timers lament the IT world is immoral. But the techies boast they contribute to the city's progress.* has only partial or no access to piped water. One study estimated that 'more than half' of Bangalore's population depends upon public fountains?many of which supply contaminated water." Access to other services like toilets is as bad. An official report stated that there were 1,13,000 houses without latrines, while 17,500 had dry latrines. In a study of 22 slums, nine had no latrines. In another 10, there were 19 public latrines for 16,850 households or 1,02,000 inhabitants. Nonetheless, the techies think they have contributed to the socio-economic progress of the three cities. For example, those who defend the name Bangalore contend that they were partially responsible for putting the city on the global map, and for Bangalore to become a commonly used verb. Today, India is respected and the expatriate population has risen manifold because the lifestyles in these cities are comparable to any other western city. It was because of the IT revolution that Wired ranked Bangalore at a high 11th among 46 global technology hubs based on various parameters. Ironically, the most vociferous support for the new culture comes from Chennai. Says Geetha Doctor, a freelance journalist: "I think Chennai's come a long way, and adapted very well. It's growing in a quiet but determined way. It's becoming hip and happening, and the profile is much younger. They have cleared up the IT highway, cleaning up and making the city more beautiful, and people have a civic pride that was never there before. We're, of late, witnessing a sort of Singaporisation of Chennai." Adds V.R. Devika, an educationist and art critic, who works with an NGO and Prakriti Foundation: "Madras is mostly portrayed as a Brahmin city?it's not! There are many young people wanting to become the Jeans Generation, to become middle class and take the IT opportunity.Evidently, Madras is on the brink of major change. Despite its orthodoxy, it's very open?though in danger of becoming Bangalore. What's to be admired is that we are capable of jeans on the outside, davani (half-saree) at home." And, with no trace of ambivalence. ------------------------------ Sugata Srinivasaraju, Madhavi Tata, Shruti Ravindran, K.S. Vasanth and Raghu Karnad -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-25122 Size: 23699 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070710/ce63f34f/attachment-0001.bin From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Jul 10 03:52:40 2007 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:22:40 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] That Side Of The Street Jeremy Seabrook Message-ID: <86b8a7050707100352l13f7c204n4ac18d097e304a38@mail.gmail.com> *That Side Of The Street* *An involuntary apartheid, it's in the fabric of the 'successful' city* Jeremy Seabrook For the past quarter-century, Indian politicians have been obsessed with transforming their cities into a futuristic elsewhere: Bal Thackeray's 1980s vision of Mumbai as Chicago, the current ambition to make Mumbai the Shanghai of tomorrow, the desire to bring Manhattan to Marine Drive and to reshape Bangalore or Hyderabad as Singapore. It seems a pity that India, land of villages, cannot invent or imagine a city that is Indian, without reference to some gilded outstation of fantasy. Now that more than half the world's population is urban, the 'heart' of a country is no longer to be sought in the rural areas. *Emblems of the new India, Bangalore and Hyderabad flaunt the borrowed plumes of an alien urbanism.* Its cities determine the country's self-presentation; and image becomes all-important. The positive image of the city is essentially corporate, international, a hub of connectivity with other 'world cities'. Bangalore and Hyderabad have flaunted these borrowed plumes of an alien urbanism better than anywhere in India; and this is why they, rather than Mumbai or Delhi, are promoted as emblems of the new India: characterised by what Solomon Benjamin sees as the distinction between the 'corporate' and the 'local' economies. The former has priority, in terms of land, water and power resources, amenities and services, while the second depends upon local political linkages and networks of production and distribution. These are bound to go down before the superior circuits of national and international elites. Few cities in India are concerned with all the usual 'social cleansing', that is the removal to the far periphery of settlements of the poor, usually for the sake of some high-profile international event (the Delhi clearances are in anticipation of the Commonwealth Games), some infrastructural imperative or 'developmental' necessity. All justify the transfer of land from use for local livelihoods to the corporate sector. In the process, those disadvantaged by it become virtually invisible. There is no need to dilate on the often-rehearsed 'miracle' of Bangalore or Hyderabad. Who is not familiar with those pyramids of glass lodging footloose international capital, the gilded nomads of globalism wanting to 'give back' something to India, as long as they can enjoy luxurious condos, farmhouses, golf courses and resorts, the tree canopies and colonial bungalows demolished and transformed into real estate, the four-wheel-drive cars purring in the ruts of congested streets? IT alone contributes more than 5 per cent to the Indian economy, and sector exports are estimated at over $30 billion this year. People come from all over India to marvel at Bangalore and Hyderabad: perhaps they see their own future inscribed in an iconography of fabulous luxury. The face India shows to the world has changed in the past 15 years, from impoverished supplicant to global competitor. The altered decor of the successful cities is the embodiment of this. But behind the marble facades, another India languishes, thrust into an involuntary apartheid by the heroic makers of fortunes. The urban poor: on their unacknowledged labour glittering cities rise. They learned the meaning of hardship very young: on the stony streets, child labourers?recently once more legislated out of existence in India?spread their scavenged treasures?rusty metal, rags, plastic, the toxic residue of electronic goods, broken glass and bone. Meanwhile, in the factory, with its long rows of Juki sewing machines, the rays of sunlight are thick with dust and cotton particles which quietly, damagingly enter the lungs of young women bent over garments they will never wear. If privilege thinks of poor people at all, it is as hands to open doors, serve meals, wash clothes; eyes to keep guard over private villas and watch by night palaces of glass; ears to listen for the thief in the night or the intruder on the stairs? fragments of humanity.Injustice is built into the fabric of the 'successful' city, which exhibits only one aspect of a world far more complex than anything that appears in its exotic imagery. The city is undermined by the pain, exploitation and loss which are built into its fabric, and which remain a constant threat even to its most soaring structures and glittering monuments to modernity. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070710/3ac0f906/attachment.html From meetnandi at hotmail.com Tue Jul 10 15:50:57 2007 From: meetnandi at hotmail.com (Sugata Nandi) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:50:57 +0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third Posting from Sugata Nandi Message-ID: SARAI Independent Fellowship Third Posting Title : Remembering Self: Remembering City By Sugata Nandi As adolescent and then a youth, growing up in a Calcutta in the fifties and sixties the city, Subhas Ranjan Chakrabarty, now retired professor of History, has a wealth of material to offer to a person studying the city of the said period. Professor Chakrabarty, who retired from the Presidency College, Kolkata in 2006, stands witness to the transitions and transformations that have made Calcutta/ Kolkata what it is. His memory of the city is, as is obvious that of a boy, an adolescent and then finally a young adult exploration dominated by the College Street area, where seven years of his formative stage were spent. Chakrabarty remembers a politically vibrant city, waiting for changes that has since the sixties are awaiting their place in history. In Chakrabarty?s opinion, a landmark event in the history of the city would be the election results of 1967. He says that the results of the general election held that year was bore the mark of the presence of the first generation that grew up since Independence. The Congress was routed in several states. In West Bengal the first non Congress Ministry, formed by the Bangla Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), took over from a faction ridden Congress. Looking back from this point at his memory of the first public event of the city, Chakrabarty remembers having been a part of the Calcutta crowd gathered to see the Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev and Bulganin. He said that he remembers having seen a Russian man travelling in one of the cars, and went home thrilled to have witnessed an important foreign dignitary. His euphoria was to turn into disappointment next day when he found in the papers that the leaders were whisked off to the Raj Bhawan, the Governor?s office cum residential building, in a car that did not allow the leaders to be seen by the public. The Russian man who was believed to be Bulganin by many turned out to a part of the leaders? entourage only. The other important that Chakrabarty remembers of the public spaces of the city are public meetings of political parties held at a park in Raja Santosh Mitra Square. Having spent his journey from boyhood to adulthood at a house in front of the park at that place, a number of political speeches had definitely left an impact on his young mind. Speeches delivered by the Communist Party of India stalwart Hirendranath Mukherjee were ?simply brilliant?, opines Chakrabarty. He adds that the overall atmosphere was so politically electrified every time any good orator spoke at a meeting held in the park, the excitement and the enthusiasm became palpable. He along with boys of his age made it a point from his late teens to be a part of the audience whenever any good orator was speaking. As adolescence rolled on, another significant public space was on the verge of becoming an integral part of Chakrabarty?s life. This was the College Street area. Stretching from the Presidency College in the north to the Medical College in the south, with the Calcutta University overlooking a large swimming pool cum lake, the area was to Mecca of the youth. His first memories of the area bring back embalming summer evenings spent at the side lake as other boys from his school took swimming lessons. The other attractions of the place were its bookshops. Being a member cum organizer of makeshift children?s library, called Mukul, in his locality he started frequenting the College Street book market while still at school. Soon as a student of the Presidency College (1960-66, from pre-university to post graduation), Chakrabarty stepped on a new stage of relating to the city. The outbreak of the Indo China war in 1962 suddenly opened a host of new questions for him and his friends at the College. For him and his generation the war meant initially a shock. China and India had been new nations that had vowed to follow the principals of the Panchsheel. The Indo China war created the first occasion for xenophobia/ a media fed mass hysteria witnessed by that generation. It was the time for turning around. He cites the example of Manoj Basu, a popular Bengali writer who serves as a classic example of this tendency. Basu had authored a book after having toured China in the fifties titled ?Chin Dekhe Elaam? (a close English translation would be ?Visit to China?). The book contained Basu?s outpouring of admiration for China, a neighbouring country and a new nation. The book was very popular in the late fifties. The war posed a problem for the author. By merit of the views expressed in the book the author, living the sudden tide of enmity towards China, Basu faced the possibility of being branded anti-national. So he took to the most convenient way. He denounced his views on China expressed before the war and disowned the book. Chakrabarty remembers Basu?s public burning of his own book. Close on the heels of this came two more developments. First, shoddily composed sings celebrating Indian nationalism was played over the All India Radio. Second, a section of the people discovered an opportunity to attack Communist ideology citing Communist China?s military aggression as the ground for that. The end of the war marked the beginning of a new phase of activism. The upsurge of radicalism was palpable. As a student of the Presidency College, Chakrabarty remembers the CPI student front, the Student Federation won the student union elections. Within a year of that, victory came the rift within the CPI. Within the College, the SF supporters came to be known by the appellation ?Left SF?, as the CPI split in 1966, many among the left SF became the first sympathizers and later on members of the CPIM. Chakrabarty remembers as a student he believed that the break away from the CPI could have proved damaging for the Communists in general. The year 1967 was both an interesting and exciting. The best news of the year was the defeat of Congress in the Assembly elections. He says, ?After coming to learn that the Congress has been defeated, we came to learn that the CPIM was not in a position to form the State Government. Soon after that, we came to learn that Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress was to become the Chief Minister of the state and Jyoti Basu was to become the Home minister. What was to follow from that time on for the next ten years was a period of transition. It was period marked by turbulence and the easy uptake of violence. From hindsight, ?67 seems to be the beginning. The change came ten years later in 1977.? Chakrabarty?s reminiscences of the fifties and the sixties are that of a historian turning back at the time of his younger days. His memories of the city are in a way memories of the formative and eventful part of his life. Public spaces of Calcutta, like the College Street locality and the Presidency College, stimulated and showed the way to his making of a politically conscious and socially aware youth in the sixties. His personal reminiscence of the late fifties and the sixties is integral to the transition that the city was going to undergo (and from the mid sixties, the city started going through). _________________________________________________________________ Wedding bells are ringing. When's your time to walk the aisle? http://ad.in.doubleclick.net/clk;112111293;17571293;v?http://www.simplymarry.com/timesmatri/faces/jsp/UserTrackLandingPage.jsp?origin=hotmail_taglines_ros_june07 From renucherianp at gmail.com Tue Jul 10 20:32:46 2007 From: renucherianp at gmail.com (renu cherianp) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:02:46 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] charisma in city-second posting Message-ID: <613457570707102032g3446cb9co92363d1ad781f0b6@mail.gmail.com> Hi friends, I am Renu Cherian, currently a student stipendiary at CSDS . My study is about the Space of Charisma in City. This is my second posting. It is about the miraculous healing experienced by a devotee of C.H.M (The Christian charismatic movement taken as the case of the study). These informations are gathered through field work and personal interview with the devotees. I have met lots of devotees, but here I am giving only one example. Healing ministry is considered as an important element in all Christian Charismatic Movements. C.H.M also practices healing ministry in their worship. Faith healing or miraculous healing can be defined as getting better health in body, mind and spirit by means of prayer usually occurring apart from medicine. That is why it is termed as miraculous healing. Miraculous Healing is considered as the gift of Holy Spirit. It is meant that, those who have the gift can only heal the sick ones. A large number of believers who assemble in C.H.M are suffering from various types of acute illnesses, ranging from non fatal to fatal. And they have a great expectation of their physical healing. C.H.M conducts special prayer sessions for miraculous healing in all prayer meetings. Main pastor initiates the prayers for healing. In these prayers, the whole worshippers pray along with the charismatic pastor for the healing. During the prayer the main pastor announces that people with certain diseases are going to be healed now. He emphasise that presence of Jesus Christ is there in the meeting, and He will touch the sick ones and relieve them from their sickness and sufferings. These prayers last for half an hour. As the prayer progresses the believers enter in to a highly excited condition, a hallucinated state. And after the prayer it is found that most of the diseased one is healed. Healing prayers are even conducted in the houses of the sick persons. The main pastor reaches the sick ones home and pray for his/her cure after laying his hand over the diseased persons head. And after the prayer the sick one is healed. Different types of experiences are felt by these healed persons at the time of healing. Some have a feeling of electric shock in their body. While others experiences a feeling of warmth or something heavy has quitted their body It is believed and propagated that, a disease, which cannot be cured by any medicine, is cured through the prayer in C.H.M congregation. That is why such movements are getting more popular among common people. Through healing a person, the followers believe that their main pastor has the power to do miracles in the name of Jesus Christ. Main pastor was supposed to have the power to do miracles as Jesus Christ has granted him the authority to do it. Thus a divine identity is bestowed on the main pastor. Charismatic movement use these examples of healing in their advertisement to create publicity for their movement. In their advertisements they publish mainly the healing of fatal diseases. Here I am presenting the case of such a fatal healing with whom I have had a personal interview. AN INTERVIEW WITH A LADY HEALED FROM UTERUS CANCER. Valsama Joy aged 45, with her husband and two children, residing at Kottayam district, Kerala state. Her husband is an Auto rickshaw driver and she is a house wife (a lower middle class family). She and her family were the members of St.Mariey's Jacobite Church, a famous traditional church at Kottayam. She was regular to church, on all Sundays. She used to attend all other prayers conducted by the church. But unfortunately in 1997 she became a cancer patient. She was admitted to Kottayam Medical College for treatment. Her condition was becoming worse day by day. During these periods of suffering, one day she decided to commit suicide, but the attempt failed. Meanwhile one of her relatives, who was an admirer and believer of C.H.M, invited her to attend the prayer meetings. Valsama went there and attended the prayers. She felt great joy and peace while she was in those prayers. She continued her visit to C.H.M. And on one evening, while Valsama was in her family prayers the main pastor, accompanied by some devotees visited her house. They joined the prayer. The main pastor, laying his hand over her head, prayed for her healing. At that moment, she felt that a power was flowing through her body, and something heavy had left her body, and she felt instantaneous healing. Next day she went to the hospital for medical check-up so as to confirm her healing. Doctor recommended scanning and after scanning it was found that there was no cancerous cell in her uterus. After this incident she and her family left the traditional church and joined C.H.M. And she is still a strong believer of C.H.M. She says that her life has changed a lot after joining C.H.M. Here after they felt harmony in their family. Education of her children was improved a lot. Her son got admission to nursing course. Now she and her family strongly believe that their spiritual and material life became prosperous only after joining the C.H.M. She says that now she is fearless, and courageous to face any hardship in her life. She is of the belief that no harm will happen in their life. We can observe that most of the people are attracted to C.H.M due to their quest for healing. It is found that a lot of people are healed from their illness by attending these worships, and later they become strong believers and propagators of this movement. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070711/49822919/attachment-0001.html From alicesamson at gmail.com Wed Jul 11 00:08:21 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:38:21 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. Message-ID: <6b037a040707110008h54434793jef9e3c40de0628ae@mail.gmail.com> Post 1/ The Inspirations behind this project and the Objects of study. A Second-hand Bookshop The sunlight filters through the panes Of book-shop windows, pockmarked grey By years of grimy city rains, And falls in mild, dust-laden ray Across the stock, in shelf and stack, Of this old bookshop-man who brought, To a shabby shop in a cul-de-sac. Three hundred years of print and thought. Like a cloak hangs the bookshop smell, Soothing, unique and reminding: The book-collector knows its spell, Subtle hints of books and binding- In the fine, black bookshop dust Paper, printer's ink and leather, Binder's glue and paper-rust And time, all mixed together. Blake's Poems, Sir-ah, yes, I know, Bohn did it in the old black binding, In '83.' Then shuffles slow To scan his shelves, intent on finding This book of songs he has not heard, With that deaf searcher's hopeful frown Who knows the nightingale, a bird With feathers grey and reddish brown. John Arlott This poem captures quite beautifully the experience many booklovers have while at that delightful place that is the second hand bookshop. For some like me it is an experience so innocent, so joyful that I cannot express it in its entirety. I have lived and travelled through many cities of this huge country that is India and found that most cities in India, and I understand the world over have, if not a full fledged seconds market in books, at least some variant of it. However for us the second hand book markets of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bombay, Calcutta etc are legendary and most booklovers take time to visit these enroute to other places. I came to Hyderabad in August 2005 for a Masters in English and after I settled into the place I started my search for good book markets to service my personal reading habit and for my master's requirement. I soon learnt that Hyderabad had a wonderful tradition of used book markets all over the city and these cut across budgets, tastes and locations in the city. There was the Sunday book market at Abids, the rare and antique book stores near Charminar, the decades old bookshops of Koti and quite a different world altogether was the Second-hand bookshops like M.R Book centre and Best Book store; these I suspect might come close to Arlott's bookstore, but our experience at these shops definitely has a uniqueness and is different in many ways from Arlott's description of the bookshop in Britain. I also learnt that soon after I had come to Hyderabad a significant part of this tradition of used-book shops had been dismantled, leaving many book lovers disappointed and booksellers miserable. The city municipal and police departments had forcibly dismantled some hundred odd bookshops outside Koti Women's college. These shops, which specialised in school and college textbooks, had for decades serviced the countless students, teachers and learners of all types in the city. I felt the deep sense of injustice that my friends felt, that the sellers and buyers of these used-books felt. I felt the rage that old booklovers felt, at the insensitivity of the planning departments who seemed to plan only for World games, IT conferences, visits by foreign prime ministers and more importantly planned for an unattainable dream city that looked like Shanghai or Tokyo or London. I felt the yearning for a space for reading in the city, and I felt the sense of injustice that this sort of antiseptic planning evoked in all people removed from it. There is something in a second-hand book that never fails to fascinate. I like the idea that a book I'm holding has been read, loved or hated by someone before me. I like to think that fingers over the grainy pages and tucked old bills or pressed flowers as bookmarks. I like to think that someone else was amazed by the writer's lyrical prose, incensed by a character's actions or horrified at the sudden turn of events on page 234. There is some joy in opening a copy of Doctor Zhivago and finding these scribbled under the title. To Mummy, Hope you enjoy it! Love Andrew, Anne, Olivier And wandering away wondering if Mummny enjoyed it. It connects us irrevocably to the rest of humanity and we read to discover that we are not alone. My fascination for these book and bookshops drove me to undertake this research project on the 'Second Hand Bookstalls of Hyderabad'. My aim during this study is to, the extent feasible, research and document all that goes into this experience of the Second-Hand Book Shops of Hyderabad. I will also attempt to trace the relationship of these books, shops and owners with the history of Hyderabad. Over the next few weeks I will post here my experiences, findings etc while on this project. Since I do not have a predetermined structure to my exploration I will not be able to post my research in an organised manner and will most often than not post these in the form of notes, scattered writings etc. ps. Please write to me about your experiences with Second hand books in your own cities and in Hyderbad if you have been here. If you have worked on a similar project before I would love to learn from your experience with customers, bussinessmen, with people in authority etc. Alice Samson Ciefl, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail,com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070711/acd9f5b2/attachment.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Wed Jul 11 07:47:03 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:47:03 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: [announcements] Eyes on Bombay: Panel Discussion on August 1 Message-ID: <74504.78984.qm@web56810.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: PUKAR To: announcements at pukar.org.in Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 11:18:13 AM Subject: [announcements] Eyes on Bombay: Panel Discussion on August 1 National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), PUKAR and Jackfruit Research & Design cordially invite you to Eyes on Bombay a panel discussion at the preview of Next to Each Other, Bombay Jadoo An exhibition of photographs from Bombay Jadoo by Betsy Karel Eyes on Bombay is about the process of 'looking' or viewing. The panel: a photographer, a film maker, and a sociologist, will explore ?ways of seeing? the city - Bombay/Mumbai, in particular. In their presentations they will engage questions of space, representation, gender, ideas of public and private, city spaces and exclusion. The panel will also address photography and film-making as acts of documentation. Panelists: Shyam Benegal One of the leading filmmakers of India?s arthouse or New Cinema tradition, Benegal?s critically acclaimed feature films, ranging from Ankur in 1974 to Bose: The Forgotten Hero in 2005, chronicle the idiosyncrasies of a society in flux. Benegal is also the maker of several documentaries and ad-films including Nehru (1983), Satyajit Ray (1984) and Nature Symphony (1990). While continuing to direct films, functioning on various award juries and contributing to the academic world, he also serves the public as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Betsy Karel Born in New York City in 1946, Karel now lives in Washington, DC. She worked as a photojournalist in the 1970s and early 80s, winning awards. In 1998, after an absence of 15 years, she returned to photography to participate in The Way Home, a book and national exhibition on homelessness in America. During the past nine years, Karel has made numerous trips to Mumbai, creating the images in Bombay Jadoo. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Yale University Art Gallery, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the John F. Kennedy Library. Shilpa Phadke An independent researcher, sociologist and writer, Phadke conceptualized and led the Gender & Space Project at PUKAR from September 2003 to September 2006. As part of the project she curated a photo-exhibition, City Limits: Engendering the Public with Bishakha Datta. She is currently writing a book based on the Gender and Space project along with Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade to be published by Penguin India. Date: Wednesday, 1st August 2007 Time: 6:30 PM onwards Venue: Piramal Art Gallery Experimental Theatre Building National Centre for the Performing Arts NCPA Marg, Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Telephone:: +91 (22) 6574 8152 Fax:: +91 (22) 6664 0561 Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in Website:: www.pukar.org.in ____________________________________________________________________________________ Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 DEFANGED.19668> ----- Forwarded Message ---- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070711/fe81bcff/attachment-0001.html From zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl Wed Jul 11 10:45:50 2007 From: zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl (zainab) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:45:50 +0200 Subject: [Urbanstudy] From London to Bangalore Message-ID: <96b0b048a01ba3de8a7b82ececc2e2ee@mail.xtdnet.nl> Aldgate. It is literally a gate. It separates Central London from East London. East London. The infamously famous part of London City. There is Brick Lane which is the ?culture hub? of the city and many novels and stories have been written about Brick Lane. I have not read any of these, but I certainly know that these would be unable to capture the territorial, inward, closed and ghetto nature of Brick Lane. Don?t get me wrong, I am not condemning Brick Lane. I am stating what I have sensed. Given the political atmosphere in London, the targeting of Muslims, the experience of living in a city that is not really home for the Bangladeshis who inhabit Brick Lane, there is something inward about Bric From alicesamson at gmail.com Thu Jul 12 05:13:35 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:43:35 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. In-Reply-To: <6b037a040707112234i22383199tf875a431ec076ad8@mail.gmail.com> References: <6b037a040707110008h54434793jef9e3c40de0628ae@mail.gmail.com> <6b037a040707112234i22383199tf875a431ec076ad8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6b037a040707120513i532492ffua47213a51001b9e9@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 12, 2007 11:04 AM Subject: Fwd: Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. To: Sadan hi Sadan I sent thisto the urban study group but it doesnt seem to be posting onto it what shud I do? regards alice - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 11, 2007 12:38 PM Subject: Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 1/ The Inspirations behind this project and the Objects of study. A Second-hand Bookshop The sunlight filters through the panes Of book-shop windows, pockmarked grey By years of grimy city rains, And falls in mild, dust-laden ray Across the stock, in shelf and stack, Of this old bookshop-man who brought, To a shabby shop in a cul-de-sac. Three hundred years of print and thought. Like a cloak hangs the bookshop smell, Soothing, unique and reminding: The book-collector knows its spell, Subtle hints of books and binding- In the fine, black bookshop dust Paper, printer's ink and leather, Binder's glue and paper-rust And time, all mixed together. Blake's Poems, Sir-ah, yes, I know, Bohn did it in the old black binding, In '83.' Then shuffles slow To scan his shelves, intent on finding This book of songs he has not heard, With that deaf searcher's hopeful frown Who knows the nightingale, a bird With feathers grey and reddish brown. John Arlott This poem captures quite beautifully the experience many booklovers have while at that delightful place that is the second hand bookshop. For some like me it is an experience so innocent, so joyful that I cannot express it in its entirety. I have lived and travelled through many cities of this huge country that is India and found that most cities in India, and I understand the world over have, if not a full fledged seconds market in books, at least some variant of it. However for us the second hand book markets of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bombay, Calcutta etc are legendary and most booklovers take time to visit these enroute to other places. I came to Hyderabad in August 2005 for a Masters in English and after I settled into the place I started my search for good book markets to service my personal reading habit and for my master's requirement. I soon learnt that Hyderabad had a wonderful tradition of used book markets all over the city and these cut across budgets, tastes and locations in the city. There was the Sunday book market at Abids, the rare and antique book stores near Charminar, the decades old bookshops of Koti and quite a different world altogether was the Second-hand bookshops like M.R Book centre and Best Book store; these I suspect might come close to Arlott's bookstore, but our experience at these shops definitely has a uniqueness and is different in many ways from Arlott's description of the bookshop in Britain. I also learnt that soon after I had come to Hyderabad a significant part of this tradition of used-book shops had been dismantled, leaving many book lovers disappointed and booksellers miserable. The city municipal and police departments had forcibly dismantled some hundred odd bookshops outside Koti Women's college. These shops, which specialised in school and college textbooks, had for decades serviced the countless students, teachers and learners of all types in the city. I felt the deep sense of injustice that my friends felt, that the sellers and buyers of these used-books felt. I felt the rage that old booklovers felt, at the insensitivity of the planning departments who seemed to plan only for World games, IT conferences, visits by foreign prime ministers and more importantly planned for an unattainable dream city that looked like Shanghai or Tokyo or London. I felt the yearning for a space for reading in the city, and I felt the sense of injustice that this sort of antiseptic planning evoked in all people removed from it. There is something in a second-hand book that never fails to fascinate. I like the idea that a book I'm holding has been read, loved or hated by someone before me. I like to think that fingers over the grainy pages and tucked old bills or pressed flowers as bookmarks. I like to think that someone else was amazed by the writer's lyrical prose, incensed by a character's actions or horrified at the sudden turn of events on page 234. There is some joy in opening a copy of Doctor Zhivago and finding these scribbled under the title. To Mummy, Hope you enjoy it! Love Andrew, Anne, Olivier And wandering away wondering if Mummny enjoyed it. It connects us irrevocably to the rest of humanity and we read to discover that we are not alone. My fascination for these book and bookshops drove me to undertake this research project on the 'Second Hand Bookstalls of Hyderabad'. My aim during this study is to, the extent feasible, research and document all that goes into this experience of the Second-Hand Book Shops of Hyderabad. I will also attempt to trace the relationship of these books, shops and owners with the history of Hyderabad. Over the next few weeks I will post here my experiences, findings etc while on this project. Since I do not have a predetermined structure to my exploration I will not be able to post my research in an organised manner and will most often than not post these in the form of notes, scattered writings etc. ps. Please write to me about your experiences with Second hand books in your own cities and in Hyderbad if you have been here. If you have worked on a similar project before I would love to learn from your experience with customers, bussinessmen, with people in authority etc. Alice Samson Ciefl, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail,com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/673bc7ed/attachment.html From mansilight at gmail.com Thu Jul 12 03:44:02 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:14:02 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third posting Message-ID: <998c34570707120344h40cc5b26g2b794bd811bbda76@mail.gmail.com> POSTING # 3 (Note- The attached PDF File contains the same text inclusive of our photographs) The posting is only written notes. Shared experiences for the community- public 1 While the notion of public is being restricted to the idea of the visiting public with aesthetic or entertainment in mind, there is also the other public that have access and use the lake perhaps without the sanction of the lake managers. Our study confirms apart from the constructed visual and recreational experience of a public park, a lake is also a resource with multiple levels of usership. In that way a lake is a shared experience for the users not only as an urban landscape but as a resource of livelihoods and water. The lake is then revealed as a shared presence in the lives of these multiple users with varied experiential meanings. There are direct users such as washer folk, fishing people, cattle owners some of them having legal withdrawal and access rights while others do not have legal permission either for access or for resource use. The legal entry to the lake is through the park gates whereas the illegal entry takes place through the unfenced eastern banks close to the highway. For the villager of Hebbal, the lake is imbued with sacred meaning and also sacred conflicts. The lake for the villagers is 'Gangavva': The sacred mother in whose name periodic fights happen resulting in breaking of and reconstructing of the Goddess. The washer folk vehemently assured us that they did not use the Hebbal Lake water for washing clothes as the water is not clean. They used water off a miniature pool formed in the eastern bank of the lake where the Cauvery pipeline passes by because that water is supposed to be clean and fresh. The dhobi defended himself by also saying that the leak in the pipe is a natural one. For those who collect weeds off the lake, the lake is a sources for cattle feed. These are again squatters or illegal entrants to the lake. For them the weeds are not a threat to the lake life nor an unwelcome invasion that mar the beauty of the lake. The fishing contract is another multiple resource use scenario with the ownership of the fishes in the lake vested with the Fisheries Department who gives off 5-year lease contracts for their harvest. The local fishing contractor now is hiring migrant labour from Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh to fish for him. The field notes reflect these users, the public. Just before the public- private partnership Nov 2006 Meet the lake Interviewers- Meera, Sreeja and Sowjanya On the first day, we decided to walk along the lake perimeter and see for ourselves a bit of the local geography. One could say we wanted to experience the tangible reality of the lake we were about to engage with. All three of us were committed to some sort of eco-friendliness and Indira, one more of our colleagues joined us for the walk as she had previous acquaintance with the lake as a visitor. We paid the entrance fee of RS. 5 and went in. The side service road was full of small vendors in push carts selling roasted corn on cob, ice cream, chats and other local fast food items. There was not much litter around. The lake entrance was a large archway and the ticket booth was to the right. I managed to hunt for change in my hand bag and briefly ask the booth attendant who was in the management of the lake. He hurried us on and said that the Oberoi hotel was the management. As the visitors were trickling in, he was reluctant to chat with us so we moved inside. We also did not have anything concrete to ask him so early in our project. When we entered the park we found notices of the forest department still in place asking us not to litter etc and the department name had been struck out. There were lots of visitors walking, children playing. All the snack stalls were outside the lake gate. Cartoon figure dustbins were placed around the people area of the park. As soon as we walked in, we saw two young men fishing with lines close to the boat jetty. The pedal boats were lying disused and the water weeds surrounded the jetty. The young man ( A ) was flinging a plastic twine into the water and pulling out small wriggling fish and dropping them it an orange plastic pot. Very politely we asked him what he was doing. He told us that he was fishing and that he did not sell the fish. He was a resident of Bhoopasandra, an area that would have been on the southern bank of the lake but has been since separated by the ring road. We were curious about the fish and asked him if perhaps he actually ate them or did he sell them? He replied that he gave them to watchman in return to do "Time Pass" fishing. We peered into the fish pot and found small aquarium size fishes wriggling and wondered if there were fish in the lake worth calling the fishing activity or fish would even classify as resource? Any way since this fisherman was friendly we asked him if there were other people who fish in the lake. He said that maybe there were boats in the morning. He seemed ready to answer more questions and I asked him a direct question. I asked him if he could continue to fish if the management changed to the hotel chain. Very nonchalantly he said that the Nagavara tank that had been developed was charging 20 rupees for the entry and it was quite likely that Oberoi management would do the same. He also had told us that he actually got in free in return for the fish that he gave the watchman so it was actually a question of whether this practice would continue after the change in the management. Respondent 2: From Bidar and Karwar As we were walking along we noticed two well dressed young men with ID tags walking along. They looked like computer professionals ? the guess was accurate and perhaps it would be interesting to see what about them, gave us this idea that they were IT professionals ? The ID tags and the image of Bangalore as a software city of Bangalore perhaps helped us identify them. On striking up a conversation I began with the question if they often came to Hebbal Lake? They said that they had come here the first time and they were taking a break from work. The question of where they worked seemed natural and they informed us that they were from a famous software company. They also told us they came to lake for relaxation. We introduced ourselves as students studying the Hebbal Lake and asked them if they knew anything about the water birds. I did not think it right to ask about the management change right away as they would not have a clue about earlier management being first time visitors. They did not know anything about the birds. What was interesting was that one hand they had come there to experience peace and calm and relaxation and the same time they were happy with the idea that there would be a floating restaurant in the middle of the lake. Q: There will be a floating restaurant in the lake. What do you think of it? A: "I think it will be nice". Q: Why? A: "Well, we can go by boat to eat and drink. It will be fun". They were in a hurry and we thought it best to end the interview. 2006, November 24th? Second day Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya (Ethnographic thick description type notes) The study was undertaken at 6.30 a.m. on November 23 rd Thursday 2006. The visit was to basically look at the fishing population around the lake. It was early morning and the there was very less traffic around .The boat was already in water and so we struck up some conversation with locals. The approach of the people is on the rock bank, opposite to the park area. There was a cowherd washing his cattle in the shallow bank. Two washer folk were near the lake: one man and one woman. They were counting the clothes. We asked them if they washed clothes in the lake and they told us that there was a connection from the Kaveri pipeline which was broken. There was a continuously flowing stream of fresh water from the broken pipe into the lake. They used that to wash clothes. Later we noticed the washer people moving to the rocky bank of the lake, where they began washing clothes on the lake shore. The next interview with the local respondent helped us to place the lake in perspectives of its history and the local environments. It was by sheer luck that we ran into this well dressed man in the early hours. We actually went to look for the fishermen and we had an idea that the fishes would be caught early in the morning. We took a muddy path leading along from the side of the road to wards the lake. This was adjacent to the national highway NH 7 As we walked down what seemed to be old road we met a young man in a cap and a nice dress who first said he was a fisher man but later he turned out to be a person who used to fish. We were lucky because he was a resident of Hebbal village and had spent almost his whole life in the park. The interview was in Kannada. We found that he was a resident of Hebbala Village next to the Lake and he was a painter by profession at Kengeri. He was willing to talk and rather boastfully gave us many details .He told us with pride that he fished sometimes in the lake. He informed us that he had grown up on the banks of the lake and was sure that the size of the lake had shrunk since his childhood. He recollected swimming in the lake and drinking the water from the lake. "Now the water is green and filled with Pachi (Algae)" he said with disgust. "Before the mud was red and the water was sweet". He pointed to the road we were standing on and told us that it was the main road. We noticed a shrine close to the place we were standing and asked him what that was? The lake had a temple dedicated to "gangavva" the deity of the lake. Worship at this place took place during the annual village festival (called Jatre).Two caste communities fought over the privilege of carrying a lamp and this quarrel lead to miscreants breaking the structure. We noticed that next to the older stone structure is a newer whitewashed temple with pictures of Gods and Goddesses. The interesting conversation of the temple gave us an idea of the indirect users of the lake. With a very self important tone, the young man volunteered information that one Sadhu used to come there only on new moon and did pooja with pumpkins and all that, but now he does not come. We were curious with this tale and just to let the informer continue with his story we asked him if it was a night Pooja. "Yes! with Tantra and Mantra" he declared dramatically. We moved to the questions about fishing and he gave us vital information. The fishing is a very regulated resource activity with a contract from the fisheries department in Lal Bagh. We also found out that the fishes have been introduced. He told us of the different contractors and also told us that the now the contract is with one Ppa. We found out that Ppa has one fish stall in the highway (pointing Bangalore- Hyderabad Road). It was more of a shack. He also told us that there there were many stalls, 6-7 of them, 6 of them on the other bank. (on the ring road bank) and one on the opposite side of the road. After this we paused. Suddenly he again asked us to look at another lake "You should look at the Yellanamarappa Lake. It is much more beautiful". He again went on to describe the earlier lake managements. We found out that before the fisheries department there used to be a Narayanappa from Kodegehally who engaged a guard to run around the lake. The respondent did not have pleasant memories of the lake from that period. He called them thieves. "They had a guard with a bandook (gun)" he recollected. He told us the names of some fish in the lake which we were not able to understand such as Catla, Rohu? I asked him if fishing would be affected by boating activities. He said that unless the nets were damaged, there would be no problem and also that the oils spills would not matter as the pollution would get diluted. He was very worried about the weeds as they moved. He wanted put some 'chemicals' that would kill the weeds. The boat drew closer to the shore and we asked him how much fish each boat brought in? He told us that there are three boats and each can hold 300kg (sic) .We later found out that this information was not correct. I wondered if birds got stuck in the nets or if people ate eggs of the water birds? He said that if they are stuck in the net the people would keep them. "For eating? " We asked very pleasantly. He repeated "We keep them! We don't take eggs". There was another pause and I clicked some photographs of the boat on the lake. Just wanted to make sure that he had all that he wanted to tell us so I asked him ?"What else can you tell us about the lake"? and this conversation is better reported in direct speech. By now we knew our respondent was not only a good informer but also given to dramatizations and exaggerations.(he would be a journalist respondent I think) A-There are dead bodies in the lake. (Dramatically) Q- Dead people? Who puts them there? (We were a bit shocked but we recovered as we realized he was talking about suicides) A-People kill themselves. Once I was fishing and there were strange waves. I saw that there was a person who was going up and down in the waters. I rushed up and pulled them out by the hair and slapped them. They had drunk a lot of water. It was a teacher from Yelahanka whose mind was not ok. Like that people try and kill themselves He posed for this nice photograph and then he left saying he had to go to work. Sreeja's notes Conversation with Kiran, Entrepreneur, farmer, bird watcher concerned citizen Sanjay Nagar. Conversation with Kiran on Hebbal Lake started with his pride in being involved in the study of Bangalore lakes for the past 4 years. On questioned whether he knew about the leasing out of the lake to Oberoi group he very happily agreed that it will be good thing to happen. He said since the Government was not obviously interested in the upkeep and maintenance of the lake, it is just as well that a private corporate like E.I .H chain of hotels has been asked to take care of it. He even brought out a comparison with Nagwara lake saying that the transformation of Nagwara from a muddy dirty pool (he was speaking of the wetlands) to the tidy lake that it is now is a venture that can be replicated for Hebbal also. He also seemed to have concern over the misuse of park premises by youngsters to be 'behind the bush' in early morning hours which he felt would be prevented if the hotel chain takes over . For me, this was a surprising attitude from a person who till then had ensued good ecological and practical sense. The rare combination of an entrepreneur looking at nature more closely. (This came out in his suggestion of devising small tools for sustainable harvesting of Amla in the BR hills rather than spend time creating awareness among tribals). On asked as to what he thought would be the plight of birds and on being described the particular incident of honking cars he was obviously perturbed. It was evident that like many others he had not given much thought to all the underlying implications of a corporate lease. But having slightly tilted his angle of vision it was evident that he was catching on the further implications. He said it is true that the lake should be open to all. The migratory birds did not seem to be that much of a concern though he is a very dedicated bird watcher. Deep ecological sense as to the importance of wetlands, the roosting of migratory birds, the unique characteristics of a natural lake as opposed to an artificial one was absent in Kiran. There was closeness to nature which was insufficient to grasp the larger dangers to a natural lake due to corporate investment in the nature of mindless beautification. Sowjanya's report Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya Respondent 2 : Mukesh, Migrant fisherman from Kuppam, AP The respondent's name was Mukesh aged around 20-25 years. He had been fishing as an wage worker for a contractor named Ppa who owned four boats. He was here along with 6 of his fellow villagers who had all been got here by Ppa exclusively for carrying out this activity. He is not engaged otherwise and the rest of the day goes in mending the fishing gear. They are paid Rs.20 as fixed wage per day and Rs. 4 over and above that for every kg of fish catch. They catch around 20-30 kg of fish per day. Ppa has the fishing contract for Hebbal lake for 5 years from the Fisheries Department. Mukesh and his other fellow villagers go home once a month to meet their families who take care of agricultural land (size - ??). Mukesh has three brothers who take care of the land in the village. The fisherman community generally did not seem anxious about the prospective development of the lake as they felt that their right would be safe guarded and they would still continue fishing in the early morning and late evening hours after the park closed for visitors. They had a small shack on the bank of the lake itself and all six of them lived there with bare necessities. He showed us fish catch and told us that they regularly see the following varieties of fish ? catlac, catla, rohu, mrigal, chali, jilabi, bigede, tiger jilabi, glasscar etc. They collect only the larger fishes. and throw back the younger ones. The boats are procured from Mettur. They were more concerned about the water hyacinth infestation in the lake which could get trapped into the fishing net if the breeze carried it towards the net. As we observed the contractor himself came with other helpers to carry and weigh the fish at a nearby small stall made of tin sheets which was the fish outlet for other retailers and hotel businessman to buy from. Ppa seemed reluctant to talk and we could not engage him in a longer conversation. Conversation with Sri. Srinivasan, Thoreau foundation The Thoreau society was involved with the cleaning operation of the lake. It is located in the RT Nagar, Anand Nagar area and is backed by the residents association as the Hebbal Lake is the favorite destination for the residents of these areas for morning strolls and weekend relaxation. Sri. Srinivasan to whom I (along with Meera) talked to has been involved in the affairs of the lake for the past 13 years. He could talk of the times when people including students used to get together to clean the lake manually. This practice had to be stopped because of increased presence of cattle leach in the lake. He was quite sure that the Forest Department was neglecting the maintenance and upkeep of the lake to make the lease arrangement desirable to the general public. (It is working since Kiran was touting this very reason as the advantage of a corporate takeover). The earnings from the lake come to round Rs. 10 lakhs/ year which was more than what was anticipated when the cleaning operation of the lake was first undertaken. According to Srinivasan, the FD can very well undertake the mechanical cleaning up operation of the lake by spending a fraction of the money generated by the park. He is a person who has written a letter to the Chief Secretary six months back asking for a revocation in the decision to lease out the lake. On asking what was the follow up being done he seemed a bit hassled. He said he did not see it as a battle that can be won. A court PIL was not considered as the judges are corrupt. He said the only way to revoke the decision now is to bring in a major pubic unrest. On being asked if he would he would call in the necessary people, maybe get together the voluntary group who cleaned up the lake and lay the base for a public agitation he replied that can be arranged. But there was a certain amount of conviction lacking in his reply. The most evident concern was the loss of public ownership over the land which was interestingly the point raised by Kiran also once his infatuation with corporate efficiency was past. Mr. Srinivasan felt more strongly about the conversion of public premises to the benefit of a single corporate body and was genuine in his desire to do something to prevent it. He had plans of developing the lake and its beautification (electric lighting along the lake bund and convert Hebbal Lake to Bangalore's equivalent of Marine Drive). But a conviction that it is a losing battle is also making him search for ways of compromise. A half formed suggestion that came out was the possibility of the hotel management letting in morning walkers and giving concessions to birdwatchers. Kiran also was found searching for options such as Oberoi letting in birdwatchers. Both of them did not have any marked concern for the fishing community Next post On ecological and other restorations... -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Whose lake is it anyway visit 1.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1874833 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/7b16a87e/attachment-0001.pdf From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 12 05:44:18 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:44:18 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. Message-ID: <613078.14401.qm@web56803.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Re: Kath's posting, yes, the list is there for posting and comments. I had some comments regarding the Mall string of discussion. Ipsita, I think it would be interesting to supplement some of your observational research with conversations with retailers and employees. I would be interested in knowing what the retailing model is of mall shops at all scales, how much rent they pay, where they procure their products, how much they had to invest to open the shop etc. Also, conversations with the new class of service industry workers in the mall about the work they do, their background, their own perspectives on the mall would be interesting... it seems a bit of a nascent class of workers, one whose story is worth telling in this larger narrative you are producing on malls. (And why not consumers as well?) I give these suggestions so that we may subject the space of the mall to the kind of investigation that is being conducted on the largely unorganized urban commerce taking place outside the mall. Yashdeep's article, as well as a number of recent articles in EPW, seek to make sense of the proliferation of malls. I had one comment, or criticism, regarding the Yashdeep's conclusion and a similar perspective being sketched out in Malcolm Voyce's critique of the mall phenomena in EPW. I think that the mall is an easy target for us to criticize. Most of us who subscribe to the list are (I imagine) not frequent patrons of many of the new malls coming up all around urban India, save seeing a movie. Most of us would readily ascribe to a critical perspective on malls as super-elite, intensely regulated spaces that are taking away business from small time, informal vendors such as hawkers (see Anuradha Kalhan's piece in EPW). Yashdeep wrote in his article that "By enclosing the hitherto public realm like the bazaar into imaginary fortresses of privilege, these structures rob the city of diversity and difference. Instead they paper over difference with a universalised aesthetic imperative for global produce." To say that malls 'paper' over difference and diversity suggests that they produce a cultural veneer over a kernel of truth buried somewhere beneath the stuff of developers' plans, retailers' profits and consumers' pleasures. I would suggest that the malls don't paper over difference, they produce it. The question is then how they produce difference and hierarchy, to which I would refer back to some of the questions I suggested Ipsita pursue. I think we need to get our hands dirty in some of the politics and economic infrastructure of malls and let the object of the mall raise a lot of questions, many of which cannot be anticipated. I imagine some of the more interesting issues raised will be about the control of knowledge, because the mall is a crucial node in the developer's city. Developers have much better access to knowledge about how the city in which they thrive functions... someone recently told me that big developers have their own, privately produced GIS maps that are used to site their projects, such that a new residential project will be sited according to sufficient groundwater resources. Combine this with what I imagine is intensive market research and the developer has ready access to a picture of the city that no public resource can match... I don't think the unorganized sector nor the government can match the deftness and depth of the knowledge being produced by developers on the city... perhaps I am overestimating their resources, but I think it is an issue we should take seriously. If we see this new urbanism as superficial layering, something that we can easily trump and analytically chip away at, I fear we are missing the point, and the challenge posed by highly centralized private development. That said, I enjoyed the postings... looking forward to more discussions on malls. They have an interesting history... from my own experience in American suburbia, I can say that malls, unlike the kind of malls we are talking about, were spaces for the masses. They were also the only place in suburban areas for people to bump into friends and strangers, and, however privatized, were important public spaces... the downtown in the town I grew up in never occupied such an important place in the social imaginary (until recently... large enclosed malls are now out of fashion). Of course, it was controlled and apolitical, but in that sense not too unlike the street in the US! Where else would a teenager spend time idly? The paradigm has shifted a bit, malls have been closing down, aren't as desirable in some places, as more emphasis is placed by developers and planners on open air shopping spaces modeled on the remembered 'downtown'. More recently, I saw a movie in Mumbai, which required me to go through two full security checks... what a fragile and paranoid utopia! Curt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545433 From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 12 05:44:45 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:44:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: Inviting your participation in mapping Blr Metro impact on CMH Road Message-ID: <503257.10032.qm@web56815.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: lalitha kamath To: ayisha abraham ; virtuallyme at gmail.com; Zainab Bawa ; vinay3 baindur ; annapurna garimella ; jayashree T ; lawrence3 liang ; Jiti Nichani ; Malini Ranganathan ; prakash belawadi ; shaina anand ; geeta narayanan ; Prem Chandavarkar ; kchamaraj at gmail.com; kirtana kumar ; Kiran Jonnalagadda Cc: RajanValli P ; Curt Gambetta ; lalitha kamath Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 9:45:04 AM Subject: Inviting your participation in mapping Blr Metro impact on CMH Road Dear friends, CASUMM (mostly Rajan) has been working for some time on displacements of livelihoods and local economies in Bangalore due to large infrastructure projects. The Bangalore metro is a particularly good example here: With the coming of the metro 1500 shops will disappear on CMH Road alone although the BMRCL has only identified 48 properties on this road to be compensated. Besides displacement of livelihoods and local economies, this represents the displacement of street life as we know it, of small and unique neighborhood kirana stores, of complex financial, trade and political circuits, of the urban landscape, of the small entrepreneur? What sorts of changes will we see on that road in the years to come? How will a mall at every station change the urban landscape and our interaction with our city? CASUMM and Curt are interested in exploring the changes the metro will have in more detail, making them more visible, and putting them out in the public domain. What we?d like to do together is go to every shop along a stretch of CMH road and ask 5-6 basic questions- we have prepared a checklist. Curt will then help us conceptualize and map this visually. But we really need some help to do this. Would you be able to help us get some volunteers to do this? We would need about 5 volunteers. The project would involve a week of volunteer time starting end of next week (about July 20th-27th). We?d be able to pay a basic allowance per day to cover some expenses. Volunteers would need to ask every trader basic questions that would help understand: ? history of the establishment ? where they get supplies from and whom they sell to (circuits of trade) ? whether they pay VAT and sales tax (ie. how ?formalized? they are and whether they can ?claim? compensation) ? how much they invest and who they get their capital from (circuits of finance) ? the political connections they use to get problems solved (circuits of negotiation, resistance) The stretch of CMH road can roughly be divided into 3 parts each with its own history and circuits- BDA developed and more high end shops, CITB developed and more medium end, and the old village part, largely unplanned, smaller shops. To supplement this basic information on every shop, Rajan and others will be getting more detailed, nuanced stories from a selection of traders. This will also be represented visually. We would ideally like to disseminate this publicly (sometime in August) in a way that allows creative and diverse interaction with the material. If you can help in any way, most particularly with volunteers, it would be great. Please get in touch ASAP with Curt (cugambetta at yahoo.com) or Rajan (advtrajan at gmail.com). I will be out the rest of this week and not checking email. Cheers Lalitha - Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 DEFANGED.2070> ----- Forwarded Message ---- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/f8d055fa/attachment.html From akhilkatyal at rediffmail.com Thu Jul 12 06:53:59 2007 From: akhilkatyal at rediffmail.com (akhil katyal) Date: 12 Jul 2007 13:53:59 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Cyber Cultures/Queer Cultures in Delhi Message-ID: <20070712135359.32561.qmail@f5mail10.rediffmail.com> Cyber Cultures/Queer Cultures in Delhi Akhil Katyal ?Online relationships and groupings provide the most obvious structures of alternative sexuality cyberculture [can be seen] as a revolutionary social experiment with the potential to create new identities, relationships and cultures ? - Pramod K. Nayar, in the section ?Cyberfeminism? in his essay ?Queering Cultural Studies: Notes Towards a Framework? [1] ?I think that the internet has definitely helped in the proliferation of queer cultures. Right now I can think of gaydelhi yahoogroup, lgbtindia yahoogroup, khush yahoogroup, gay bombay, symphony in pink, voicesagainst377, CREA and TARSHI websites Then there?s guys4men and gaydar .coms which boys use It lets people meet each other, have sex, develop bonds of friendship, meet people who can be potential relationship partners, that kind of a thing, and then there are all these forums where people post all sorts of things ? like I think that this particular guy is cute or ridiculous things like Hindus are superior in India, all sorts also, the internet has revolutionized cruising ? given more control, mobility, steering capacity and wide range of choice to the cruiser.? - Mario D? Penha, gay activist, in an interview given to me on 23rd March, 2007 [2] Seen in conjunction, Mario D? Penha and Pramod K. Nayar?s comments seem to be registering the importance of understanding socio-cultural phenomenon without disregarding the effect of newer technologies. For the section of queer people living in the city who have continuous or intermittent access to internet, the web has revolutionized relations, information resources, identity formations or fantasies and has increased the possibilities of mapping queer people/cultures even as it provides these very same people/cultures a site to inhabit, grow in, exploit or explore, and mark an undeniable presence. E-mails and e-groups on internet have increased possibilities of communication between people and of mobilizing them for different purposes. For queer people, for whom these very possibilities are wrought with complexities of control and invisibility in the non-cyber world, the medium of internet assumes a unique significance and interventionist proportions. Unlike other forms of media, the internet is both strategically and dangerously public and private at the same time, allowing independences impossible to think of vis-?-vis television, cinema, radio etc. Also, in negotiating daily habits like time spent on web, in affecting mindscapes through reading hitherto unreachable social/personal texts (like in blogs) and shaping access to and forms of knowledges, the cyberspace constantly interacts with the so-called non-cyber world. In effect, any such division between the virtual and the real is artificial and misleading. Queer cultures in Delhi contribute to and are shaped by the cyberqueer. Responding to my last posting ?Queer Cultures and the Delhi Discotheque?, a Delhi-based journalist who would have located the posting through internet search portals, contacted me and indicated her wish to have a dialogue over Delhi?s queer spaces. Even as one writes a Sarai posting on queer cultures in Delhi (with a slightly discomfiting knowledge of its availability on the net, like for instance if my mother reads it there would be quite a scene at home), its relations and interactions in the super-abundant world of the internet make it clear that queerness is a variable which plays out its knotty games on the web, becoming a unique node for queer cultural formations in the city. Websites like manjam, gaydar and guys4men and others provide queer men in the city with opportunities to meet up and engage socially/sexually. Signed up members can put up their profile with descriptions and pictures. One has the option of filling out details about one?s habits and hobbies, likes and dislikes, sexual favourites, waist and penis size, hair colour etc. Description of oneself becomes a way of creating a desirable persona. Putting one?s pictures on the profile is almost indispensable for a fruitful sexual career on guys4men. Several follow the ?no pic, no reply? rule. An extreme form and demand of visibility and descriptive excess ensures chats and meet-ups. This sits interestingly with the fact that several of the men registered in guys4men fill out ?nobody? in the ?Out to? section. Like mentioned in my last posting, being on these hook-up websites or visiting a tacitly understood queer night at a city discotheque does not automatically mean that these men are completely ?out? or are interested in being ?out? or even consciously identify themselves as queer or gay or the like. Several of these men inhabit the complex recesses where sexual behaviour has no direct or simple correspondences with sexual identities. It is not difficult to guess that several of these men are married or have sustained relationships with women. Manoj Das (profile name changed) says that he is travelling to Delhi with his girlfriend and would like to meet ?body builders? and ?smart guys? ?with place? for sexual enjoyment. Being on guys4men from Delhi is like being super-visible albeit within a localised system which functions on the principles of invisibility. The event of being present on such websites is like loosely networking within, not coming out. Several of the pictures on these websites have either the face smudged, (which reminds one of those news interviews where the face of the person in question is only partially outlined, remaining unidentifiable), or the focus of the photographs is the body ? neck and down ? specially arms, chest and abs. Sexual desirability takes over facially determined identity. On the other hand full pictures are requested by many as a pre-condition for initiating dialogue. Visibility and invisibility in fact are simultaneous and interacting processes on guys4men. In the interview with Mario D? Penha, I heard a curious shoe-theory of safety while cruising. D? Penha had been told by a friend in Mumbai that while cruising one should always be alert to the possibility that the other guy might be a policeman in disguise. It is not an easy process, however, to ascertain this. This friend suggested that observing the other guy?s shoes would give the necessary and all too valuable hint. Most of these policemen under cover change their clothes but obviously do not have enough money to change into another casual-looking pair of shoes. So if the shoes resemble the formal blacks of a policeman, one could do better than approaching this guy for sex. Cruising in physical spaces of the city has always been an affair which dangles on the edge of un-safety. Arrests and blackmail by policemen loaded with the section 377, or extortion for money are often reported within queer circles. The gaybombay website has several articles and personal narratives which function as cruising guidelines and warnings. In this context, internet portals like guys4men provide forums which can be used to manoeuvre cruising in a different manner, possibly much safer than in moonlit Nehru or Central Parks in Delhi or train-station loos in Bombay. The story however, like many stories, is not simple. Recent arrests of gay men in Lucknow were made by the police by tracking their internet profiles. A note near the bottom of the webpage in www.guys4men.com reads ?INDIAN MEMBERS PLEASE READ: Increasingly, policemen along with gangs of blackmailers work in cohort and use web spaces where gay men meet to entrap them. For more info on what's been happening, please read this? which hyperlinks to several articles on safety and personal narratives on gaybombay website as mentioned above. The virtual world is unable to eradicate the problems and fixes of the world outside, because physical sexual contact and social relations lie at the end of the process for which internet is only a determined/determining medium. Digital penises or virtual orgasms are undiscovered yet, and should one still think (?), thankfully so. Shuddhabrata Sengupta [3] in his beautiful prose writes in his article ?Net nomad on a rough route: A Despatch from Cyberspace? ? ?While it is this open transparent character of online existence that lays the Internet vulnerable to surveillance, it is also its self-inscribing character that makes it the playground of possibilities it is at its best. Cyberspace is habitat, playground, university, boulevard, refuge. In creating for ourselves a medium which brings the world streaming into our minds and out of our fingers, we have inscribed the first coordinates of a new world map.? The new sexual map laid out by guys4men plays with new possibilities even as it duplicates several categories. One guy wants to have sex with a man from ?good decent back ground? which uncannily reads like a request in matrimonial columns. Another describes himself as a ?pure bottom?, implying he only likes getting inserted. One man only wants friendship, not sex. Another betrays a typical masculinist prejudice asking for versatile or top guys, not feminine or pure bottoms. Guys4men revels in sexual categories, makes new ones or builds on regular sexual clich?s. Desire is unabashed, playful, complex here. The website format plays on the client?s desire for a ?perfect match?. By filling an online form for finding one?s match one can prescribe age, picture availability, penis size, even eye or hair colour of the desired mate. One can fill up as many options for greater precision in the search process. A perfect sexual mate is constructed in this process even if that ideal remains unreachable (or perhaps not!). Levels of specificity and choice reach unbelievable proportions ? Rakesh41 (profile name changed) travelling on AP Express on 5th June from Hyderabad to Agra who is a ?top guy? wanted to know if any ?bottom guy? is travelling on the same day in the same train ? ?we can have some fun in train? he writes. Internet can be a playground of (im)possibilities like these. People from several classes frequent guys4men duplicating the variety of people who have internet access in the city. One can notice swanky rooms/appliances in the background of some individual profile photographs while in others the dilapidating paint on the walls is visible. Sengupta continues ? in the fuzzy world of Cyberspace, parallel lines of data, articulated on different planes, bump into each other all the time, creating constant collisions of meaning and new information events that transform and reconfigure the ways in which we think about being?. ?guys4men? is an unstable factor within this multipart process where class, sexual preference, age and looks collide and create newer definitions and desires of being. In the recently concluded Nigah Queer Film and Arts Festival in Delhi, the performance night saw the gay activist and author Gautam Bhan doing a stand up comedy act to a jam-packed ?Attic? with around 150 people above ?People Tree? in CP. During much of the later part of his act he culled out humour by dissecting the idiosyncrasies of guys4men ? the way the X-rated pictures are made to work, how Bengali profiles are invariably longer by four paragraphs than any other (he claimed he wasn?t joking), and he ended by marking out a few unlikely members of guys4men like ex-prime ministers, presidents, and police officers. The humour worked because these utterances about web hook-up joints like guys4men functioned in a grid of recognizable references. Urban queer cultures are not made by big monolithic changes or acquisitions but by a gradual sense of ownership over a cultural artefact, a television character, a cinematic moment or an internet event. Guys4men provided this space which could be both used for social/sexual affairs and could be talked about in get-togethers? in short it made itself available for cultural processes to act within it and around it. William Gibson [4] muses about cyberspace in his 1984 ?Neuromancer? ? ? A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation A graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the non-space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding ? Urban sexualities and their correspondent cultures operate in these lights which make things only curiously and complicatedly visible. Notes and References [1] Pramod K. Nayar, in the section ?Cyberfeminism? in his essay ?Queering Cultural Studies: Notes Towards a Framework?, published in Brinda Bose and Subhabrata Bhattacharya ed. ?The Phobic and the Erotic?, in 2007 by Seagull Publications. [2] I conducted this interview with Mario D? Penha, gay activist and scholar, on 23rd March, 2007. [3] Shuddhabrata Sengupta, in his article ?Net nomad on a rough route: A Despatch from Cyberspace? published in ?Biblio: A Review of Books?, in 2000. [4] William Gibson?s ?Neuromancer?, published in 1984 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/6f0b5775/attachment-0001.html From mansilight at gmail.com Thu Jul 12 23:01:23 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:31:23 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] third posting Message-ID: <998c34570707122301x4430adaetcc73180eceaebcde@mail.gmail.com> Dear all , Here is section 1 of our third posting. Shared experiences for the community- public 1 While the notion of public is being restricted to the idea of the visiting public with aesthetic or entertainment in mind, there is also the other public that have access and use the lake perhaps without the sanction of the lake managers. Our study confirms apart from the constructed visual and recreational experience of a public park, a lake is also a resource with multiple levels of usership. In that way a lake is a shared experience for the users not only as an urban landscape but as a resource of livelihoods and water. The lake is then revealed as a shared presence in the lives of these multiple users with varied experiential meanings. There are direct users such as washer folk, fishing people, cattle owners some of them having legal withdrawal and access rights while others do not have legal permission either for access or for resource use. The legal entry to the lake is through the park gates whereas the illegal entry takes place through the unfenced eastern banks close to the highway. For the villager of Hebbal, the lake is imbued with sacred meaning and also sacred conflicts. The lake for the villagers is 'Gangavva': The sacred mother in whose name periodic fights happen resulting in breaking of and reconstructing of the Goddess. The washer folk vehemently assured us that they did not use the Hebbal Lake water for washing clothes as the water is not clean. They used water off a miniature pool formed in the eastern bank of the lake where the Cauvery pipeline passes by because that water is supposed to be clean and fresh. The dhobi defended himself by also saying that the leak in the pipe is a natural one. For those who collect weeds off the lake, the lake is a sources for cattle feed. These are again squatters or illegal entrants to the lake. For them the weeds are not a threat to the lake life nor an unwelcome invasion that mar the beauty of the lake. The fishing contract is another multiple resource use scenario with the ownership of the fishes in the lake vested with the Fisheries Department who gives off 5-year lease contracts for their harvest. The local fishing contractor now is hiring migrant labour from Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh to fish for him. The field notes reflect these users, the public. Just before the public- private partnership Nov 2006 Meet the lake Interviewers- Meera, Sreeja and Sowjanya On the first day, we decided to walk along the lake perimeter and see for ourselves a bit of the local geography. One could say we wanted to experience the tangible reality of the lake we were about to engage with. All three of us were committed to some sort of eco-friendliness and Indira, one more of our colleagues joined us for the walk as she had previous acquaintance with the lake as a visitor. We paid the entrance fee of RS. 5 and went in. The side service road was full of small vendors in push carts selling roasted corn on cob, ice cream, chats and other local fast food items. There was not much litter around. The lake entrance was a large archway and the ticket booth was to the right. I managed to hunt for change in my hand bag and briefly ask the booth attendant who was in the management of the lake. He hurried us on and said that the Oberoi hotel was the management. As the visitors were trickling in, he was reluctant to chat with us so we moved inside. We also did not have anything concrete to ask him so early in our project. When we entered the park we found notices of the forest department still in place asking us not to litter etc and the department name had been struck out. There were lots of visitors walking, children playing. All the snack stalls were outside the lake gate. Cartoon figure dustbins were placed around the people area of the park. As soon as we walked in, we saw two young men fishing with lines close to the boat jetty. The pedal boats were lying disused and the water weeds surrounded the jetty. The young man ( A ) was flinging a plastic twine into the water and pulling out small wriggling fish and dropping them it an orange plastic pot. Very politely we asked him what he was doing. He told us that he was fishing and that he did not sell the fish. He was a resident of Bhoopasandra, an area that would have been on the southern bank of the lake but has been since separated by the ring road. We were curious about the fish and asked him if perhaps he actually ate them or did he sell them? He replied that he gave them to watchman in return to do "Time Pass" fishing. We peered into the fish pot and found small aquarium size fishes wriggling and wondered if there were fish in the lake worth calling the fishing activity or fish would even classify as resource? Any way since this fisherman was friendly we asked him if there were other people who fish in the lake. He said that maybe there were boats in the morning. He seemed ready to answer more questions and I asked him a direct question. I asked him if he could continue to fish if the management changed to the hotel chain. Very nonchalantly he said that the Nagavara tank that had been developed was charging 20 rupees for the entry and it was quite likely that Oberoi management would do the same. He also had told us that he actually got in free in return for the fish that he gave the watchman so it was actually a question of whether this practice would continue after the change in the management. Respondent 2: From Bidar and Karwar As we were walking along we noticed two well dressed young men with ID tags walking along. They looked like computer professionals — the guess was accurate and perhaps it would be interesting to see what about them, gave us this idea that they were IT professionals — The ID tags and the image of Bangalore as a software city of Bangalore perhaps helped us identify them. On striking up a conversation I began with the question if they often came to Hebbal Lake? They said that they had come here the first time and they were taking a break from work. The question of where they worked seemed natural and they informed us that they were from a famous software company. They also told us they came to lake for relaxation. We introduced ourselves as students studying the Hebbal Lake and asked them if they knew anything about the water birds. I did not think it right to ask about the management change right away as they would not have a clue about earlier management being first time visitors. They did not know anything about the birds. What was interesting was that one hand they had come there to experience peace and calm and relaxation and the same time they were happy with the idea that there would be a floating restaurant in the middle of the lake. Q: There will be a floating restaurant in the lake. What do you think of it? A: "I think it will be nice". Q: Why? A: "Well, we can go by boat to eat and drink. It will be fun". They were in a hurry and we thought it best to end the interview. Cntd in the next mail From mansilight at gmail.com Thu Jul 12 23:12:33 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:42:33 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] third posting- part 2 Message-ID: <998c34570707122312o2f99530ha2fcf6ce567915be@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, Here is the second part of our third posting. 2006, November 24th– Second day Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya. questions were asked in Kannada, the local language. (Ethnographic thick description type notes) The study was undertaken at 6.30 a.m. on November 23 rd Thursday 2006. The visit was to basically look at the fishing population around the lake. It was early morning and the there was very less traffic around .The boat was already in water and so we struck up some conversation with locals. The approach of the people is on the rock bank, opposite to the park area. There was a cowherd washing his cattle in the shallow bank. Two washer folk were near the lake: one man and one woman. They were counting the clothes. We asked them if they washed clothes in the lake and they told us that there was a connection from the Kaveri pipeline which was broken. There was a continuously flowing stream of fresh water from the broken pipe into the lake. They used that to wash clothes. Later we noticed the washer people moving to the rocky bank of the lake, where they began washing clothes on the lake shore. The next interview with the local respondent helped us to place the lake in perspectives of its history and the local environments. It was by sheer luck that we ran into this well dressed man in the early hours. We actually went to look for the fishermen and we had an idea that the fishes would be caught early in the morning. We took a muddy path leading along from the side of the road to wards the lake. This was adjacent to the national highway NH 7 As we walked down what seemed to be old road we met a young man in a cap and a nice dress who first said he was a fisher man but later he turned out to be a person who used to fish. We were lucky because he was a resident of Hebbal village and had spent almost his whole life in the park. The interview was in Kannada. We found that he was a resident of Hebbala Village next to the Lake and he was a painter by profession at Kengeri. He was willing to talk and rather boastfully gave us many details .He told us with pride that he fished sometimes in the lake. He informed us that he had grown up on the banks of the lake and was sure that the size of the lake had shrunk since his childhood. He recollected swimming in the lake and drinking the water from the lake. "Now the water is green and filled with Pachi (Algae)" he said with disgust. "Before the mud was red and the water was sweet". He pointed to the road we were standing on and told us that it was the main road. We noticed a shrine close to the place we were standing and asked him what that was? The lake had a temple dedicated to "gangavva" the deity of the lake. Worship at this place took place during the annual village festival (called Jatre).Two caste communities fought over the privilege of carrying a lamp and this quarrel lead to miscreants breaking the structure. We noticed that next to the older stone structure is a newer whitewashed temple with pictures of Gods and Goddesses. The interesting conversation of the temple gave us an idea of the indirect users of the lake. With a very self important tone, the young man volunteered information that one Sadhu used to come there only on new moon and did pooja with pumpkins and all that, but now he does not come. We were curious with this tale and just to let the informer continue with his story we asked him if it was a night Pooja. "Yes! with Tantra and Mantra" he declared dramatically. We moved to the questions about fishing and he gave us vital information. The fishing is a very regulated resource activity with a contract from the fisheries department in Lal Bagh. We also found out that the fishes have been introduced. He told us of the different contractors and also told us that the now the contract is with one Ppa. We found out that Ppa has one fish stall in the highway (pointing Bangalore- Hyderabad Road). It was more of a shack. He also told us that there there were many stalls, 6-7 of them, 6 of them on the other bank. (on the ring road bank) and one on the opposite side of the road. After this we paused. Suddenly he again asked us to look at another lake "You should look at the Yellanamarappa Lake. It is much more beautiful". He again went on to describe the earlier lake managements. We found out that before the fisheries department there used to be a Narayanappa from Kodegehally who engaged a guard to run around the lake. The respondent did not have pleasant memories of the lake from that period. He called them thieves. "They had a guard with a bandook (gun)" he recollected. He told us the names of some fish in the lake which we were not able to understand such as Catla, Rohu… I asked him if fishing would be affected by boating activities. He said that unless the nets were damaged, there would be no problem and also that the oils spills would not matter as the pollution would get diluted. He was very worried about the weeds as they moved. He wanted put some 'chemicals' that would kill the weeds. The boat drew closer to the shore and we asked him how much fish each boat brought in? He told us that there are three boats and each can hold 300kg (sic) .We later found out that this information was not correct. I wondered if birds got stuck in the nets or if people ate eggs of the water birds? He said that if they are stuck in the net the people would keep them. "For eating? " We asked very pleasantly. He repeated "We keep them! We don't take eggs". There was another pause and I clicked some photographs of the boat on the lake. Just wanted to make sure that he had all that he wanted to tell us so I asked him –"What else can you tell us about the lake"? and this conversation is better reported in direct speech. By now we knew our respondent was not only a good informer but also given to dramatizations and exaggerations.(he would be a journalist respondent I think) A-There are dead bodies in the lake. (Dramatically) Q- Dead people? Who puts them there? (We were a bit shocked but we recovered as we realized he was talking about suicides) A-People kill themselves. Once I was fishing and there were strange waves. I saw that there was a person who was going up and down in the waters. I rushed up and pulled them out by the hair and slapped them. They had drunk a lot of water. It was a teacher from Yelahanka whose mind was not ok. Like that people try and kill themselves He posed for this nice photograph and then he left saying he had to go to work. Sowjanya's report Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya Respondent 2 : Mukesh, Migrant fisherman from Kuppam, AP The respondent's name was Mukesh aged around 20-25 years. He had been fishing as an wage worker for a contractor named Ppa who owned four boats. He was here along with 6 of his fellow villagers who had all been got here by Ppa exclusively for carrying out this activity. He is not engaged otherwise and the rest of the day goes in mending the fishing gear. They are paid Rs.20 as fixed wage per day and Rs. 4 over and above that for every kg of fish catch. They catch around 20-30 kg of fish per day. Ppa has the fishing contract for Hebbal lake for 5 years from the Fisheries Department. Mukesh and his other fellow villagers go home once a month to meet their families who take care of agricultural land (size - ??). Mukesh has three brothers who take care of the land in the village. The fisherman community generally did not seem anxious about the prospective development of the lake as they felt that their right would be safe guarded and they would still continue fishing in the early morning and late evening hours after the park closed for visitors. They had a small shack on the bank of the lake itself and all six of them lived there with bare necessities. He showed us fish catch and told us that they regularly see the following varieties of fish – catlac, catla, rohu, mrigal, chali, jilabi, bigede, tiger jilabi, glasscar etc. They collect only the larger fishes and throw back the younger ones. The boats are procured from Mettur. They were more concerned about the water hyacinth infestation in the lake which could get trapped into the fishing net if the breeze carried it towards the net. As we observed the contractor himself came with other helpers to carry and weigh the fish at a nearby small stall made of tin sheets which was the fish outlet for other retailers and hotel businessman to buy from. Ppa seemed reluctant to talk and we could not engage him in a longer conversation. Conversation with Sri. Srinivasan, Thoreau foundation report by Sowjanya The Thoreau society was involved with the cleaning operation of the lake. It is located in the RT Nagar, Anand Nagar area and is backed by the residents association as the Hebbal Lake is the favorite destination for the residents of these areas for morning strolls and weekend relaxation. Sri. Srinivasan to whom I (along with Meera) talked to has been involved in the affairs of the lake for the past 13 years. He could talk of the times when people including students used to get together to clean the lake manually. This practice had to be stopped because of increased presence of cattle leach in the lake. He was quite sure that the Forest Department was neglecting the maintenance and upkeep of the lake to make the lease arrangement desirable to the general public. (It is working since Kiran was touting this very reason as the advantage of a corporate takeover). The earnings from the lake come to round Rs. 10 lakhs/ year which was more than what was anticipated when the cleaning operation of the lake was first undertaken. According to Srinivasan, the FD can very well undertake the mechanical cleaning up operation of the lake by spending a fraction of the money generated by the park. He is a person who has written a letter to the Chief Secretary six months back asking for a revocation in the decision to lease out the lake. On asking what was the follow up being done he seemed a bit hassled. He said he did not see it as a battle that can be won. A court PIL was not considered as the judges are corrupt. He said the only way to revoke the decision now is to bring in a major pubic unrest. On being asked if he would he would call in the necessary people, maybe get together the voluntary group who cleaned up the lake and lay the base for a public agitation he replied that can be arranged. But there was a certain amount of conviction lacking in his reply. The most evident concern was the loss of public ownership over the land which was interestingly the point raised by Kiran also once his infatuation with corporate efficiency was past. Mr. Srinivasan felt more strongly about the conversion of public premises to the benefit of a single corporate body and was genuine in his desire to do something to prevent it. He had plans of developing the lake and its beautification (electric lighting along the lake bund and convert Hebbal Lake to Bangalore's equivalent of Marine Drive). But a conviction that it is a losing battle is also making him search for ways of compromise. A half formed suggestion that came out was the possibility of the hotel management letting in morning walkers and giving concessions to birdwatchers. Kiran also was found searching for options such as Oberoi letting in birdwatchers. Both of them did not have any marked concern for the fishing community From prashantiyengar at gmail.com Sun Jul 15 03:07:23 2007 From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar) Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 15:37:23 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [Fwd: Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad.] In-Reply-To: <4694B19E.7080105@altlawforum.org> References: <4694B19E.7080105@altlawforum.org> Message-ID: <908adbd0707150307i13903a28j35288e568d0b59ce@mail.gmail.com> Hi, As a resident of Secunderabad for the past 25 years, and as one who owes his reading habits entirely to pavement book shops (pirated or seconds) in the twin-cities I'm very very interested in this research. I've witnessed first-hand the "dismantling" of the second hand book shop tradition in hyderabad - acutely visible in the gradual shrinkage of the Abids Sunday book market, both in terms of territory and variety. While traffic and town planning may have played a pivotal role in this shrinkage, I suspect also the weakening of the "book-reading culture" in the city to be implicated. (About 5 years ago Gangarams - arguably the best stocked bookstore at the time - shut their enormous shop in Secunderabad because they weren't selling enough. I remember their wonderfully knowledgeable manager telling me that there wasn't enough interest in books in the city to sustain the shop. So even without town planning, the options of the book-consuming public have been declining.) Best Books continues to provide solace to low-budget book-readers and in the past few years has begun to organise periodic mega sales at YMCA Secunderabad which throw up some unexpected gems sometimes - other times you're content with getting cheap copies of books you want for your collection. Lately, I've been getting a lot of good books online (from "pirate" websites). It doesn't rival the feeling of being able to thumb through a physical copy, but at this stage I'm grateful just to have access. Look forward to reading more posts in this series. Prashant Ps. Even though this is out of the scope of this research, I will assert that I experience a similar romance with pirated books, even sans the inscriptions and the yellowing pages, it is a special feeling, having just put down a wonderful book, to reflect on the fact that you paid just Rs. 60 for it. Inexplicably for me it tends to increase the value of what I have just "consumed". I have also evolved to a point where I am no longer irked by the poor quality of the pages or misprints - instead these become sources of enchantment to be savoured for themselves. On 7/11/07, Lawrence Liang wrote: > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "alice samson" > To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:38:21 +0530 > Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Post 1/ The Inspirations behind this project and the Objects of > study. > > > A Second-hand Bookshop > > > The sunlight filters through the panes > Of book-shop windows, pockmarked grey > By years of grimy city rains, > And falls in mild, dust-laden ray > Across the stock, in shelf and stack, > Of this old bookshop-man who brought, > To a shabby shop in a cul-de-sac. > Three hundred years of print and thought. > > > Like a cloak hangs the bookshop smell, > Soothing, unique and reminding: > The book-collector knows its spell, > Subtle hints of books and binding- > In the fine, black bookshop dust > Paper, printer's ink and leather, > Binder's glue and paper-rust > And time, all mixed together. > > > Blake's Poems, Sir-ah, yes, I know, > Bohn did it in the old black binding, > In '83.' Then shuffles slow > To scan his shelves, intent on finding > This book of songs he has not heard, > With that deaf searcher's hopeful frown > Who knows the nightingale, a bird > With feathers grey and reddish brown. > > > John Arlott > > > This poem captures quite beautifully the experience many booklovers have > > while at that delightful place that is the second hand bookshop. For some > > like me it is an experience so innocent, so joyful that I cannot express > it in > > its entirety. > > > I have lived and travelled through many cities of this huge country that > is > > India and found that most cities in India, and I understand the world over > > > have, if not a full fledged seconds market in books, at least some variant > of > > it. However for us the second hand book markets of Delhi, Hyderabad, > > Bombay, Calcutta etc are legendary and most booklovers take time to visit > > these enroute to other places. > I came to Hyderabad in August 2005 for a Masters in English and after I > > settled into the place I started my search for good book markets to > > service my personal reading habit and for my master's requirement. I soon > > learnt that Hyderabad had a wonderful tradition of used book markets all > > over the city and these cut across budgets, tastes and locations in the > city. > > There was the Sunday book market at Abids, the rare and antique book > > stores near Charminar, the decades old bookshops of Koti and quite a > > different world altogether was the Second-hand bookshops like M.R Book > > centre and Best Book store; these I suspect might come close to Arlott's > > bookstore, but our experience at these shops definitely has a uniqueness > and is different in many ways from Arlott's description of the bookshop in > Britain. > > I also learnt that soon after I had come to Hyderabad a significant part > of > > this tradition of used-book shops had been dismantled, leaving many book > > lovers disappointed and booksellers miserable. The city municipal and > police > > departments had forcibly dismantled some hundred odd bookshops outside > > Koti Women's college. These shops, which specialised in school and college > > > textbooks, had for decades serviced the countless students, teachers and > > learners of all types in the city. > I felt the deep sense of injustice that my friends felt, that the sellers > and > > buyers of these used-books felt. I felt the rage that old booklovers felt, > at > > the insensitivity of the planning departments who seemed to plan only for > > World games, IT conferences, visits by foreign prime ministers and more > > importantly planned for an unattainable dream city that looked like > > Shanghai or Tokyo or London. I felt the yearning for a space for reading > in > > the city, and I felt the sense of injustice that this sort of antiseptic > planning > > evoked in all people removed from it. > > There is something in a second-hand book that never fails to fascinate. I > > like the idea that a book I'm holding has been read, loved or hated by > > someone before me. I like to think that fingers over the grainy pages and > > tucked old bills or pressed flowers as bookmarks. I like to think that > > someone else was amazed by the writer's lyrical prose, incensed by a > > character's actions or horrified at the sudden turn of events on page 234. > > There is some joy in opening a copy of Doctor Zhivago and finding these > > scribbled under the title. > > To Mummy, > > Hope you enjoy it! > > Love Andrew, Anne, Olivier > > And wandering away wondering if Mummny enjoyed it. It connects us > > irrevocably to the rest of humanity and we read to discover that we are > > not alone. > > My fascination for these book and bookshops drove me to undertake this > > research project on the 'Second Hand Bookstalls of Hyderabad'. My aim > > during this study is to, the extent feasible, research and document all > that > > goes into this experience of the Second-Hand Book Shops of Hyderabad. I > > will also attempt to trace the relationship of these books, shops and > > owners with the history of Hyderabad. Over the next few weeks I will post > > here my experiences, findings etc while on this project. Since I do not > have > > a predetermined structure to my exploration I will not be able to post my > > research in an organised manner and will most often than not post these in > > > the form of notes, scattered writings etc. > > > ps. Please write to me about your experiences with Second hand books in > your own cities and in Hyderbad if you have been here. If you have worked on > a similar project before I would love to learn from your experience with > customers, bussinessmen, with people in authority etc. > > Alice Samson > > Ciefl, Hyderabad > > alicesamson at gmail,com > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070715/a587eac9/attachment-0001.html From ehijam at yahoo.com Sun Jul 15 23:20:06 2007 From: ehijam at yahoo.com (eskoni hijam) Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:20:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Traditional Market and Urban Planning: Case of Khwairamband Keithel, Imphal (third posting) Message-ID: <508704.2770.qm@web31507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> At first I was hesitating about how to start the conversation and was not sure what their response would be. Actually I was discouraged by many people to approach the vendors as there was a big fight with the vendors and the government on the issue of the project on the redevelopment of the Keithel. I was worried that they might think of me as a government official and might not be ready to share their experiences. I decided to approach the secretary of the organization before talking to the other vendors. The present organizational structure is of recent origin. Though the vendors were united as one but there was no system of a head nor there was an organizational structure. It was only in 1986 that the secretary was selected when the need arose to represent the Keithel for the meeting with the Prime Minister in New Delhi and the name was given as Manipur Keithel Nupi Marup. At that time, the nomination of the president was done and after returning from Delhi one secretary from each of the Keithel was nominated to this newly formed body. This is how the organization came into being. In 2003 the organization had split into three groups. The three groups, i.e. Manipur Keithel Nupi Marup (MKNM) and other two groups merged into one as Khwairamband Nupi Keithel Sinpham Amadi Saktam Kanba Lup (KhNKSASKL). INTERACTION: The secretary of the KhNKSASKL vendors came at around eleven in the morning. She sells fish in the Ema Keithel. Since the redevelopment project is on the way, the vendors have been shifted to a temporary shed just adjacent to the original location. Due to this shift the sales have gone down drastically. Due to this reason at present many of the vendors are not actively involved in the trade. Some of the vendors have changed their trade from selling vegetables and fruits to the eatery spaces as it is more profitable. Many of them are engaged in other activity as well, like Sensaanbi (money lending) or Marup (similar to chit fund). This Marup is normally done in a large scale but in the market it is done on a small scale (Rs. 20 per day). When I first approached her and explained about my work, she was more than happy to help me. She narrated the history of the market and how they faced the government authority, “we stayed in the market for months so that our demands are fulfilled”. She also showed me some of the documents regarding the redevelopment project which I will describe in detail in my later posting. It was about one and she ordered tea and bora (local food) and we had it. After that I left for the day as I had to go to the municipality office to collect data on license fees. I reached the municipality office at around 2:30 pm. There I waited for a long time for the revenue officer as she was out on some work. The employers were on strike as they have not received their salary for some two to three months. This is the situation in Manipur in most of the government offices and schools. I waited but it was of no use as she did not turn up that day. I came the next day and got the data and then proceeded to the market where I noticed a very peculiar thing. A young lady, in her 20s was collecting money. She was one of the Sensaanbi (moneylender). I tried to talk to her but she was in a hurry. She was a bit hesitant to talk to me. She comes everyday in the morning to collect money and she has been in this business for the past six months. Some of the vendors were shy or feeling scared of what I may ask that they were pushing on each other. However, when the conversation started it went on pretty well and they all helped me in clearing the doubts. It was not always that the vendors were accommodating. Some simply refused to talk. Maybe they were afraid that I am conducting the survey for the authority and I am a part of the team working on the redevelopment project. Many are against the project as their demands are not fulfilled. Regarding the formation of the new organization, many have varied opinion. About 90% support the new organization while some feels that the formation of the new organization is the result of the new generation wanting to gain power. The selection of the head is through consensual nomination. The main function of the elected members are forwarding the demand of the vendors to the higher authority, conducting meetings and making decisions. The main decision is made by meeting of the elected members of the organization. Other than the secretary of the organization as a whole, there are secretaries from each of the three Keithel which are elected from among the executive members. Bandh and strikes affects the vendors as many of the vendors have to manage the family from the income from the Keithel. When I asked whether the organization provide any help during emergency, the vendors replied that “the organization does not have any fund and, during emergencies, we depend on the Marup (a type of micro credit program, it a form of traditional saving in Manipur)”.The role of Sensaanbi (moneylender) is very integral to the market system. But it also happens that the vendors are cheated. I recently came across a news article in the local paper “The Sangai Express” (July 11 2007, http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/news_pages/local_page-09.htm ) where the volunteers of Manipur Forward Youth Front (MAFYF) have pulled up a 30 year old women who allegedly collected money from innocent women vendors form the Khwairamband Keithel on false promise of providing them with loans. Many such cases also happen with the moneylenders when the vendors take the money and do not return. They cannot do anything as there is no legal document as proof and is totally dependent on a verbal agreement. Looking into the circumstances which compelled the women to go for this trade, there were a variety of reasons. N. B. Devi, aged 38 years, has a stall where she sells bananas. She just entered the business eight months back after the death of her mother-in-law who used to do the business before. She has one son and three daughters. “It was becoming difficult to run the family on my husband’s income alone as his income is not steady. Previously when he was working in the government office, his income was steady and sufficient to run the family but now the situation is not the same. The income from the mason’s work, which he is currently engaged, varies seasonally. Hence the shop is the main means of support for the family”. She added “I have to start early in the morning so that I can buy the bananas from the tribal people from the hill areas at a cheaper rate” T. M. Devi, aged 50 years, who sells fish, said that “Our work is fully dependent on luck. On a good day we earn Rs 3000 and sometimes we don’t get a single paisa even to recover the travel cost”. She is a widow with six children out of which five are unemployed and one is a driver. The income from the market is a main source of sustenance for the family. At present she is not sitting in her place as it is inside and very less buyers come there. She sits in the front with a friend and has lease out her space to a eatery hotel at Rs 50 per month. “It is a past-time for me as I don’t need to go to the market but due to habit I am here” said T. S. Devi, aged 70 years who sells vegetables. Her husband is a retired Sanskrit teacher and her three sons are government employees. She became a part of the market at the age of 32. The case of Nazima who sells eggs, is a clear indication of economic compulsion. She is 35 years of age and has four children. Her husband does not have a steady income. She started the business three years back when she got the license from her mother. She had borrowed money from the moneylenders to start the business. She mentioned that it is very difficult to carry on during the summer when the sale is very low. Without stopping as she was attending to a customer, Kh. R. Devi (aged 43 years) said she started a bit late in the morning from her home as the sales have been very low since shifting to the temporary site. She sells fish in the market. Very few bring home made food for themselves. She said “there is no time to cook, my daughter looks after the cooking and most of the household things. I try to help sometimes but it is very difficult”. The market is the only source of her economic support. In addition to selling fish she is engaged in lending money, from which she earns some from the interest. She was separated from her husband and now she has to support her four children. Her mother used to sit in the market and now she has taken her place. The case of Th. G. Devi on the other hand “I fells so bored at home. This is the best way of passing time and it’s a way of exercise to keep me fit in this age”. She is 65 years of age. She sells mosquito nets in the market. While I was passing by the mekhala (traditional dress) shop, I found a very interesting thing. The weavers bring the clothes in a bulk. Even if a particular vendor has the monetary capacity to buy the whole lot she does not do that. There is a peculiar bond, she buys only a few and let the others also buy so that they all can make a living together. An outsider will be amazed at how the whole thing is coordinated. It is a beautiful sight. It is not just a place of business; people share a good joke and also talk about what is happening at home. After talking to the vendors I feel that the market is beyond what is visible on the surface. Most of the vendors agreed that the market is a very important part of their life. Some see it as a way of living and others as a past-time. The women are very much attached to each other. They become very good friends and share their everyday life. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ From sumalathabs at gmail.com Mon Jul 16 10:14:01 2007 From: sumalathabs at gmail.com (sumalatha b.s) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:44:01 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting Message-ID: <798e17240707161014s7d5e3cf6jc2eb573aaffa194@mail.gmail.com> Dear All, This is my second posting on my project for the Sarai Studentship on cities titled "Space for Brokering Branches in Kerala Townships: A Casual link with Urbanization". In my first posting, I have recounted a day's life in this urban space. This in fact grew out of a field visit done at one of the branches of a stock brokering firm in my city. Presently, the interactions among the constituents of this space have led to this scribbling, i.e. how the various stakeholders breathe the space within a brokering firm. While the direct contributors of this space vary form investors/speculators to employees of the firm, one can include as many indirect, casual links to this relatively new phenomenon in Kerala's urban development. The positives are that this endeavor includes views from across Kerala. Here I will depict the hierarchical arrangement in a branch and views form each of the strata before going to the investor class. The employees seem to be the major occupants of the space generated by this new phenomenon. Since the job demonstrates similar characteristics, these stakeholders also seem to be similar across places. This urban institution also has got a hierarchical face. The Manager will be the boss in any branch. The traders (employees who execute the buying and selling for the clients), the assistants (employees who manages the front office and back office jobs) seems to hold similar statues quo in the office. But, interactions within employees have revealed that traders are paid more than the assistants. However, the interesting and amazing point is that the remuneration is comparatively lower in this field. Bijoy (name changed) is a manager of a branch of the stock brokering firm that I usually visited in my city. To me, as a sample he ideally represented majority of the branch managers in this field. At first he seems secretive and doubtful of the purpose and once revelations are made, become helpful and talkative about the nuances of the daily life in a stock brokering branch. In fact interactions with him have re-modeled my perception from an urban phenomenon towards a combination of technology- information- urbanization paradigm. He says "This stock market, or brokers or investors all have been there earlier also. But economic liberalisation (of the country) has provided more freedom to these kinds of activities. Now residents can engage in more forms of financial activities". I then had to interrupt him "But these types of financial activities are speculative, isn't it? But his reply was in supportive of financial liberalisation and newer ways of profit maximisation "Look, one cannot consider this as a speculative. These are newer avenues through which the investors can maximize the income form the investments which also incurs elements of risk. So one has to use all kinds of available methods permitted by the system for guarding against risk and then to garner the most of the profits. May be then, these kinds of activities involves some bit of speculation. But all investment activities are having some bit of speculative tinge, isn't it? ". In essence he seems to point towards the hypothesis of an urban space created by modern technology (information) with an orientation towards augmenting (?) the urban capital through mild modes of speculation. However, one gets a feeling of exploitation while interacting with the lower strata of employees. Their reward is low comparing with the human capital them posses. In that branch in my city, most of the traders are post graduates, while the lower sections are mostly graduates. The traders felt similar to what I had felt with regard to speculation. Jay, one of the traders I have interacted told "There can be both forms of investing, while the investments of short-term nature can be speculative in nature; investments covering long periods of time will not be as speculative as in the case of a short-term investment. The long-term investor waits for a substantial point of time for reaping the fuller margins of profit. But, the short-term investor are usually aggressive investors will sell of in sight of a mere profit or loss. They are called also as speculators". Jay was also was elaborative of problems while dealing with a majority of speculators. "They will always keep us on tender hooks and will be always mongering for short-term profits. In fact it is high tension to deal with speculators. One small mistake in typing or lack of concentration may erode profits and results in losses. This can incur the wrath of these people. In short, we will always have to service these sections happy". Enquiring about the work conditions made me more realize the true nature of an informational urban space utilizing the local human capital for augmenting the local capital through new methods of speculative financial trading. The office begins life by 9 in the morning and continues till 5 in the morning everyday with Sunday the exception. Half of the Saturdays are to be spent for back office jobs. In this posting I have tried to analyse the perceptions of the employees of the brokering firm's branches, out of my interactions with these occupants of the urban space. This has in fact pointed towards something like an informational city utilizing local skill for enhancing financial capital. And the way through which this is done is through these kinds of financial activities. In the next and final posting I will try to highlight the perceptions of the other important constituent of this city space; the investors. From sumalathabs at gmail.com Mon Jul 16 10:31:19 2007 From: sumalathabs at gmail.com (sumalatha b.s) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:01:19 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting Message-ID: <798e17240707161031j5c57172cke8afd37946d63b0e@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, This is my second posting on my project for the Sarai Studentship on cities titled "Space for Brokering Branches in Kerala Townships: A Casual link with Urbanization". In my first posting, I have recounted a day's life in this urban space. This in fact grew out of a field visit done at one of the branches of a stock brokering firm in my city. Presently, the interactions among the constituents of this space have led to this scribbling, i.e. how the various stakeholders breathe the space within a brokering firm. While the direct contributors of this space vary form investors/speculators to employees of the firm, one can include as many indirect, casual links to this relatively new phenomenon in Kerala's urban development. The positives are that this endeavor includes views from across Kerala. Here I will depict the hierarchical arrangement in a branch and views form each of the strata before going to the investor class. The employees seem to be the major occupants of the space generated by this new phenomenon. Since the job demonstrates similar characteristics, these stakeholders also seem to be similar across places. This urban institution also has got a hierarchical face. The Manager will be the boss in any branch. The traders (employees who execute the buying and selling for the clients), the assistants (employees who manages the front office and back office jobs) seems to hold similar statues quo in the office. But, interactions within employees have revealed that traders are paid more than the assistants. However, the interesting and amazing point is that the remuneration is comparatively lower in this field. Bijoy (name changed) is a manager of a branch of the stock brokering firm that I usually visited in my city. To me, as a sample he ideally represented majority of the branch managers in this field. At first he seems secretive and doubtful of the purpose and once revelations are made, become helpful and talkative about the nuances of the daily life in a stock brokering branch. In fact interactions with him have re-modeled my perception from an urban phenomenon towards a combination of technology- information- urbanization paradigm. He says "This stock market, or brokers or investors all have been there earlier also. But economic liberalisation (of the country) has provided more freedom to these kinds of activities. Now residents can engage in more forms of financial activities". I then had to interrupt him "But these types of financial activities are speculative, isn't it? But his reply was in supportive of financial liberalisation and newer ways of profit maximisation "Look, one cannot consider this as a speculative. These are newer avenues through which the investors can maximize the income form the investments which also incurs elements of risk. So one has to use all kinds of available methods permitted by the system for guarding against risk and then to garner the most of the profits. May be then, these kinds of activities involves some bit of speculation. But all investment activities are having some bit of speculative tinge, isn't it? ". In essence he seems to point towards the hypothesis of an urban space created by modern technology (information) with an orientation towards augmenting (?) the urban capital through mild modes of speculation. However, one gets a feeling of exploitation while interacting with the lower strata of employees. Their reward is low comparing with the human capital them posses. In that branch in my city, most of the traders are post graduates, while the lower sections are mostly graduates. The traders felt similar to what I had felt with regard to speculation. Jay, one of the traders I have interacted told "There can be both forms of investing, while the investments of short-term nature can be speculative in nature; investments covering long periods of time will not be as speculative as in the case of a short-term investment. The long-term investor waits for a substantial point of time for reaping the fuller margins of profit. But, the short-term investor are usually aggressive investors will sell of in sight of a mere profit or loss. They are called also as speculators". Jay was also was elaborative of problems while dealing with a majority of speculators. "They will always keep us on tender hooks and will be always mongering for short-term profits. In fact it is high tension to deal with speculators. One small mistake in typing or lack of concentration may erode profits and results in losses. This can incur the wrath of these people. In short, we will always have to service these sections happy". Enquiring about the work conditions made me more realize the true nature of an informational urban space utilizing the local human capital for augmenting the local capital through new methods of speculative financial trading. The office begins life by 9 in the morning and continues till 5 in the morning everyday with Sunday the exception. Half of the Saturdays are to be spent for back office jobs. In this posting I have tried to analyse the perceptions of the employees of the brokering firm's branches, out of my interactions with these occupants of the urban space. This has in fact pointed towards something like an informational city utilizing local skill for enhancing financial capital. And the way through which this is done is through these kinds of financial activities. In the next and final posting I will try to highlight the perceptions of the other important constituent of this city space; the investors. From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Mon Jul 16 23:35:38 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:05:38 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second posting.Student Stipendship 2007. Architectonics of the Mall. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707162335u763ee17ei668ee349fb0d73c5@mail.gmail.com> Architectonics of the Mall. Hello All, In this posting I am going to analyze the social, cultural and psychological impact of architectural design. Key words and concepts that I will be dealing with are commodity fetishism, advertising, electrical stimulation, hyper stimulus, and distraction. An important aspect of my account is the way in which the mall functions as a 'strategic' space and my two pronged approach looks into both the conception and structuring of the mall space by the producers/architects/developers in a way to maximize profit and its reception by consumers as a place of distraction and nervous stimulation and an urban labyrinth where the consumer can 'lose' oneself both spatially as well as psychologically. The façade or outer front display of the mall building is a crucial architectural feature as it functions as an effective 'media of mass communication', for attracting consumers from the surrounding region towards the mall premise. Although apprehended in an offhand and passive manner, these surfaces are rendered more effective precisely due to their inert reception, to maneuver the movement of crowd towards the mall, by using their hidden persuasive powers of aesheticisation. The sheer monumentality of the mall buildings together with the eye-catching façades makes them conspicuous in the daytime and as night follows the illumination emitted from these structures through the electric advertisements, spilling out interior lighting and brightly lit outwardly visible window displays, attracts consumers like light magnetizes gnats, and imbues the structure with an effulgence which enhances its distinctiveness as a 'fantasy' space. Amongst the Ghaziabad malls, EDM, Ansal Plaza and Pacific mall are prototypic examples of such post-modernist 'functionalist facades', constructed with glass and steel material, and embellished with electric advertising boards. (I borrow the term 'functionalist façade' from its usage by Janet Ward in her book titled 'Weimer Surfaces' to describe building facades of Weimer Germany during the 1920s.The term 'functionalist' was used to emphasize upon the strategic aspect of facade decorations to serve as surfaces for advertising. The appropriateness of using this term for the Ghaziabad mall lies in its articulation of the façade as purposeful -in terms of its use for advertising and not merely decorative.). In contrast to these malls, the façade of Shipra Mall is archaic in style, although grand and ostentatious. This impressive building which spreads horizontally over an area of 4.5 lakh sq ft. is built on the lines of Classical Romanesque architecture and is claimed to be the largest and widest mall of Ghaziabad. A porch heralds the gateway to the mall where cars pause for the passengers to get off and be welcomed in a rather dramatic fashion by uniformed valets and one or two other mall officials dressed in formal suits. As one enters the interior space of this mall, the architectural décor appears in sharp contrast to the exterior, for the interior is furnished in modern style using the combination of glass, steel and light for its primary aestheticisation. The interior design is reminiscent of a galleria with retail shops of three floors surrounding a vast elongated empty space in the center, like in the Pacific and East Delhi Mall. The roof of the building is made of transparent glass, a unique feature of the mall as it gives the consumer an idea of the time, in outright retaliation of a general principle of malls to efface time and duration. Jon Goss in his essay 'Magic of the mall' also interestingly points out a matter of great surprise, that one hardly ever sees a clock in the malls, something that appears even more curious by the fact that consumers spend so much time inside malls. The Shipra Mall provides for 'in-house vegetation', which may perhaps be seen as an attempt to perhaps bring some vestiges of the outside landscape into the interior as also to create an artificial 'naturalness' in these built spaces. Also in combination with the glass roof, allowing penetration of natural light, the interspersing of Palm trees and shrubs within these interior spaces, creates an illusion of 'open space' and 'pseudo- streetscape'. Scholars have variously described the mall's spatial/experiential character as 'hyperreal' or liminally as 'virtual reality' referring perhaps to the hypersensuality and phantasmagoria of these spaces. As pointed out by Jon Goss in his essay, 'The Magic of the Mall', malls are as such abstract 'nowhere-spaces', consumption utopias, idealized and hence estranged from reality. Jon Goss's description may be compared to Foucaults 'hetrotopias', or the 'deviant' 'virtually real' spaces, which function in transit as it were between real space and utopia. The mall's 'hetrotopic' nature is most strongly exemplified in its reference to global and universal spaces and experiences of consumer capitalism, and its apparent severance from the immediate local environment. As stated by Malcolm Voyce in his essay, 'Shopping Malls in India', these spaces 'do not reflect the local history but instead inculcate the tastes and identities of global consumer culture.' Also these spaces are amalgamation of past and existing real formats, such as the airport, hotel resort, amusement park and street shopping center of the downtown. The mall in this sense appears 'odd' and 'confused' and this nature is hightened by the fact it also operates a variety of activities- entertainment, shopping, recreational activities, eating etc. all at one place. Also once a person enters these spaces, he could be just anywhere in the world as they all look the same. In all these ways the Mall resembles a 'hetropia'. There is an element of 'excess' and 'hyper' attached to the mall's sanctum, as for eg, the spotlessly clean and shiny surfaces, the excessively sanitized condition, perfectly clean and fresh atmosphere, rightly regulated temperature, brightly lit showrooms, beautiful mannequins and elaborate window displays, music to lift up one's spirits, all add up to create a hypersensorium of visual and aural stimuli. (It is not an accidental feature that one sees from time to time employees cleaning different parts of the mall floors, for these activities are strategically performed in order to bring to the notice and thus assure the consumer of the perfect sanitary conditions in the mall. Research in the Pacific and Shipra mall has revealed that the malls on an average employ eighty to hundred cleaning employees to look after sanitation within the mall premises. These workers, around twenty five at each sitting, periodically clean assigned portions of the mall in shifts of eight hours, after which the work is carried over by the next set of workers. The toilets, and each mall usually maintains two sets of washrooms- one on either ends of each floor, are routinely cleaned by staffs who wait in turns on each of the users and check and restore hygiene in the washrooms after every use. Moreover, as revealed by one of the staff member of the Shipra Mall, in the residual spaces of the mall i.e. excluding the retail showrooms, the exposed walls are painted every alternate week to keep the mall interior looking new and scrupulously clean all the time.). The mall may be seen as a highly technologised space by its use of air conditioners, programmed music, lighting, computerized camera surveillance, flat T.V screens hanging in food courts and other places for casual watching and electric advertising. The flood of visual and aural stimuli emanating from these sources creates physical and perceptual shock for the consumer which produces the famously theorized neurological state-the 'distracted' mind. (See Anthony Vilder's 'Walter Benjamin and the Space of Distraction' in his book Warped Space. Also see 'Modernity, Hyperstimulus, and the Rise of Popular Sensationalism' by Ben Singer.) Here I use the term in the sense in which Kraucer refers to it, i.e. as a subconscious state of mind which is so saturated with rapidly moving fleeting images that it temporarily i.e. for as long as the state lasts, suspends any conscious thought, passively receiving impressions as though in a state of shock. This state of distraction is different and antithetical to Walter Benjamin's use of the term to connote dispersion and scattering resulting in disinterest and absentmindedness' or what is better known as the blasé attitude of the urban dweller. On the other hand the distraction experienced within the mall environment is addictive and it is lack of 'entertainment' or 'distraction' that causes jadedness and boredom. The hyperstimulating environment soothes the overexcited nerves of the consumer and provides sensory relaxation. One need not strain ones mind anymore with thoughts, but simply allow seeing, hearing and feeling without thinking. Of all the sources of stimulus, electric advertising causes the most sensational impact on the consumer. Janet Ward in her book 'Weimer Surfaces' defines advertising as 'the discourse of visually harnessed or applied power'. The main purpose of these visual signifiers is thus to use shock techniques such as colorful lights and rapidly moving signs, images or words to jolt the spectator from his/her reverie and take notice of the surrounding. The textual message of advertising placards is not as important as its visual effect, and customers are expected to have acquired enough cultural knowledge to be able to decipher subtle rhetoric and seemingly incompatible associations often made in advertisements. Jon Goss also points out the hidden aim of advertisement, which is to 'mask the materiality', of the commodity and shift its identity from a material object to a cultural artifact. This creates commodity fetishism in the Marxist sense i.e. severing the commodity from its origins of production and the labor process involved in producing it, and entrusting it with desirable socio-cultural symbolism. This aspect of commodity displacement is also reflected in the manner in which transactions take place in retail showrooms of the Mall, where there is no interface between the actual producer and consumer. A certain level of impersonality is maintained and also the scope of negotiating prices is thwarted in such transactions. Commodities are as such divested of their economic properties, and replaced with a cultural context. It is for this reason that a lot of care and emphasis is given to the exhibition of these commodities in window displays. The mall is a strategic or 'premeditated place'. Its interior design, comprising of the general layout, placement of showrooms, escalators, lifts, pathways, cooperative aestheticisation together serves to manipulate consumer movement within the interior space in a way that ensures maximum consumption. For instance, the layout of retail showrooms is such that even when a consumer has to go to a specific shop, 'on the way' to his goal, he is invariably exposed to a string of shop fronts which make him pause and dally and deflect him from his normal course to the initial desired destination. And often these unplanned visits end up in huge purchases. Even the escalators are strategically placed on opposite ends of the mall so as to subject shoppers to optimal exposure of the shop fronts while they half circumambulate along showrooms to reach the escalators. Jon Goss in 'Magic of the Mall' provides a rather convincing account of how cafeterias, restrooms and food courts play a role in sustaining and thus prolonging long walks across retail showrooms by shopper-pedestrians. The basic idea in all this is to keep the shopper for as long as possible inside the mall. Promotional activities also serve the same purpose of prolonging consumers' stay by providing recreation while simultaneously promoting consumption. It is interesting to note how music, light and window displays also play an important role in monitoring pedestrian movement inside the mall. While the mall adopts a uniform and cooperated mode of aestheticisation and publicity, however each retail showroom tries to lure customers particularly towards it by emphasizing its presence through the regulation of light, music and shop front display, within a limited sphere which does not disturb the overall décor of the mall. Music forms an integral part of the mall sensorium as it pervades every part of the mall-the entrance space, hallways, showrooms and even the toilets. Music territorializes space and distinguishes different spatial experiences. Music adds and contributes to the aesthetic identity of the Mall and consumers' like and preference for particular malls is considerably dependent on the kind of music it plays. (In one of the online portals on Ghaziabad Malls, a teenager reasoned out his preference for Shipra Mall over Pacific Mall and EDM due to its 'tastefully' programmed music-which usually played English numbers or tuned into world space. On the other hand the Pacific Mall and EDM played Punjabi pops and popular Hindi songs according to the general taste of the class of consumers it attracted-music considered tacky by elite standards.) Sometimes promotional activities are conducted which foreground and sensationalize music –such as in EDM, when radio jockeys from the 'Radio Fever' channel hosted game shows, dance competitions, and DJ shows. As for attracting customers into the showrooms, the store managers play loud music in comparison to the soft background music dispersed all around in the mall, in sync with the general theme of the store based on the kind and type of commodities it keeps. This music drowns over the background music of the hallways and directs the consumer's movement into the showrooms and also keeps them consumers shopping for longer. In a similar fashion light also directs consumer movement as the hallways are dimly lit in comparison to the showrooms. Also shop fronts use bright colorful lights to attract customers. From sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in Tue Jul 17 03:32:41 2007 From: sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in (sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:02:41 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting..Modernist Planning and SEZs Message-ID: <4366.10.108.140.12.1184668361.squirrel@pali.hss.iitb.ac.in> Global Capital is reshaping our cities. It is being reshaped and reorganized with the surplus capital of industrialization. As a result what is taking place is a marginalisation of people who were once part of development. Urban mega projects are restructuring cities today. These projects are ultimately leading to socio-spatial segregation and privatization of public space. SEZs are building exclusionary private landscape. The state is absolved of its role of looking after the well-being of the people, rather the state now are geared towards profiteering and serving the interests of the business class. (Harvey, 2006) I want to get to the point where theory can help me understand the modernist planning process in the era of liberalisation. SEZs as an example of the way global capital is reshaping cities today and hence an example of the modernist planning and development process. While looking at SEZs, I would here like to draw attention to two of the most crucial social and governance issues which are implicit in the planning of SEZs in the country. The question of casualisation of labour ignoring all norms of social justice, spatial concentrations of these foreign territories or strategic places, the question of employment and land acquisition. I shall deal with the first two issues here and subsequently in my third posting the question employment generation and land acquisition . SEZs are ‘deemed foreign territories’- this phrase evokes the binary opposition between ‘International’ as opposed to ‘Domestic’ - what is meant by this is that SEZs are to be treated as separate enclaves from the rest of the country for the purpose of investment, trade, administration. In other words it is a new ideology of development in a post scarcity society (Cullenberg S, 2004) in Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism) - more competitive, more exploitative, and more fragmentative. These corporate enclaves will be ‘international’ and will be supported by the national government with sops and various incentives at the cost of the rest of the country, which is considered ‘domestic’. Hence exports from SEZs to other parts of the country will not attract any duties and taxes but imports from the rest of the country to these enclaves would, as also imports to other parts of the country considered as ‘domestic tariff area (DTA) ’ from SEZs. Hence the question of political sovereignty defined in terms of territoriality of nation states becomes seriously contested here. SEZs will play all the functions of a municipality. Not only will these zones be economically fragmented it will also be socially segmented. Lefebvre argues that the colonization of space by capital can proceed only by fragmenting and decentralizining the population. The center attracts those elements which constitute it (commodities, capital, information etc.) but which soon saturate it. It excludes those elements which it dominates (the governed, subjects and objects) but which threaten it. This creates a political problem in so far as the city has traditionally been the cultural center of the society- the principal source and location of the reproduction of social relations. If the city is fragmented and dispersed leaving only the economic and political offices of administration at the center then while political power becomes centralized cultural hegemony will necessarily become weakened. SEZs will increasingly look similar to what Douglas (1996) writes, ‘there is now an unprecendented spatial concentration of wealth and poverty in distinctive spaces. This trend is observed between countries within regions and within metropolitan areas. The spatial segregation proceeds along the lines of income and ethnicity.’ The new trend is that the upper and middle income groups have separated themselves from the city and built increasingly distinct communities. The extreme manifestation of this trend is the construction boom in gated communities. This has lead to the rise of “Fortress America” as Blackey and Snyder have documented. (Douglas,M 1996). Modernism has ruined our cities by its inhuman belief in rational planning and its relentless monolithism of formal design. (Harvey,D. 2000) There is now an increasing competition between different states to make investments attractive by approving policies in order to create a favourable investment climate. States which have already passed the Draft SEZ Bill are Haryana (Chandigarh, November 23, 2005, (), Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The Maharashtra government industrial development department clearly states that the Special Economic Zones are expected to play a stellar role in the growth of exports from the country. Maharashtra with its locational advantage contributes 45% of the total exports from the country. The State has promptly responded to the initiative of the Central Government to promote the setting up of Special Economic Zones as engines of growth by passing the SEZ Bill. The provisions in the Bill are aimed at providing an enabling environment and assuring the State’s commitment for promoting SEZs. The State has been receiving steady flow of proposals from private developers to set up SEZs. The MIDC will also set up Multi Product and Product Specific SEZs. The State will also encourage setting up of SEZs in Public - Private Partnership. The State will also notify certain MIDC areas as Designated Areas, which will be eligible to get all the benefits of SEZs except the fiscal benefits. It will enable MIDC to set up empowered Township Authorities fully equipped to provide world class infrastructure through Public Private Partnership. (http://www.sicomindia.com/site/Policy/policy01.htm) Let us now move to the question of labour regulations in these newly conceived zones of development. The nation state remains the fundamental regulator of labour. Aradhana Agarwal in her article on SEZs contends that the relaxation in labour laws may go a long way to make the zones attractive investment locations. (Agarwal, A. 2004). The Maharashtra SEZ Bill 2002, which has recently been passed declares SEZs as a Public Utility Services” which states that the Contract labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 shall not apply to the enterprises of this zone. This will be done through the delegation of powers of the labour commissioner to the Development Commissioner of these zones. The Industrial Disputes Act and the Factory Act will also remain diluted in these zones. (Agarwal, A. 2004) Domestic regulations applicable to the rest of the country are sought to be eliminated in the SEZs for creating a hassle-free environment. The labour regulations also clearly states that prior permission of the Development Commissioner needs to be sought for conducting inspections within SEZs. According to Sarma, this goes to prove the government’s lack of conviction in its commitment to social justice. The state believes therefore that social justice is an impediment to economic development. The promoters of SEZs are not willing to assume any kind of social responsibility. For e.g. they donot have any intention to reserve jobs for the backward classes or SC/STs. (Sarma, E.A.S. 2007) Harvey also contends that the legal system and policy making of the government itself sustains the very basis of capitalism and the government interventionist policy is embedded in the very foundations of capitalism- there is nothing called perfect competition. (Harvey, 2000). In line with the change in economic policy in the post-liberalisation era, the National Labour Commission has also sought to dilute and change the labour laws with an objective to make investments attractive. NCL accepts that one important element in the current phase of globalisation is the casualisation of labour. The NCL’s understanding of the economy is embedded within the logic of (global) capital functioning on the principle of competitive capitalism, and the linkage of labour with casualisation which is deemed a necessary for the growth of the Indian economy. The ongoing process of casualisation has produced powerful players like labour contractors. Working under a cost-cutting competitive setting, the enterprises in the organized sector have formed important linkages with the labour contractors for the following reasons: (a) the presence of labour contractors reduced the search cost for finding casual labourers: (b) the role of labour contractors helped the capitalists to circumvent the legal barriers pertaining to employing permanent workers thereby enabling a reduction in some forms of surplus distribution (like medical benefits, cheap canteens, gratuity, provident funds etc.) that it had to otherwise provide to the permanent workers in addition to the wage rate. (c) The labour contractors role in activating casualisation keeps the wage rate, including those of permanent workers (who are threatened with substitution by the casual workers), in restraint. (d) Finally the role of labour contractors was to reduce the power of the trade unions, thereby enabling other social actors like the capitalist appropriators and top management to acquire a decisive hold over the decision-making process within the enterprise. The presence of labour contractors is critical in enabling the enterprises to reap all the above mentioned ‘advantages’ that will allow the capitalists and the management to exercise control over labour and thereby a control over the cost-cutting procedure and possibilities of outsourcing. In-so far as dismantling the labour rights within an enterprise helps un-bundle the permanent workforce into a casual workforce, the enterprise in the organized sector now mimics the so-called “right-less environment within the unorganized sector. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta, 2007) In India, it will not surprising to find this process of casualisation in the SEZs which treat the dilution in labour laws as a necessary node in attracting investment in these zones. Chankrabarti and Dasgupta also notes that sometimes there are also instances of trade unions playing the role of labour contractors through their control of labour supply in some SEZs. Considering the wages, the workers are super exploited as the contractors would keep a part of the wage for themselves. So the workers surplus value is appropriated by both capitalists as well as the contractors and hence they receive a value which is not even equivalent to the socially necessary amount of the basket of goods and services they require to reproduce their labour power. Chankrabarti and Dasgupta contend that given the nature of competitive capitalism and the logic of global capital it is not surprising that aspects of security of workers against the powerful nexus of capitalists and labour contractors is totally ignored in the recommendations of NCL report which was submitted in September 2002. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta 2007) The second question which one needs to probe is the uneven geographical and spatio-temporal development. As the capitalist industry became more reorganized and the political economy of urbanization became more manageable through reorganizations in urban governance, bourgeoisie reformism in the city became integrated into hegemonic strategies for capitalist development. Deindustrialisation have largely moved the corporate enemy out of towns, and corporations do not need to be needing cities or particular communities any more. The upshot is to leave the cities almost entirely at the mercy of real estate developers and speculators, office builders and finance capital. (Harvey- Megacities Lecture 4). This is why we see most of the SEZs, being located outside the megacities in satellite towns and other Class III and IV cities (smaller towns). Lefebvre in his book production of space argues that space has become a -even the key commodity by means of which capitalist production has been extended into new areas and the production of space thus reflects and sustains the process of surplus value creation. The concept of ‘urban revolution’ expresses this argument that the capitalist colonization of space in increasingly becoming the dominant sphere of capital accumulation. Navi Mumbai a satellite town of Mumbai, provided an ideal site for the location of an SEZ with its nearness to a seaport and future airport. CIDCO is to develop the landuse plan for the Navi Mumbai SEZ (NMSEZ). The Central SEZ Authority will create the freight stations and BPCL will provide infrastructure like water. The Master Planning of the Special Economic Zones have been assigned to global consultant firms like Mc.Clier. CIDCO has appointed consultants for the feasibility study, business plan, as master planning for the Navi Mumbai SEZ project. Tata Economic Consultancy Services ("TECS") was appointed during 2001-02 to evaluate the feasibility of the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone. CIDCO appointed a consortium comprising Ernst & Young (formerly Arthur Andersen), CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory Services and Chesterton Meghraj to prepare the business plan for the Special Purpose Vehicle which comprises of joint private partners. In the Navi Mumbai SEZ the SPV is SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited), Reliance and Hiranandani Developers. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). McClier are the master planners for the SEZ project and has developed the Dronagiri Infrastructure Plan. The Chinese model of SEZ is being adopted for the Navi Mumbai SEZ and this would be done by CIDCO in conjunction with three more private players as mentioned above. CIDCO plans to develop 4 different pockets of land - Ulwe, Kolambili, Dronagiri. A dedicated transport plan is being envisaged for the entire area. It will be a low density development. However, Ulwe will be developed into an RPZ- which will be a Regional Park Zone- a green belt with no industrial activity. This zone could be utilised for recreational activities and proposed infrastructure in the zone includes entertainment and recreational facilities like a club house, golf course and other recreational facilities amenities. The New Bombay Development Plan will be in consonance and will be integrated with the SEZ plan. The SEZ plan will maintain the essential character of the area - and will take into consideration the low density development for this area - being already a thickly forested area. Since building construction has to be limited in this area a theme park or water park is envisaged in the area. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). CIDCO mooted the SEZ proposal received an in principal approval of the GOI, in 2001 and the final nod on the 23rd June 2007. For investors in this zone returns will accrue by way of sale of land, lease of land, management fees for client, property taxes, advertising rights and toll revenues. The NMSEZ is in close proximity to The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Nheva Sheva, a proposed Rs. 3000 crore international airport project in Navi Mumbai and a Rs. 6000 crore Sewri Nhava Sea-link project too. (www.navimumbaisez.com ) This new model of development has been aptly described by Solomon Benjamin in his paper titled ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000). He says, that ‘1991 was a key turning point, because it ushered in the liberalization of the Indian economy and with this new political processes opened up. This situation has had a direct impact on the urban management especially with regard to the demands for large-scale infrastructure development and promotion of a corporate led economy. A significant development was the emergence of large financing institutions and bilateral and multilateral agencies. At the national level financing institutions moved away from their traditional role of funding projects to funding large-scale infrastructure programmes as financial intermediaries. Access to relatively cheap and state government secured funds has generated new demand. The State governments focus is now on instituting dedicated investments for mega projects. (Benjamin, S. 2000). This is routed through HUDCO or HDFC Banks which will fund infrastructure development in SEZs. References: 1. Cullenberg, S.: Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism, Sanhati, 2004 2. Harvey, David: Paper presented in International Conference on ’Accumulation and Dispossession, Claims and Counterclaims: Transformative Cities in the New Global Order, 12th Oct, 2006. 3. Massey Douglas: ‘The Culture of Cities’, (1996) in Castells Reader on Cities and Social Theory, ed. Ide Sassure, Blackwell Publishers, 2002 4. Agarwal, Aradhana: Working Paper No. 148, Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance, CRIER: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Nov, 2004. 5. Sarma, E.A.S. : ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007 6. Harvey, D :Megacities Lecture 4, Colofon, Twynstra Gudde Management Consultanats, Amersfoort, The Netherlands 7. Harvey, David: Reinventing Geography, Interview, New Left Review 4, 2000. 8. Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta: Disinterring the Report of National Commission on Labour, A Marxist Perspective, EPW, May 26, 2007) 9. Benjamin S.: ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000. 2nd Posting on Modernist Planning and SEZs Sutapa Ghosh PhD. Research Scholar IIT Bombay From zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl Tue Jul 17 09:24:54 2007 From: zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl (zainab) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:24:54 +0200 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Of technology and identification Message-ID: <211f1a3e3201f7020431b8c57d531ac9@mail.xtdnet.nl> 16/07/07 Bas, mundi replace kar do, aur kya hai? Hmmm … replace the head, what else is there? What else is there to your identity, to my identity? My face, is it the marker of my identity in the domain of technology and governance? Is it? Let us begin from the beginning. The journey begins at Infant Jesus Church in Viveknagar. I am headed to Jayanagar. Mukhtar is the man in charge, literally. He is driving the auto. He tells me that he will take me to Jayanagar via the shortest route to which I agreed immediately because right now, I am in this delirium where I am getting drunk on my own experiences and words as I am discovering Bangalore for myself, exactly a year from the time I first came here and began to live here. At some point, I ask my usual question to Mukhtar, “How long has it been since you started driving this auto?” “20 years.” “Wow! 20 years?” “Yes, I was driving from the time when there was no requirement of displaying your DL in the auto.” [DL means Driving License. As I have explained in my previous posts, autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore must display their driving licenses in the autorickkshaw. It is compulsory, but there are auto drivers who do not display their DLs in the autos. The DLs are issued by a technology firm authorized by the Government of Karnataka. DLs are issued after the drivers have passed their driving exams. However, to get a DL, you must possess other documents such as ration cards, election identity cards, etc. because the DL is not simply a license. It is a kind of state record of the auto driver’s details. I can only tell more about the DL as I discover later, from other auto drivers, in other journeys.] “But, I have seen drivers who do not display their DLs in the auto?!?” “Yes, that’s true. Some don’t do it. Then they are fined for 500 rupees, 800 rupees, upto 1,500 rupees. But then, they also have connections and networks and they can make their way around without displaying their DLs. It is about connections madam.” “Barabar hai. But then, I have also seen DLs displayed in the auto, but the driver is someone else, different from the person in the photo. What about this?” “Haan haan. Woh bhi hota hai. Now you see, it is a matter of just chopping the head off the photo of the driver whose DL it actually is and then putting your head instead. Bas, mundi replace kar do, aur kya hai? Now what do you think. There are several people migrating to this city. They learn how to drive autos. They pass their exams. They get their licenses. But where are the other documents necessary for making the DL? Do they have ration cards, election id cards, etc.? Where will they get these from when they have just come into the city? So what you do is simply replace the head on the photo and get your DL. Bas, mundi replace do, aur kya hai?” “Barabar hai.” “It is a matter of rozi, earnings, employment. What else is there to this city?” “Barabar hai.” So what is it about identity, identification and technology? I don’t know. Just when we have crossed Lal Bagh, Mukhtar stops to answer the call on his cell phone: “Haan, bol. Kya? Kya? Haan, haan bol. Sale ko bol sidha rehne ko, nahi to gaand pe laath maar doonga. Mera DL hai woh. Abbe, mera DL hai!! Kal ko lafda ho gaya to mera DL jayega. Seedha rehne ko bol usko. Haan, haan, haan. Abhi main line mein hoon. Baad mein phone karta hoon.” I asked Mukhtar if there was a problem. “I recently got a cell phone connection for my nephew. To get a connection, I have to give some documentary evidence. So I gave my DL. Now apparently, my nephew got involved in some trouble. Tomorrow, if he gets into a petty fight, or teases a girl, or does something and the police catches him, then my DL is the documentary evidence and I will get caught instead of him. He does something, and I will have to suffer. So I have to go and set him straight now.” I am in Bangalore, the hi-tech city. Identities are marked not just in everyday practices of religion, but there is also the element and the domain of governance, which attempts to deploy technology to, can I say control? To map? To record? And there are everyday practices of peoples to make their ways through these technologies of governance. I am interested in finding out more about these relationships and dynamics. I am interested to find out more … From agnivghosh at gmail.com Wed Jul 18 06:52:56 2007 From: agnivghosh at gmail.com (agniv ghosh) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:22:56 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] NAKSHA: AN URBAN LITERARY GENRE Message-ID: <8951bdf0707180652w5c493be6gf5ab77dc87e02512@mail.gmail.com> Agniv Ghosh, 1st posting, 'NAKSHA' : AN URBAN LITERARY GENRE INTRODUCTION The present work examines the origin and growth of an urban literary genre, in Bengali, called 'NAKSHA', which developed in the newly growing Calcutta city, in its formation period, in early nineteenth century. It was the time when Bengali prose was also in its developing phase. Before entering into the domain of 'NAKSHA', therefore we need a prior knowledge about the early history of the Bengali prose and the Calcutta city as well. EARLY BENGALI PROSE 1 If someone wants to write something in any language, he/she has only two forms left for him/her: prose and verse. But where lays the difference between this two? Aren't both of them nothing but meaningful word arrangement? Apart from this fact, there is a major difference between this two. In prose, one should be careful about the meaning and the general rule of word arrangement of the language concerned; on the other hand, in verse, one should be careful about the measurement of sound (meter, mora, syllable etc.)also. Without the sense of 'meter' verse is simply impossible. The latter is a much more complicated form. That is why, when we learnt to talk, we learnt it in prose. So it is evident that prose came earlier then verse. In the dawn of civilization, when human beings were trying to express themselves, to communicate with each other, only then the prose got developed. Like any language speakers, Bengali speakers also learnt to talk earlier, then to compose verse.1 But unfortunately we have no early oral documents in our hands. We have only written documents, and according to the written documents, language historians wrote: Bengali verse form developed earlier than Bengali prose.2 Here an obvious question will come to our mind. Is there any difference between the prose we talk and the prose we write? When we talk, we talk spontaneously, but when we write, we consciously build our sentences. We become aware about nouns and verbs and adjectives, about subjects and objects and predicates. In short, we become aware of grammar. Like verse we consciously create the prose we write. In Bengali language, we have the proof of this process of creation from seventeenth century and onwards. 2 In 1815 Raja Rammohan Roy (1774-1833) wrote in the preface of his first Bengali book that there are two styles in Bengali prose: one he called 'SADHU VASHA', and the other he named 'ALAPER VASHA' (the language of conversation).3 Two years after this incident Mrityunjay Bidyalankar (1762-1819), an early nineteenth century prose writer and a teacher of Bengali in Fort William College, made us aware about the two existing styles of Bengali prose. According to him it was 'SADHU VASHA' and 'LOUKIK VASHA'.4 Basically there was no difference between Rammohan's 'ALAPER VASHA' and Mrityunjay's 'LOUKIK VASHA'. This is a nineteenth century consciousness. But, it doesn't mean, before nineteenth century Bengali writer was totally ignorant about the prose form. Historians have found four seventeenth century manuscripts of Bengali prose. All of them are basically 'VAISNAVA KARCHA' (direction for performing rituals). Apart from this 'KARCHA' there are several personal letters, court documents also. By their help, we can imagine how seventeenth century Bengali people used to talk. In the court documents, we can easily trace out the extreme usage of Arabic-Persian word; on the contrary, the 'VAISNAVA KARCHA's are the example of the maximum utilization of Sanskrit vocabulary. In the personal letters which is the junction of these two extremes, shows the language of everyday people. These letters, where a father is showing affection to a daughter, where a friend is sending good wishes, where a concubine is lamenting for the absence of her master5, the documents of are people's feelings. There we can see the balance between Arabic-Persian and Sanskrit words. They were ignorant about disciplines. They chose words according to their feelings and comfort. In the beginning of 18th century, we can see the European existence in the Gangetic delta. They were trader by nature. British were the most prominent among them. In 1778 N. B. Halhed (1751-1830), a British East India Company employee wrote the first Bengali grammar. It was a Company project. Company was terribly in need of acquiring the knowledge of the language used by the people of lower Gangetic plain for the betterment of their trade. It was in the year of 1784 the first Bengali book was published. It was basically a translated law book, again published by the British East India Company for their administrative purpose. The translator Mr. Jonathan Duncan (1751-1811), one of the Company staff, had no other way but to adopt prose as his medium of translation. From 1784 to 1800 Company published 19 law books translated by various hands. In 1799, an English man named Henry Peter Froster published the first English-Bengali &Bengali-English dictionary. The project was sponsored by the Company. In its preface Mr. Froster echoed the opinion of Mr. Halhed expressed in the preface of his grammar book. Like Halhed he discriminated the 'pure' Bengali language from the 'impure' one. For him, the Arabic and the Persian influences in the language of were impure and Sanskrit influences were the sign of purity. These comments of Halhed and Froster were the cause of the dichotomy prominent in the early 19th century prose writer like Rammohan and Mrityunjoy. In the beginning of nineteenth century, by Lord Wellesley's endeavor Fort William College was established. Mrityunjoy joined the Bengali department of this college under William carry's headship in 1807 .Mrityunjoy and other Bengali teachers of the department of the major prose writer of the first two decades of the century. Basically all of their works were text books written for the European civilians. Apart from them was Raja Rammohan Roy. He was crystal clear about his intention of writing .The basic purpose of his writings was to make space for a reformation movement in the Hindu Bramhinical Society. His prose was constructed according to his purpose, but it has an inclination towards Halhed's 'pure' language, the Sanskritic Bengali. Rammohan called it "SADHU VASHA" but at the same time he was aware of the other Variant which he called "ALAPER VASHA". Rammohan's "ALAPER VASHA" was nothing but the influence of Arabic-Persian language as well as Sanskrit language, the mingling of Arabic-Persian word as well as Sanskrit. Rammohan's "ALAPER VASHA" or 'language of conversation' was the descendant of the language of those 15th century letter writers, who used to write letters to their daughters, sons, friends; to the 'kajis' and to the 'munsef' of the 'jila adalat'. They had no reservation about Arabic-Persian and Sanskrit words. Surely he had used "ALAPER VASHA" in his daily life, but when he wrote prose he preferred to choose words from Sanskrit vocabulary than the Arabic and Parisian. This question of choice is a nineteenth century phenomenon for Bengali authors. The seventeenth centaury KARCHA writers or the document writer of the Islamic court or the individual letter writers had not this question in front of them. From nineteenth century, we can feel the existence of this question. When a question of choice arises, a phase of transition starts. The first half of the nineteenth centaury was a transitional phase for Bengali prose. The factor, which resolves the transitional phase of Bengali prose, was the publication of Bengali magazines and news papers. In 1818 the first Bengali news paper was publication. The publication of news papers and magazines gradually shaped the modern Bengali prose. These news papers /magazines went through various experiment of the prose form and made it a strong from of expression. Our 'NAKSHAS' was the result of those early nineteenth century magazines. They were the early efforts of telling narrative in prose. They had no specific beginning, middle or the end. They were basically sketches with a seed of story inside it. As they were written in a transitional phase of Bengali prose, we would see the intervention of verse form inside it. In the 'NAKSHAS' written by Bhabanicharan Bandyopadhyay, the earliest NAKSHA writer, we can see this usage of verse form. 1 Sisirkumar Das, Gadya O Padyer Dwandwa, Calcutta, 1984 2 Sukumar Sen, Bangla Gadyer Itibritto, Calcutta, 1956 3 Rammohan Roy, Vedanta Grantha, Calcutta, 1815 4 Mrityunjay Vidyalankar, Vedanta Chandrika, Calcutta, 1817 5 Anisujjaman, Purono Bangla Gadya, Dhaka, 1984 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070718/b647edc4/attachment-0001.html From suto8ph at yahoo.com Wed Jul 18 07:25:44 2007 From: suto8ph at yahoo.com (Sutapa Ghosh) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:25:44 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third Posting on Modernist Planning and SEZs Message-ID: <87456.54663.qm@web36909.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear all, This is my third posting on my project for the Sarai Studentship titled "Modernist Planning and SEZs". Here I look into the issues of employment generation, spatial concentration and land acquisition in SEZs. The neo-liberal policy regime is now imposed upon the country and on all states. The only industrialization that is possible within a neo-liberal policy regime is corporate industrialization and the type of corporate industrialization that can occur within such a regime is essentially anti-people. Neo-liberalism justifies itself by invoking the values of ‘free market’ which it imposes through co-ercion for the interests of the monopolists and multinationals. (Patnaik, P, 2007) The question we ask here is whether today’s neo-liberal policy and post-industrial development play a positive role in promoting overall growth, reducing poverty, reducing the number of unemployed and the working poor? Let us examine this with reference to the employment and the contentious issue land acquisition and dispossession in SEZs. The employment logic of SEZs doesnot hold good. According to Patnaik, P (2007), it creates very little direct employment. He supports this statement by bare facts: In India between 1991 and now, the number of persons employed in the organized manufacturing has remained constant in absolute terms, but inspite of this there has been a nearly 8% annual growth rate in manufacturing output. He says that it is an awareness of this fact that makes peasant reluctant to part with their lands for industrial purpose as they know that inspite of the meager compensation they would get their prospects of future employment remains bleak. He also opines that there is also a considerable downstream employment generation meaning that more than direct employment there is a considerable amount of indirect employment. Further there is also a massive destruction of employment. The argument that rapid industrialization will be able to generate huge employment and lift people from poverty doesnot hold good for this country because an agricultural country like ours cannot shift substantial numbers of people from agriculture to grande industry as it will result in severe displacement and uproot of people from their livelihood sources. The only case where it was possible was in Soviet Union and other socialist countries because they controlled the rate of technological-cum-structural changes through planned industrialization and not through a market-driven approach. However. This doesnot mean that industrialization should not be promoted but there needs to be sufficient amount of caution with regard to the promotion of only the corporate type of industrialization which leads to the dispossession of the peasantry. This will not be possible if the state embarks on this ideology of development where states are pitted against each other instead of industries as under perfect competition, (like Tatas threatening to go to Uttaranchal if they donot get land in Singur) in order to promote corporate industrialization which huge amounts of displacement and relaxation of labour laws and there is no incentive to desist such industrialisation. The alternate to corporate industrialization is therefore co-operatives or public sector development where displacement would be minimized. (Patnaik, P. 2007) Benjamin, S (2000) in his paper ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ contend that the local economies, small scale home-based enterprises are the generators of employment. He cites an example from the Viswas Nager slum area in East Delhi where domestic grade cables and conductors are manufactured. Here 200 units mostly home-based had created about 25000 direct jobs in 1991 and supported a further 35000 indirect ones. He gives another example of the Ramanagaram town located in the outskirts of Bangalore. This town is India’s silk reeling center and houses Asia’s largest cacoon market. Here the silk industry directly supports 25000 people and another 30000 via indirect linkages. Here too employment comes from the wide variety of enterprises which provide support services. (Benjamin, 2000) In contrast to this, the EPZs which have now mostly been converted to SEZs had a share of near 1% in organized employment and till now all eight functional SEZs has created 1 lac employment and it is being expected that in the next 5 years it will cross the figure of 5 lac. The table below will show the amount of employment generated so far. (Agarwal, 2004) Table 1: Zone wise employment and Investment upto 31.03.2005 Zone No of units Employment as on 31.03.2005 KSEZ 123 9821 SEEPZ 176 42150 NSEZ 151 19857 MSEZ 105 16107 CSEZ 74 4712 FSEZ 83 2753 VSEZ 28 2500 Surat 62 2250 Manikanchan5 300 Jaipur 2 50 Indore 2 150 Source: Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Government of India in Agarwal Aradhna, 2004, Working Paper No. 148 ‘Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance’ Table 2: Employment growth in the Indian Export Processing Zones Year Total employment (nos.) 1966 70 1970 450 1975 1450 1980 6000 1985 16200 1990 35205 1995 61431 2000 81371 2002 88977 Source: Ministry of Commerce in Agarwal Aradhna, 2004, Working Paper No. 148 ‘Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance’ Sarma, E.A.S. (2007) in his paper titled ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ reveals, that the employment opportunities that the SEZs would create are limited compared to the number of poor farmers uprooted. The promise of jobs for the displaced is a hollow one as none of the displaced families would be able to find even one of its members having the right kind of skills and quantification required for such jobs. Even if SEZs create 5 lac job opportunites in the next 5 years the benefit would be offset by the number of rural families permanently deprived of their livelihoods. (Sarma, E.A.S. 2007: ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007) Let us now examine the spatial spread of SEZs in India. The SEZ notification list put up on the GOI website on SEZs as on 1.5.2007 lists clearly indicate the concentration in certain developed and industrialized states. The list of first stage approvals is as follows In-Principle Approvals Granted by the Board after coming into force the SEZ Rules States Land Acquisitions (ha) Percentage Share Andhra Pradesh 3768.39 2.54 Chattisgarh 2029 1.37 Dadra Nagar Haveli 80 0.05 Gujarat 5439 3.68 Haryana 43002.48 29.09 Himachal Pradesh 5030 3.40 Karnataka 4720.962 3.19 Kerela 414 0.28 Madhya Pradesh. 9309.25 6.30 Maharahtra 33041.09 22.36 Orissa. 4262.3 2.89 Punjab. 1571 1.06 Rajasthan 12251.32 8.29 Tamil Nadu 5078.02 3.43 Uttaranchal 14 0.01 Uttar Pradesh 5954.25 4.03 West Bengal 11827.14 8.00 Total 147792.2 100 Source: www.seznic.in Aradhana Agarwal in her article in EPW ‘Special Economic Zones: Revisiting the Policy Debate’ (Nov, 4th, 2006) argues that there is a strong possibility that SEZs will be set up in states where there is already a strong tradition of manufacturing and exports. Hence creating regional disparities. As Agarwal (2006) has observed and also from the table above it is clear that the share of the 5 most industrialized states (Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat T.N., and Karnataka, and) in total approvals is 61.75 %. Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh account for another 21.16 % of the total approvals. Thus these 9 states account for 83% of approvals. As Agarwal (2006) has opined and what is also clear from the table above the industrially backward states of Bihar, North East and J&K donot have a single approval. Further she writes that the incentives dished out to SEZs will create a titled playing field between SEZ and non-SEZ investors. The series of SEZs sanctioned tend to favour those states which are already way ahead in trade and commerce and already have a comparitive advantage in contrast to those states which donot have any comparitive advantage- hence it will result in strategic places. As Douglas (1996) writes, ‘there is now an unprecendented spatial concentration of wealth and poverty in distinctive spaces. This trend is observed between countries within regions and within metropolitan areas. With regard to land acquisition let us first take a look at how development took place in Navi Mumbai and the state government’s role in land acquisition for the sake of the multinationals and monopolists. In Bombay there has been a decline of the old traditional mill lands and a parallel government directed incentive for dispersal of processing and non-processing activities which included biotech, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, IT and related services, BPOs, electronics, garments, leather, agro-processing, financial services etc which now constitute the processing industries of SEZs. The development of the international airport at Navi Mumai and its nearness to the Jawarharlal Nehru Port Trust besides it’s nearness to other industrial areas provided the much needed incentive to set up a SEZ at Navi Mumbai through public-private patnership- CIDCO having the minority stakes and the three private players- Reliance, Hiranandani Developers and SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited) having majority stakes. CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Authority) and the authority incharge for SEZ development in Navi Mumbai was established on17th March 1971 when it was first appointed as a New Town Development Authority. CIDCO acquired the entire marshy strip of land lying between Dighe in Thane district and Kalundre village in Raigad district. This area consisted of 95 villages - where the villagers lived a peaceful life unaware of the pace of the city life when CIDCO in order to develop a new township across the Thane creek as a satellite township of Bombay acquired Airoli, Ghansoli, Kopar Khairane, Vashi, Sanpada, Nerul, CBD Belapur, Kharghar, Kalamboli, Jui Kamothe, New Panvel, Ulwe, Pushpak and Dronagiri. CIDCO acquired 19,394 Ha.land of which 14,105 Ha. was private land, including about 2,292 Ha. salt-pan land and 5,289 Ha. government land by paying a compensation of Rs. 26.00 crore and a further 79.27 crores which was paid by the State Government. The land was used to produce paddy during rainy season. Some mango and coconut orchards and limited vegetable cultivation was also practised by locals. Those with well-irrigation facility used to go for legumes like 'tur' and 'beans'. With master planning and urbanisation, however, all agriculture activities in Navi Mumbai have almost ceased to exist, except in easternmost part. Fish, crabs and prawns were common products from the creek, though the quantities of each were not significant. Surplus used to from domestic consumption was sold in Thane and Belapur markets. With advent of industries in the region, and with consequent deterioration of water quality, these markets were lost. (www.cidcoindia.com ). This was the initial phase of state colonization which took place by uprooting people from their livelihoods. After liberalization, another round of colonization is taking place with the approvals of SEZs- which Patnaik (2007) in his article ‘The Aftermath of Nandigram’ refers to as ‘accumulation through encroachment.’ The development authority can acquire lands under at below market prices and develop it with publicly subsidized off-site infrastructure. (Benjamin, 2000). The developed land is then allocated to groups that conform to its criteria. Richer groups with their high level of bureaucratic and political connections can easily influence the development policy. It is hardly surprising that standard forms of planning and bureaucratic allocation criteria used by the master planning process reflect the interests of the high-income groups. The lack of local level representation ensures little opposition by poorer groups to this takeover. (Benjamin, 2000) In SEZs the government has resorts to land acquisition under ‘eminent domain’ by invoking the archaic Land Acquisition Act 1894. Under eminent domain the state takes over the land and hands it over to the new owner for the socially beneficial activity. Further as Morris S. and A. Pandey in their article ‘Towards Reform of Land Acquisition Framework in India’ (EPW, June 2nd, 2007) has shown that inherent in the state mediated transfer of land are distortions arising as a result of landuse conversion regulations which require an agricultural land to obtain the Non-Agricultural Clearance (NAC) from the state for conversion to industrial uses or for infrastructure development. Since a farmer wishing to sell his land cannot obtain the NAC he will not be able to cash in on the larger value arising due to conversion to non-agricultural use. This results in state mediated transfer of land to the buyer from what was legitimately the farmers even when no taking is involved. This depresses the price of the agricultural land from true values and creates a vast difference between post and pre-change over prices. This they refer to as ‘regulatory arbitrage’. In case of SEZ investments, this arbitrage on account of prior regulation on land and its use is one of the important reasons for entrepreneurial interest in SEZs. Therefore these projects based on compulsory land acquisition acquire excess lands that had remained unutilized for years. The intentions are very clear given the fact that there is a vast differential between pre and post acquisition. (Morris S. and A. Pandey, 2007) Further Morris and Pandey also point out that in case of India since the government believes in compulsory acquisition under the ‘eminent domain’ the state itself judges the ‘fair value’ of the land and there exists no independent licensed valuers as in other countries. This leads to excessive under valuation of land since the regulatory overload on land market is large. The market aspect of valuation is very underdeveloped in India. (Morris and A. Pandey, 2007) The second aspect of land acquisition is the question of natural resource endowment. Morris and Pandey contend that the natural resource endowment is not calculated while valuing land and those lands which are endowed with natural resources like good ground water availability should actually be able to get a substantial solarium above the base price. Other intangible assets like nearness to a highway etc. are not considered during valuation on price of base land. Moreover during the pre-independence period the government’s function was limited to administration, town planning and governance. In the post-independence period since the government function expanded to other areas including commercial activities like manufacturing the scope of compulsory acquisitions increased greatly. Infact now the working framework is such that all large investors bank on the government for acquiring land for them. They also contend that if public purpose is defined by law it would restrict the abuse of public purpose considerably. States are now competing intensely to attract investment by providing land for SEZ projects. (Morris and A. Pandey, 2007) However there is yet another fair way to go about land acquisitions. The Town Planning Scheme of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority is a planned way to go about infrastructure development and expansion without vast land acquisitions and this reduces transaction cost. Here the acquisition is net rather than gross. If the government wants to improve infrastructure or acquire land for public utilities it does so through public land transfer to the government without displacing anyone. The government does this through earmarking the sites for infrastructure development and shrinks the owner’s land by 30% to make way for such development. The value creation then becomes implicit with infrastructure development and road networks which, are developed. (Morris and A. Pandey, 2007) In my future research I would like to gather some field level information through interactions with activist groups and people who now live under the threat corporate and state encroachments. References 1. Patnaik, P, ‘In the Aftermath of Nandigram’ EPW Online, May 26th 2007 2. Morris S. & A. Pandey: Towards Reform of Land Acquisition Framework in India’ EPW Online, June 2nd, 2007 3. Agarwal Aradhana: ‘Special Economic Zones: Revisiting the Policy Debate’ EPW Online Nov, 4th, 2006 4. Sarma, E.A.S. : ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007 5. Benjamin S.: ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000. 6. Agarwal, Aradhana: Working Paper No. 148, Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance, CRIER: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Nov, 2004. 7. Morris S and A. Pandey: ‘Towards Reform of Land Acquisition Framework in India’, EPW Online, June 2nd 2007 Sutapa Ghosh Research Scholar IIT Bombay __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/ From suto8ph at yahoo.com Wed Jul 18 07:49:47 2007 From: suto8ph at yahoo.com (Sutapa Ghosh) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:49:47 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting (Modernist Planning and SEZs) Message-ID: <173113.64769.qm@web36912.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear All, This is my second posting on my project titled ‘Modernist Planning and SEZs’. This posting was done on 17 JUly 2007, but due to some server problems it was not sent. If some of you have already received it, I apologise for resending it. This posting is based on the interview with the General Manager, SEZ at the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) which is the nodal authority incharge of developing the Navi Mumbai SEZ. This SEZ will be set up by Reliance, Hiranandani Builders and SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited) with the help of the government development authority CIDCO through private-public partnership. A fruitful discussion with the General Manager, CIDCO Mr. Kulkarni helped me understand many of the issues in the setting up of SEZs. This posting will be based on the understanding of issues most crucial of which are the questions of casualisation of labour, spatial concentrations of these foreign territories and the question of employment and land acquisition. Global Capital is reshaping our cities. It is being reshaped and reorganized with the surplus capital of industrialization. As a result what is taking place is a marginalisation of people who were once part of development. Urban mega projects are restructuring cities today. These projects are ultimately leading to socio-spatial segregation and privatization of public space. SEZs are building exclusionary private landscape. The state is absolved of its role of looking after the well-being of the people, rather the state now are geared towards profiteering and serving the interests of the business class. (Harvey, 2006) I want to get to the point where theory can help me understand the modernist planning process in the era of liberalisation. SEZs as an example of the way global capital is reshaping cities today and hence an example of the modernist planning and development process. While looking at SEZs, I would here like to draw attention to two of the most crucial social and governance issues which are implicit in the planning of SEZs in the country. The question of casualisation of labour ignoring all norms of social justice, spatial concentrations of these foreign territories or strategic places, the question of employment and land acquisition. I shall deal with the first two issues here and subsequently in my third posting the question employment generation and land acquisition. SEZs are ‘deemed foreign territories’- this phrase evokes the binary opposition between ‘International’ as opposed to ‘Domestic’ – what is meant by this is that SEZs are to be treated as separate enclaves from the rest of the country for the purpose of investment, trade, administration. In other words it is a new ideology of development in a post scarcity society (Cullenberg S, 2004) in Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism) - more competitive, more exploitative, and more fragmentative. These corporate enclaves will be ‘international’ and will be supported by the national government with sops and various incentives at the cost of the rest of the country, which is considered ‘domestic’. Hence exports from SEZs to other parts of the country will not attract any duties and taxes but imports from the rest of the country to these enclaves would, as also imports to other parts of the country considered as ‘domestic tariff area (DTA) ’ from SEZs. Hence the question of political sovereignty defined in terms of territoriality of nation states becomes seriously contested here. SEZs will play all the functions of a municipality. Not only will these zones be economically fragmented it will also be socially segmented. Lefebvre argues that the colonization of space by capital can proceed only by fragmenting and decentralizining the population. The center attracts those elements which constitute it (commodities, capital, information etc.) but which soon saturate it. It excludes those elements which it dominates (the governed, subjects and objects) but which threaten it. This creates a political problem in so far as the city has traditionally been the cultural center of the society- the principal source and location of the reproduction of social relations. If the city is fragmented and dispersed leaving only the economic and political offices of administration at the center then while political power becomes centralized cultural hegemony will necessarily become weakened. SEZs will increasingly look similar to what Douglas (1996) writes, ‘there is now an unprecendented spatial concentration of wealth and poverty in distinctive spaces. This trend is observed between countries within regions and within metropolitan areas. The spatial segregation proceeds along the lines of income and ethnicity.’ The new trend is that the upper and middle income groups have separated themselves from the city and built increasingly distinct communities. The extreme manifestation of this trend is the construction boom in gated communities. This has lead to the rise of “Fortress America” as Blackey and Snyder have documented. (Douglas,M 1996). Modernism has ruined our cities by its inhuman belief in rational planning and its relentless monolithism of formal design. (Harvey,D. 2000) There is now an increasing competition between different states to make investments attractive by approving policies in order to create a favourable investment climate. States which have already passed the Draft SEZ Bill are Haryana (Chandigarh, November 23, 2005, (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051124/haryana.htm), Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The Maharashtra government industrial development department clearly states that the Special Economic Zones are expected to play a stellar role in the growth of exports from the country. Maharashtra with its locational advantage contributes 45% of the total exports from the country. The State has promptly responded to the initiative of the Central Government to promote the setting up of Special Economic Zones as engines of growth by passing the SEZ Bill. The provisions in the Bill are aimed at providing an enabling environment and assuring the State’s commitment for promoting SEZs. The State has been receiving steady flow of proposals from private developers to set up SEZs. The MIDC will also set up Multi Product and Product Specific SEZs. The State will also encourage setting up of SEZs in Public - Private Partnership. The State will also notify certain MIDC areas as Designated Areas, which will be eligible to get all the benefits of SEZs except the fiscal benefits. It will enable MIDC to set up empowered Township Authorities fully equipped to provide world class infrastructure through Public Private Partnership. (http://www.sicomindia.com/site/Policy/policy01.htm) Let us now move to the question of labour regulations in these newly conceived zones of development. The nation state remains the fundamental regulator of labour. Aradhana Agarwal in her article on SEZs contends that the relaxation in labour laws may go a long way to make the zones attractive investment locations. (Agarwal, A. 2004). The Maharashtra SEZ Bill 2002, which has recently been passed declares SEZs as a Public Utility Services” which states that the Contract labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 shall not apply to the enterprises of this zone. This will be done through the delegation of powers of the labour commissioner to the Development Commissioner of these zones. The Industrial Disputes Act and the Factory Act will also remain diluted in these zones. (Agarwal, A. 2004) Domestic regulations applicable to the rest of the country are sought to be eliminated in the SEZs for creating a hassle-free environment. The labour regulations also clearly states that prior permission of the Development Commissioner needs to be sought for conducting inspections within SEZs. According to Sarma, this goes to prove the government’s lack of conviction in its commitment to social justice. The state believes therefore that social justice is an impediment to economic development. The promoters of SEZs are not willing to assume any kind of social responsibility. For e.g. they donot have any intention to reserve jobs for the backward classes or SC/STs. (Sarma, E.A.S. 2007) Harvey also contends that the legal system and policy making of the government itself sustains the very basis of capitalism and the government interventionist policy is embedded in the very foundations of capitalism- there is nothing called perfect competition. (Harvey, 2000). In line with the change in economic policy in the post-liberalisation era, the National Labour Commission has also sought to dilute and change the labour laws with an objective to make investments attractive. NCL accepts that one important element in the current phase of globalisation is the casualisation of labour. The NCL’s understanding of the economy is embedded within the logic of (global) capital functioning on the principle of competitive capitalism, and the linkage of labour with casualisation which is deemed a necessary for the growth of the Indian economy. The ongoing process of casualisation has produced powerful players like labour contractors. Working under a cost-cutting competitive setting, the enterprises in the organized sector have formed important linkages with the labour contractors for the following reasons: (a) the presence of labour contractors reduced the search cost for finding casual labourers: (b) the role of labour contractors helped the capitalists to circumvent the legal barriers pertaining to employing permanent workers thereby enabling a reduction in some forms of surplus distribution (like medical benefits, cheap canteens, gratuity, provident funds etc.) that it had to otherwise provide to the permanent workers in addition to the wage rate. (c) The labour contractors role in activating casualisation keeps the wage rate, including those of permanent workers (who are threatened with substitution by the casual workers), in restraint. (d) Finally the role of labour contractors was to reduce the power of the trade unions, thereby enabling other social actors like the capitalist appropriators and top management to acquire a decisive hold over the decision-making process within the enterprise. The presence of labour contractors is critical in enabling the enterprises to reap all the above mentioned ‘advantages’ that will allow the capitalists and the management to exercise control over labour and thereby a control over the cost-cutting procedure and possibilities of outsourcing. In-so far as dismantling the labour rights within an enterprise helps un-bundle the permanent workforce into a casual workforce, the enterprise in the organized sector now mimics the so-called “right-less environment within the unorganized sector. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta, 2007) In India, it will not surprising to find this process of casualisation in the SEZs which treat the dilution in labour laws as a necessary node in attracting investment in these zones. Chankrabarti and Dasgupta also notes that sometimes there are also instances of trade unions playing the role of labour contractors through their control of labour supply in some SEZs. Considering the wages, the workers are super exploited as the contractors would keep a part of the wage for themselves. So the workers surplus value is appropriated by both capitalists as well as the contractors and hence they receive a value which is not even equivalent to the socially necessary amount of the basket of goods and services they require to reproduce their labour power. Chakrabarti and Dasgupta contend that given the nature of competitive capitalism and the logic of global capital it is not surprising that aspects of security of workers against the powerful nexus of capitalists and labour contractors is totally ignored in the recommendations of NCL report which was submitted in September 2002. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta 2007) The second question which one needs to probe is the uneven geographical and spatio-temporal development. As the capitalist industry became more reorganized and the political economy of urbanization became more manageable through reorganizations in urban governance, bourgeoisie reformism in the city became integrated into hegemonic strategies for capitalist development. Deindustrialisation have largely moved the corporate enemy out of towns, and corporations do not need to be needing cities or particular communities any more. The upshot is to leave the cities almost entirely at the mercy of real estate developers and speculators, office builders and finance capital. (Harvey- Megacities Lecture 4). This is why we see most of the SEZs, being located outside the megacities in satellite towns and other Class III and IV cities (smaller towns). Lefebvre in his book production of space argues that space has become a –even the key commodity by means of which capitalist production has been extended into new areas and the production of space thus reflects and sustains the process of surplus value creation. The concept of ‘urban revolution’ expresses this argument that the capitalist colonization of space in increasingly becoming the dominant sphere of capital accumulation. Navi Mumbai a satellite town of Mumbai, provided an ideal site for the location of an SEZ with its nearness to a seaport and future airport. CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd). is to develop the landuse plan for the Navi Mumbai SEZ (NMSEZ). The Central SEZ Authority will create the freight stations and BPCL will provide infrastructure like water. The Master Planning of the Special Economic Zones have been assigned to global consultant firms like Mc.Clier. CIDCO has appointed consultants for the feasibility study, business plan, as master planning for the Navi Mumbai SEZ project. Tata Economic Consultancy Services ("TECS") was appointed during 2001-02 to evaluate the feasibility of the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone. CIDCO appointed a consortium comprising Ernst & Young (formerly Arthur Andersen), CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory Services and Chesterton Meghraj to prepare the business plan for the Special Purpose Vehicle which comprises of joint private partners. In the Navi Mumbai SEZ the SPV is SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited), Reliance and Hiranandani Developers. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). McClier are the master planners for the SEZ project and has developed the Dronagiri Infrastructure Plan. The Chinese model of SEZ is being adopted for the Navi Mumbai SEZ and this would be done by CIDCO in conjunction with three more private players as mentioned above. CIDCO plans to develop 4 different pockets of land – Ulwe, Kolambili, Dronagiri. A dedicated transport plan is being envisaged for the entire area. It will be a low density development. However, Ulwe will be developed into an RPZ- which will be a Regional Park Zone- a green belt with no industrial activity. This zone could be utilised for recreational activities and proposed infrastructure in the zone includes entertainment and recreational facilities like a club house, golf course and other recreational facilities amenities. The New Bombay Development Plan will be in consonance and will be integrated with the SEZ plan. The SEZ plan will maintain the essential character of the area – and will take into consideration the low density development for this area – being already a thickly forested area. Since building construction has to be limited in this area a theme park or water park is envisaged in the area. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). CIDCO mooted the SEZ proposal received an in principal approval of the GOI, in 2001 and the final nod on 23rd June 2007. For investors in this zone returns will accrue by way of sale of land, lease of land, management fees for client, property taxes, advertising rights and toll revenues. The NMSEZ is in close proximity to The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Nheva Sheva, a proposed Rs. 3000 crore international airport project in Navi Mumbai and a Rs. 6000 crore Sewri Nhava Sea-link project too. (www.navimumbaisez.com) This new model of development has been aptly described by Solomon Benjamin in his paper titled ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000). He says, that ‘1991 was a key turning point, because it ushered in the liberalization of the Indian economy and with this new political processes opened up. This situation has had a direct impact on the urban management especially with regard to the demands for large-scale infrastructure development and promotion of a corporate led economy. A significant development was the emergence of large financing institutions and bilateral and multilateral agencies. At the national level financing institutions moved away from their traditional role of funding projects to funding large-scale infrastructure programmes as financial intermediaries. Access to relatively cheap and state government secured funds has generated new demand. The State governments focus is now on instituting dedicated investments for mega projects. (Benjamin, S. 2000). This is routed through HUDCO or HDFC Banks which will fund infrastructure development in SEZs. References: 1. Cullenberg, S.: Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism, Sanhati, 2004 2. Harvey, David: Paper presented in International Conference on ’Accumulation and Dispossession, Claims and Counterclaims: Transformative Cities in the New Global Order, 12th Oct, 2006. 3. Massey Douglas: ‘The Culture of Cities’, (1996) in Castells Reader on Cities and Social Theory, ed. Ide Sassure, Blackwell Publishers, 2002 4. Agarwal, Aradhana: Working Paper No. 148, Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance, CRIER: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Nov, 2004. 5. Sarma, E.A.S. : ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007 6. Harvey, D :Megacities Lecture 4, Colofon, Twynstra Gudde Management Consultanats, Amersfoort, The Netherlands 7. Harvey, David: Reinventing Geography, Interview, New Left Review 4, 2000. 8. Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta: Disinterring the Report of National Commission on Labour, A Marxist Perspective, EPW, May 26, 2007) 9. Benjamin S.: ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000. __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/ From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 05:52:05 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:22:05 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707190552u6434a545o9a111443e3d8046b@mail.gmail.com> In reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian. Thank you all for your responses. The comments and suggestions have been very interesting and I'll keep them in mind as I carry on with my research. I apologize for my late reply but I had not been online for a while since my first posting, and so had not seen your mails. Yashdeep, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. Thanks for sending it. In the light of what Curt Gambetta had to say about your concluding remarks about malls 'robbing the city of diversity and difference' and 'papering over differences', I would agree with you in that these fortified premises are built for the elite classes and as such do not cater to poorer classes and therefore are indifferent towards the diversity in society. But as you said these are also 'divisive' in nature and by 'concentrating' the elite consumer classes in special niche zones, such as the malls, the multiplexes-and one specially takes notice of their political incorrectness for these are 'public spaces', they sharpen already existing differences by forming homogeneous units for different classes through the dual process of 'concentration and segregation'. In this sense then they do not iron out differences but etch it out and make it more 'visible' in the urbanscape through its built environment. In the suburbia, real estates perform a similar function as they build mini townships, (Aquapolis, Sun City in Ghaziabad in the pipeline) which are like 'concentration camps' for the super elites. These fortified enclaves are self-suffient, very exclusive and autonomous units- with their own malls, golf courses, sports complexes, luxurious apartments etc. A little less magnificent are the neighborhoods with cheaper apartments and meant for the middle class. Hence 'clannish' settlements are created which are distinct and distinguished through the lifestyles of its inhabitants. The poor in this process are relegated to the peripheries and alienated spatially, economically and psychologically. In all these ways, suburbanisation in terms of its built environment leads to social stratification. In reply to Sebastian's queries, about malls devouring small businesses/markets, it is true that this problem is also seen in the Ghaziabad area, mall development has definitely affected the local traders- the vendors, grocers, fruit sellers etc and also small departmental stores. The hypermarkets in malls like the Big Bazaar and Spencer offer a variety of items ranging from clothes, accessories, food items, vegetables, fruits, cold meat, dairy products, and at rates cheaper than the markets outside. Consumers definitely prefer to buy it all from one place at cheaper prices and in a comfortable environment. As for small businesses/ markets, in a situation where there is a lot of competition and supply has far exceeded demand, these large multi-formats seem to be gobbling up fast the smaller centres. For instance mini malls and shopping complexes are not surviving. Similarly the mall and multiplex combo has become so popular and convenient that a format that lacks this combo does not survive. From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 06:18:42 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:48:42 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second posting. Student Stipendship. Architectonics of the Mall. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707190618u27255051jd11ae19d3c92c95e@mail.gmail.com> Hello All, In this posting I am going to analyze the architectural design of the Mall in terms of its social, and psychological impact on consumers. Key words and concepts that I will be dealing with are commodity fetishism, advertising, electrical stimulation, hyper stimulus, and distraction. An important aspect of my account is about the way in which the mall functions as a 'strategic' space and my two pronged approach looks into both the conception and structuring of the mall space by the producers/architects/developers in a way to maximize profit and its reception by consumers as a place of distraction and nervous stimulation and an urban labyrinth where the consumer can 'lose' oneself both spatially as well as psychologically. The façade or outer front display of the mall building is a crucial architectural feature as it functions as an effective 'media of mass communication', for attracting consumers from the surrounding region towards the mall premise. Although apprehended in an offhand and passive manner, these surfaces are rendered more effective precisely due to their inert reception, to maneuver the movement of crowd towards the mall, by using their hidden persuasive powers of aesheticisation. The sheer monumentality of the mall buildings together with the eye-catching façades makes them conspicuous in the daytime and as night follows the illumination emitted from these structures through the electric advertisements, spilling out interior lighting and brightly lit outwardly visible window displays, attracts consumers like light magnetizes gnats, and imbues the structure with an effulgence which enhances its distinctiveness as a 'fantasy' space. Amongst the Ghaziabad malls, EDM, Ansal Plaza and Pacific mall are prototypic examples of such post-modernist 'functionalist facades', constructed with glass and steel material, and embellished with electric advertising boards. (I borrow the term 'functionalist façade' from its usage by Janet Ward in her book titled 'Weimer Surfaces' to describe building facades of Weimer Germany during the 1920s.The term 'functionalist' was used to emphasize upon the strategic aspect of facade decorations to serve as surfaces for advertising. The appropriateness of using this term for the Ghaziabad mall lies in its articulation of the façade as purposeful -in terms of its use for advertising and not merely decorative.). In contrast to these malls, the façade of Shipra Mall is archaic in style, although grand and ostentatious. This impressive building which spreads over an area of 4.5 lakh sq ft. is built on the lines of Classical Romanesque architecture and is claimed to be the largest and widest mall of Ghaziabad. A porch heralds the gateway to the mall where cars pause for the passengers to get off and be welcomed in a rather dramatic fashion by uniformed valets and one or two other mall officials dressed in formal suits. As one enters the interior space of this mall, the architectural décor appears in sharp contrast to the exterior, for the interior is furnished in modern style using the combination of glass, steel and light for its primary aestheticisation. The interior design is reminiscent of a galleria with retail shops of three floors surrounding a vast elongated empty space in the center, like in the Pacific and East Delhi Mall. The roof of the building is made of transparent glass, a unique feature of the mall as it gives the consumer an idea of the time, in outright retaliation of a general principle of malls to efface time and duration. Jon Goss in his essay 'Magic of the mall' also interestingly points out a matter of great surprise, that one hardly ever sees a clock in the malls, something that appears even more curious by the fact that consumers spend so much time inside malls. The Shipra Mall provides for 'in-house vegetation', which may perhaps be seen as an attempt to perhaps bring some vestiges of the outside landscape into the interior as also to create an artificial 'naturalness' in these built spaces. Also in combination with the glass roof, allowing penetration of natural light, the interspersing of Palm trees and shrubs within these interior spaces, creates an illusion of 'open space' and 'pseudo- streetscape'. Scholars have variously described the mall's spatial/experiential character as 'hyperreal' or liminally as 'virtual reality' referring perhaps to the hypersensuality and phantasmagoria of these spaces. As pointed out by Jon Goss in his essay, 'The Magic of the Mall', malls are as such abstract 'nowhere-spaces', consumption utopias, idealized and hence estranged from reality. Jon Goss's description may be compared to Foucaults 'hetrotopias', or the 'deviant' 'virtually real' spaces, which function in transit as it were between real space and utopia. The mall's 'hetrotopic' nature is most strongly exemplified in its reference to global and universal spaces and experiences of consumer capitalism, and its apparent severance from the immediate local environment. As stated by Malcolm Voyce in his essay, 'Shopping Malls in India', these spaces 'do not reflect the local history but instead inculcate the tastes and identities of global consumer culture.' Also these spaces are amalgamation of past and existing real formats, such as the airport, hotel resort, amusement park and street shopping center of the downtown. The mall in this sense appears 'odd' and 'confused' and this nature is hightened by the fact it also operates a variety of activities- entertainment, shopping, recreational activities, eating etc. all at one place. Also once a person enters these spaces, he could be just anywhere in the world as they all look the same. In all these ways the Mall resembles a 'hetropia'. There is an element of 'excess' and 'hyper' attached to the mall's sanctum, as for eg, the spotlessly clean and shiny surfaces, the excessively sanitized condition, perfectly clean and fresh atmosphere, rightly regulated temperature, brightly lit showrooms, beautiful mannequins and elaborate window displays, music to lift up one's spirits, all add up to create a hypersensorium of visual and aural stimuli. (It is not an accidental feature that one sees from time to time employees cleaning different parts of the mall floors, for these activities are strategically performed in order to bring to the notice and thus assure the consumer of the perfect sanitary conditions in the mall. Research in the Pacific and Shipra mall has revealed that the malls on an average employ eighty to hundred cleaning employees to look after sanitation within the mall premises. These workers, around twenty five at each sitting, periodically clean assigned portions of the mall in shifts of eight hours, after which the work is carried over by the next set of workers. The toilets, and each mall usually maintains two sets of washrooms- one on either ends of each floor, are routinely cleaned by staffs who wait in turns on each of the users and check and restore hygiene in the washrooms after every use. Moreover, as revealed by one of the staff member of the Shipra Mall, in the residual spaces of the mall i.e. excluding the retail showrooms, the exposed walls are painted every alternate week to keep the mall interior looking new and scrupulously clean all the time.). The mall may be seen as a highly technologised space by its use of air conditioners, programmed music, lighting, computerized camera surveillance, flat T.V screens hanging in food courts and other places for casual watching and electric advertising. The flood of visual and aural stimuli emanating from these sources creates physical and perceptual shock for the consumer which produces the famously theorized neurological state-the 'distracted' mind. (See Anthony Vilder's 'Walter Benjamin and the Space of Distraction' in his book Warped Space. Also see 'Modernity, Hyperstimulus, and the Rise of Popular Sensationalism' by Ben Singer.) Here I use the term in the sense in which Kraucer refers to it, i.e. as a subconscious state of mind which is so saturated with rapidly moving fleeting images that it temporarily i.e. for as long as the state lasts, suspends any conscious thought, passively receiving impressions as though in a state of shock. This state of distraction is different and antithetical to Walter Benjamin's use of the term to connote dispersion and scattering resulting in disinterest and absentmindedness' or what is better known as the blasé attitude of the urban dweller. On the other hand the distraction experienced within the mall environment is addictive and it is lack of 'entertainment' or 'distraction' that causes jadedness and boredom. The hyperstimulating environment soothes the overexcited nerves of the consumer and provides sensory relaxation. One need not strain ones mind anymore with thoughts, but simply allow seeing, hearing and feeling without thinking. Of all the sources of stimulus, electric advertising causes the most sensational impact on the consumer. Janet Ward in her book 'Weimer Surfaces' defines advertising as 'the discourse of visually harnessed or applied power'. The main purpose of these visual signifiers is thus to use shock techniques such as colorful lights and rapidly moving signs, images or words to jolt the spectator from his/her reverie and take notice of the surrounding. The textual message of advertising placards is not as important as its visual effect, and customers are expected to have acquired enough cultural knowledge to be able to decipher subtle rhetoric and seemingly incompatible associations often made in advertisements. Jon Goss also points out the hidden aim of advertisement, which is to 'mask the materiality', of the commodity and shift its identity from a material object to a cultural artifact. This creates commodity fetishism in the Marxist sense i.e. severing the commodity from its origins of production and the labor process involved in producing it, and entrusting it with desirable socio-cultural symbolism. This aspect of commodity displacement is also reflected in the manner in which transactions take place in retail showrooms of the Mall, where there is no interface between the actual producer and consumer. A certain level of impersonality is maintained and also the scope of negotiating prices is thwarted in such transactions. Commodities are as such divested of their economic properties, and replaced with a cultural context. It is for this reason that a lot of care and emphasis is given to the exhibition of these commodities in window displays. The mall is a strategic or 'premeditated place'. Its interior design, comprising of the general layout, placement of showrooms, escalators, lifts, pathways, cooperative aestheticisation together serves to manipulate consumer movement within the interior space in a way that ensures maximum consumption. For instance, the layout of retail showrooms is such that even when a consumer has to go to a specific shop, 'on the way' to his goal, he is invariably exposed to a string of shop fronts which make him pause and dally and deflect him from his normal course to the initial desired destination. And often these unplanned visits end up in huge purchases. Even the escalators are strategically placed on opposite ends of the mall so as to subject shoppers to optimal exposure of the shop fronts while they half circumambulate along showrooms to reach the escalators. Jon Goss in 'Magic of the Mall' provides a rather convincing account of how cafeterias, restrooms and food courts play a role in sustaining and thus prolonging long walks across retail showrooms by shopper-pedestrians. The basic idea in all this is to keep the shopper for as long as possible inside the mall. Promotional activities also serve the same purpose of prolonging consumers' stay by providing recreation while simultaneously promoting consumption. It is interesting to note how music, light and window displays also play an important role in monitoring pedestrian movement inside the mall. While the mall adopts a uniform and cooperated mode of aestheticisation and publicity, however each retail showroom tries to lure customers particularly towards it by emphasizing its presence through the regulation of light, music and shop front display, within a limited sphere which does not disturb the overall décor of the mall. Music forms an integral part of the mall sensorium as it pervades every part of the mall-the entrance space, hallways, showrooms and even the toilets. Music territorializes space and distinguishes different spatial experiences. Music adds and contributes to the aesthetic identity of the Mall and consumers' like and preference for particular malls is considerably dependent on the kind of music it plays. (In one of the online portals on Ghaziabad Malls, a teenager reasoned out his preference for Shipra Mall over Pacific Mall and EDM due to its 'tastefully' programmed music-which usually played English numbers or tuned into world space. On the other hand the Pacific Mall and EDM played Punjabi pops and popular Hindi songs according to the general taste of the class of consumers it attracted-music considered tacky by elite standards.) Sometimes promotional activities are conducted which foreground and sensationalize music –such as in EDM, when radio jockeys from the 'Radio Fever' channel hosted game shows, dance competitions, and DJ shows. As for attracting customers into the showrooms, the store managers play loud music in comparison to the soft background music dispersed all around in the mall, in sync with the general theme of the store based on the kind and type of commodities it keeps. This music drowns over the background music of the hallways and directs the consumer's movement into the showrooms and also keeps them shopping for longer. In a similar fashion light also directs consumer movement as the hallways are dimly lit in comparison to the showrooms. Also shop fronts use bright colorful lights to attract customers. Window displays also play an important role in attracting customers to retail showrooms. I will carry on this discussion in my next posting where I'll also be looking at the place of the Multiplex inside the mall and in the larger built environment. From alicesamson at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 07:45:01 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:15:01 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Message-ID: <6b037a040707190745p2e35dc0cja55cd7bfca298e5f@mail.gmail.com> Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Hello everyone. In this post I will brief you on some of my experiences, in the past 2-3 months, while on this project Over the past few weeks I have travelled to some of the places where secondhand bookshops/stalls are located and met up with a few old time passionate buyers and also some older residents of the city to get a sense of their experiences of these shops. During the time that I started out I came to know of a second-hand book exhibition at a book store called OM book store . I promptly journeyed to the bookstore located at what felt like the farthest end of the city at a place called Jeedimetla. To my surprise I found an exhibition of Christian devotional books, laid out quite in the jumble sale fashion, under a tent outside the bookstore, and quite a number of people browsing through the wares accompanied by soft lilting devotional music and a well dressed smiling girl moving around offering customers cups of orange drinks. A little doubt crept up my mind, do religious book seconds count as second hand books? But the journey had been too long to turn back without taking a good look around. As a Christian myself I felt that if not for the sake of the project at least for my personal satisfaction I would find some thing useful. I found a wide variety of books not just hymn books, prayer books and metal jacket dented bibles but also a whole range of lifestyle books; on depression, teenage, coping with terrorism, on pregnancy and other 'trying periods' of human life, of course the common denominator here was that all books had a religious bent to their solutions for these day to day problems. There were other books on crafts, children's story books, activities for Easter Christmas etc. Some of the books clearly were used books , others were difficult to classify as they were in quite a good condition. I decided to have a chat with the bookshop owner but was told that he was away so I wandered around into a large go down like area behind the store and was taken aback by the complete contrast to the scene of the exhibition outside, before me was the scene of a number of helper boys engaged in unpacking huge cartons of books, packing other cartons and the whole place had the urgency, and organised atmosphere of a general production environment. As I walked into the go down the heads belonging to the constantly moving hands turned around, eyebrows were raised quizzing, a courteous helper however did direct me to a glass cabin amidst the piles of cartons; I am not sure I would not have spotted it otherwise. The name plate announced The stores manager and I was ushered into the presence of Mr Kunju, who insisted on being called 'kunju uncle' as he explained everyone called him there. He turned out to be willing to help in more than one way. and started out in the direction I most dreaded- a thanksgiving ode to God for all that he and his family had received , however I did manage to get some crucial insights into the business. Amidst his rhetoric on the wonderful ways of God he managed to share his knowledge about the working of the shop and what I later discovered is the larger chain of shops and the ongoing exhibition. It turned out that most of the books in the exhibition had arrived from foreign countries like the US where people sponsored the printing and export of these books to countries like India, Africa etc for the benefit of Christians here who could not afford to buy these at their original prices. And what do they do with these books once the exhibition wound up? He explained that these books also constantly travelled across the country to different exhibitions etc till they were totally exhausted (in response to my query he added that it was rare that a book would not be sold at least one of their centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Goa etc). I found this method of dealing with excesses interesting. It also, as I will explain in my later posts, offers an insight to how the overflow of print material is tackled by some businesses dealing with these. Interestingly I found that they had also tried to send their wares to the pavement booksellers at Koti, Abids etc( we will explore these in detail later) but found that they did not sell very well there. Why? Because these kinds of books, devotional, with a religiously bent etc, attracted customers through word of mouth publicity. These two insights into import of the books and the differential selling methods of different categories of books turned out to be very useful in my actual interest in the second hand book trade. I had been right about my hunch on the usefulness on this shop. The book trade after all has to have some similarities as it deals with the same goods. As I later found out many of the Second-hand bookshops like Bestbooks etc operated in quite a similar fashion. The cycle of; Imports of rejected books from US etc- sifting at warehouses-setting up of exhibitions etc were replicated sans the religious colour in other seconds book businesses also. We will explore some of these businesses individually later. My next post follows this. [Visit to the exhibition at OM books( now rechristened STL(Send The Light Books)and Interview with 'Kunju Uncle' conducted on April 15th,2007] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/c358651b/attachment-0001.html From alicesamson at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 07:52:49 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:22:49 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. Message-ID: <6b037a040707190752r11727350w3388214afe7e8bab@mail.gmail.com> Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad Buyers. While on the one hand I have spent a considerable amount of time hunting out various kinds of Second-hand book markets and shops in Hyderabad I have also simultaneously interviewed a number of buyers/collectors/aficionados (can someone supply me with a word for a passionate second-hand book buyer!!). My conversations with some old time residents of Hyderabad like, prof.Javeed Alam, revealed that in his time inspite of being a student in the city his modest inheritance had ensured that he never went to the pavement sellers of second- hand books nor had he shopped for textbooks etc at the Koti seconds shops. Instead he would frequent the rare, antique bookstores in the area close to the bangles bazaar at Charminar where he picked up expensive, rare books for his collection. As Mr Prashant Iyengar in responding to my first post pointed out and Javeed's account confirms,the profile of the second hand book book buyer seems to include a crucial class factor. There are others like Ms Chitra (name changed) who works for an NGO in the city that provides educational services for children and has been a frequent visitor of the bookshops like Bestbook store at Tilak road, Abids; which stocks a phenomenal number of Second-hand books stacked all around the floor of the shop with just enough space to squeeze past. Chitra has a special interest in children's books both for her NGO and her personal interest and frequently requests the shop owner to get her larger quantities of these. Her requests are always met with the same answer that it is impossible to ask for specific books to be brought in. The modus operandi of these shops is not conducive to large quantities of specific requests. We will dwell a little more on the exact modes of operation of the second hand book trade, however Chitra's experience hints at the fact that the element of chance plays a very big role in not only purchase but also procurement for the sellers. . Chitra has been in the city since childhood and remembers some markets like the Koti second hand text book market as being there for over two decades. Chitra sifts through the secondhand book shops on the lookout for childrens books and teaching materials. A frequent visitor of Best Books at Tilak Road, Lakdikapul and the quite frequent Best Books exhibition stall at Y.M.C.A, she finds a lot of books utterly useless to her amongst these are; hoards of Novels, Health books; largely on how to handle pregnancies etc, cookery books; Chitra finds them ridiculous because most of them deal with baking and preparation of non-vegetarian dishes, mostly using ingredients hard to come by here sometimes she also spots a couple of books suitable to Indian styles of cooking, books on crafts activities; again useless as materials are hard to procure in India, outdated computer books, books on Science and accounting, however amidst these she says she always manages to find something of interest to her at a fabulous bargain price; Disney books that cost Rs 450 at the retail shop 3 kms from Best; Himalaya Book Stores, can be picked up for as low as 90-100 at the Best books Shop. Moreover Chitra, adds gleefully, many a time she manages to convince the seller to settle for an even lower price. Chitra rates the price as usually being about 1/4th of the original cost. She has even managed to convince the Best Books seller to buy back his own books at ½ the price he sells it to her but he won't accept books from other seconds sellers. There is also a method behind the seeming madness in the variety of books and a very important change in the working of this business from the traditional methods of functioning of the second hand book trade. In subsequent posts I will give you a detailed account of the interesting way in which this trade now operates Chitra also filled me in on another very different experience of shopping for second hand books at the pavements of Abids and Koti in Hyderabad. Today a drive past Koti inevitably draws our attention to an absence ,even to a newcomer in the city, the graffiti on the walls outside Koti women's college announce such things Prakash books Shifted to Shop number 516 Gokul Arcade And a hundred other such pointers to the new addresses of the displaced old shops. As Chitra and others told me the pavement that is now barren, with only the graffiti pointing to, what had become something the city had grown around. It was hardly the shops that were the cause of congestion or nuisance that were the reasons cited behind their removal. They were small shops, remembers Chitra, maybe slightly bigger than a pan shop, propped against the compound wall of the women's college, stacked with text books reference materials etc from floor to ceiling and more books fighting for space on the counter. Hundreds of students came to these shops from the Women's college and the nearby Arts College as well as the schools located nearby and at other places in the city. Seema recalls her school days in Hyderabad when these shops were the succour for many poor students, children from families with many children for whom books were unaffordable, people who wanted to read to make a better lives for themselves etc. Though the shops have been provided an alternative location, many feel that they are not what they used to be. People like Chitra feel there has not been any significant reduction in congestion as the area itself is like that with schools, colleges, cart sellers etc all-jostling for space. The need for a space that makes books easily available and affordable is clearly felt. Chitra feels that this is also an excellent way to promote the reading habit. Until the next post… [ Interview were conducted with Ms Chitra on 10th July, 2007 and prof Javeed on multiple occassions in June] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ps. Thank you Mr Prashant Iyengar and Basscom Guffin for sharing your experiences at these book shops and in Hyderabad. It would be extremely useful if others also can share their experiences at these shops in other cities and in Hyderabad. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/2cd4a885/attachment.html From popli.saurabh at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 21:08:32 2007 From: popli.saurabh at gmail.com (saurabh popli) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:08:32 +0800 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Commonwealth Games site. Message-ID: <945ebfad0707192108r2092117du5cc9fed3379f23a5@mail.gmail.com> dear Everyone! Thoroughly enjoyed the previous posts. i thought I would post if anyone knows about the sudden blockade that has been caused at the commonwealth games site across the Vikas Marg from Akshardham. It seems that 5 - 6 dumpers of rubble has been dumped (late last night) strategically at the 2 existing entries to the area that is now home to umpteen small nurseries, and agriculturists. it is a beautiful part of Delhi and I have a grave sense of foreboding about what i suppose is about to happen. Is this known to anyone? Can someone enlighten us? -- Warm Regards, Saurabh 98 681 25159 'There is not enough time to do all the nothing that we want to do!' Bill Watterson -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-31 Size: 988 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070720/fd0dd6eb/attachment.bin From jeebesh at sarai.net Thu Jul 19 21:11:25 2007 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:41:25 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Commonwealth Games site. In-Reply-To: <945ebfad0707192108r2092117du5cc9fed3379f23a5@mail.gmail.com> References: <945ebfad0707192108r2092117du5cc9fed3379f23a5@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <395567C1-ED1E-4E0F-9026-B6D8F1EBD449@sarai.net> dear saurabh, Please do not send attachments. Send in plain text. attachment archives very badly and maybe in an unreadable form. Plain text archives well. Lists are also archives for others to access materials if they need to consult it later. best j On 20-Jul-07, at 9:38 AM, saurabh popli wrote: > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup From yashdeeps at hotmail.com Thu Jul 19 22:07:18 2007 From: yashdeeps at hotmail.com (Yashdeep Srivastava) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:07:18 +1000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian References: <7fe7fedf0707190552u6434a545o9a111443e3d8046b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Thank you Curt and Ipsita for reading and commenting on my article. I do hope I get as many considered and valuable opinions once it is published. In response to both your comments, firstly I agree, that the phrases you have both picked to comment on - 'robbing the city of diversity and difference' and 'papering over differences' were misleading if not altogether clumsy. I describe them as such because I do not think they conveyed my thinking. I hope to express it more clearly in this email. First Ipsita, your observation that malls and multiplexes "...sharpen already existing differences by forming homogeneous units for different classes through the dual process of 'concentration and segregation'". I generally agree with, however my reference to difference is not strictly to economic class distinctions that are embodied in and inhabit the architectural object. I think that is rather obvious. Having said that, I do believe that malls have the potential to 'iron' out those differences in the same way that a commuter train in Mumbai does by throwing people of all classes into the one space, united, as it were, by purpose. This is why I cite Dipesh Chakraborty, who refers to the bazaar as a space of suspended difference which malls, I believe, are not. As you have pointed out eloquently in your second post ("The mall's 'heterotopic nature is most strongly exemplified in its reference to global and universal spaces and experiences of consumer capitalism, and its apparent severance from the immediate local environment."), it is the architectural expression and spatial difference that I think is being smothered by the universalised hyperspace of the mall. The spontaneous theatre of the street is superscribed by the privately regulated environment of the mall. I liked Curt's suggestions to you regarding the possibility of understanding the nature of change in retail trade in Delhi and how difference is thus produced, through your fieldwork. I think he raises a very important issue about accepting malls for what they are. One cannot simply wish away malls and one must embrace differences that arise as a consequence. The normative tenor of my article notwithstanding, I would offer that the difference so generated is driven by an elite demand to distinguish itself from the 'other'. To cite John Harriss in a recent EPW, who quotes Sankaran Krishna - “one of the existential realities of being a middle class Indian is an inescapable desire to escape the rest of India”. The process of 'othering', I suggest, results in the papering over of difference amongst the elite, closing ranks and united, as it were, by the purpose to 'other'. Harriss's own argument that middle class domination of 'civil society' is a projection of middle class values on lower class problems seems to support the view that difference is suppressed in the face of dominance. As a practicing architect, I am often concerned at the lack of sensitivity displayed by many in the profession to the political consequences of our professional actions in the wider social realm. The article is my attempt to draw it to the attention of others of my ilk.As Lefebvre has said elswhere, architects are obsessed with the visual. Best wishes and many thanks again for a very invigorating discussion, Yash Srivastava ----- Original Message ----- From: "ipsita sahu" To: Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 10:52 PM Subject: [Urbanstudy] Reply to Curt Gambetta,Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian > In reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian. > > Thank you all for your responses. The comments and suggestions have > been very interesting and I'll keep them in mind as I carry on with my > research. I apologize for my late reply but I had not been online for > a while since my first posting, and so had not seen your mails. > > Yashdeep, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. Thanks for > sending it. In the light of what Curt Gambetta had to say about your > concluding remarks about malls 'robbing the city of diversity and > difference' and 'papering over differences', I would agree with you in > that these fortified premises are built for the elite classes and as > such do not cater to poorer classes and therefore are indifferent > towards the diversity in society. But as you said these are also > 'divisive' in nature and by 'concentrating' the elite consumer classes > in special niche zones, such as the malls, the multiplexes-and one > specially takes notice of their political incorrectness for these are > 'public spaces', they sharpen already existing differences by forming > homogeneous units for different classes through the dual process of > 'concentration and segregation'. In this sense then they do not iron > out differences but etch it out and make it more 'visible' in the > urbanscape through its built environment. In the suburbia, real > estates perform a similar function as they build mini townships, > (Aquapolis, Sun City in Ghaziabad in the pipeline) which are like > 'concentration camps' for the super elites. These fortified enclaves > are self-suffient, very exclusive and autonomous units- with their own > malls, golf courses, sports complexes, luxurious apartments etc. A > little less magnificent are the neighborhoods with cheaper apartments > and meant for the middle class. Hence 'clannish' settlements are > created which are distinct and distinguished through the lifestyles of > its inhabitants. The poor in this process are relegated to the > peripheries and alienated spatially, economically and psychologically. > In all these ways, suburbanisation in terms of its built environment > leads to social stratification. > > In reply to Sebastian's queries, about malls devouring small > businesses/markets, it is true that this problem is also seen in the > Ghaziabad area, mall development has definitely affected the local > traders- the vendors, grocers, fruit sellers etc and also small > departmental stores. The hypermarkets in malls like the Big Bazaar and > Spencer offer a variety of items ranging from clothes, accessories, > food items, vegetables, fruits, cold meat, dairy products, and at > rates cheaper than the markets outside. Consumers definitely prefer to > buy it all from one place at cheaper prices and in a comfortable > environment. As for small businesses/ markets, in a situation where > there is a lot of competition and supply has far exceeded demand, > these large multi-formats seem to be gobbling up fast the smaller > centres. For instance mini malls and shopping complexes are not > surviving. Similarly the mall and multiplex combo has become so > popular and convenient that a format that lacks this combo does not > survive. > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > From karthik.guevara at gmail.com Fri Jul 20 01:41:26 2007 From: karthik.guevara at gmail.com (karthik guevara) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:11:26 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] GAANA SONGS MUSIC FROM THE MARGINS Message-ID: <2fd660060707200141x3434d123ve0ae3471ba001d8d@mail.gmail.com> Hai I am D.Karthikeyan currently a student stipendiary at CSDS sarai. this is my second posting for the research project. "Music from the Margins: Gaana Songs as a Subaltern Phenomenon". here i will discuss on how Gaana music as a form can be called as an sub culture by tracing the genealogy of Gaana songs and how it came into existence and to look into the cultural aspects of Gaana songs, its lyrics and find out how it helps in the identity formation. *TRACING THE GENEALOGY* Gaana songs erupted among the working class youth, particularly Dalit and Fishermen communities of shantytown areas of Chennai city simply from the need of the oppressed youth as a form of earning a living through an income by singing in funerals. They are songs that move people, songs that speak of the ephemeral nature of life. But in the process Gaana music was used in 'bits and pieces' for the conscious investigation of the expression of grim realities hidden in the urban social order and for the diffusion of the Dalit consciousness. Unlike Black music Gaana cannot be immediately seen as functioning to liberate oppression but it's a long way to go since its gaining prominence recently, but undoubtedly it has given a cultural identity to Subaltern masses in the fringes of the urban spaces. The cultural identity till now has been non-functionalist and was intangible to the wider audience. Since it does not belong the traditional genre of music it has to fight its way out. Any form of music, which doesn't come under the purview of the puritanical tradition or the "Carnatic" tradition in this case, becomes victim of deeper prejudices. Its been dismissed by the practitioners and custodians of the classical form. Even the traditional music like folk songs has long been viewed by high-caste elites as a degenerate culture born of an essentially 'impure people'. The question of "purity" and pollution remains a very concrete reality in the performative traditions. The presence of lower caste musicians and their cultural practices are viewed as polluting by people of high status. For example the genre of music called Oppari (literally means Weeping) done during funerals and ceremonies relating to death, has been done by people belonging to the Dalit caste no matter which caste the dead belongs to. Professional musicians from non-Dalit castes typically refuse to perform oppari. All music not made by people of high caste is totally dismissed by the experts. During the annual music festival held in Chennai (formerly Madras), cultural capital of the refined classical music of the Brahmins known as Carnatic, an expert says: 'There is folk music and classical music. Carnatic music is scientifically organized, folk music is not so ... people who are not properly trained just sing out of emotion, enthusiasm. Any child can sing folk music. But to sing carnatic music you need talent." Despite the prejudice of people of high caste, those at the margins of the Hindu hierarchy are reclaiming their music. It is becoming a source of powerful resistance, the basis of new and revolutionary identities. Gaana song lyrics actually revive and glorify Dalit lower- class themes and motifs that were hitherto disparaged and despised. Gaana in fact has slowly paced itself and got out somewhat forcefully from the slums and burial grounds and has entered the more popular medium of communication in south India i.e. the film industry. The film industry as studies show is a more popular and common mode of expression among the Tamil youth. The tradition of scatting across a simple repetitive backing with impromptu lyrics continues to produce some of the most interesting and exciting Gaana. At first the response from the middle class was one of sneer and snobbery because of its coarse dialect and lyrics but soon penetrated their own privilege ranks and they had to give way to the sheer force of Gaana as a popular form of music that appeals to both poor and middle class youth alike. *GAANA SONGS AND DEATH* Gaana music as repertoire of the slum dwellers of Chennai, the songs sound the loudest in the event of a death and it would go for hours together. In the case of oppari songs Dumont describes a "band of Untouchables (six to eight members)" who played "lively and even tempestuous music" on drums with the purpose to "keep the mind occupied, or distract it" (p. 272). The Gaana songs are commonly addressed towards the dead person, the performance gets due attention with posters appearing on major locations in the city during the event. These performances of gaana songs actually seem to look like small spectacles. People from nearby slums come to watch the event. In any case, the presence of musicians at a Tamil funeral is generally believed to be "indispensable" (Dumont 1986: 272). The Gaana songs performances also give a chance for the singer to subtly send a message across the dominant castes by the way of recounting a myth. This can be found in folk performances by Dalit singers in villages. Michael Moffatt in his ethnographic study cites an account of a funeral near Madras (now Chennai) that the role of Dalit (Paraiyar) musicians is so important that members of other caste communities tolerate the musicians as they recount a Paraiyar origin myth--in which Paraiyars have dominance over other castes--as part of the funeral ritual. It is said that, at the funeral "we must nod our heads to these Harijans" (Moffatt 1979: 195-196). Further, the funeral is a rare opportunity for a Harijan musician to take on the persona of a person--a widow--of a higher status caste community than his own. Moffatt observes in Endavur that funeral musicians perform special rhythms at funerals of higher-caste people, suggesting that the substitution of a professional performer from one caste for a griever of another is reflected in a kind of musical "code-switching" (1979: 200). REFERENCES Dumont, Louis. 1986. A South Indian Subcaste: Social Organization and Religion of the Pramalai Kallar. Transl. M. Moffatt and A. Morton. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Moffatt, Michael. 1979. An Untouchable Community in South India: Structure and Concensus. Princeton: Princeton University Press. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070720/66b703e9/attachment.html From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Wed Jul 25 08:13:22 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:43:22 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] student Stpendship 2007third posting. Cinematic landscape of Ghaziabad. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707250913i1fa14ecaje79b4ae9ab3b8eaf@mail.gmail.com> Hello All, My third posting is a comparative analysis of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad. I am mostly looking at the exhibition patterns of these theatres to see how different theatres regulate audience flow, and function as conscious agents of social stratification A mere revamping of exhibition spaces in the form of the multiplexes and cineplexes, has revolutionized the cinematic experience in India. These new forms have not only salvaged the moribund state of Indian theatrical sector and cinema industry from the onslaught of piracy, VCD and cable television, but also imbued cinema viewing with a new legitimacy by making it an exclusively bourgeoisie form of entertainment. Finally the infamy of cinema as an 'uncongenial space' unfit for the upper class and women has been lifted, by cleansing the theatre space of its nuisance creating elements. The very grandioseness of cinema viewing in these luxurious spaces has shifted the emphasis from the film alone to the sensorial experience of the space, In the changed scenario watching a film is subsumed within a larger goal of an 'outing', which includes not only the thrill of entertainment but also the pleasures of experiencing luxury. And in this sense the refurbishment of cinema theatre through gentrification and spectacularisation has successfully revitalized cinema viewing by hoisting it in the public imaginary as a signifier of bourgeoisie lifestyle. As far as the built landscape is concerned like in the case of the mall, even multiplexes, in the social realm, function as divisive structures of class contestation and conscious agents of social stratification. These built forms function as homogeneous units of the rich by enabling the congregation of the gentry and exclusion of the poor. Also within themselves they maintain a hierarchy and divide the affluent class by creating stratification among the high-income group both inside the auditorium through the seating arrangement as well as in the overall targeting of specific audience groups. Like malls, the fortification and security system of the multiplex successfully insulates the premise against contamination by the lower income groups. Also by maintaining high ticket rates in comparison to the traditional single cinema hall, and making them unaffordable for the lower income groups these exhibition centers have succeeded in keeping the unwanted poor out of the glitzy premises, making cinema entertainment the privilege of the affluent consumer class. As for regulating the inflow of those who can afford the high prices, the same strategy is adopted by the multiplexes as malls of choosing their location according to the type of audience they seek to target. Also by dividing seats into different categories, for different classes and fixing different ticket prices for these, according to the affordability of each class, these theatres maintain class hierarchies inside the auditorium. This system was prevalent even in the traditional single screen cinema hall. However, the difference now is that the current system creates divisions even amongst the gentries. The most recent intervention in this regard can be seen in the new kind of hierarchiasing amongst the elites in the multiplexes today with the creation of exclusive lounges for the upper class audience. These lounges have a separate entry and exit enabling absolute seclusion of the patrons of this section from the rest of the audience. The tickets for these seats are exorbitant ranging from five hundred to eight hundred rupees. Hence one sees that as a hind side of the process of maximizing consumption, new trends are emerging to build hierarchies amongst the elite through spatial segregation, also enabling super elites to lead and flaunt extravagant lifestyles. Now in the built landscape of Ghaziabad a definite pattern can be discerned in the spatial layout of the exhibition spaces in the region, which is produced by and hence also reflective of the socio-political dynamics of urban planning. The locational arrangement of these built forms like the malls mirrors the socio-economic condition of the area. Big formats are located in the elite neighborhoods, smaller ones in the fringe areas and near lower middle class neighborhoods and the single screen cinema halls are in the old development area catering to only the lower income groups. I will now delineate a sketchy outline of the exhibition patterns of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad to reveal the underlying logic of exhibition with an aim to illustrate the divisionary role of exhibition centers in the socio-economic realm. In the past four years, Ghaziabad has witnessed a rapid proliferation of exhibition spaces, as multiplexes have mushroomed up in the area under the Ghaziabad development scheme of providing adequate commercial recreation to the new population brought to the area by the real estate sector. This explosion has primarily occurred under the new government entertainment policy regime to provide tax exemption for five years to multiplex projects and also due to the cheaper land rates of the region as compared to the downtown and other areas of the NCR. Thus it becomes a viable option for developers to set up projects in the outskirt regions, as land rates in the central city is so high that even reasonable commercial returns never adequately make up for the huge investment costs. At present there are in total fourteen multiplexes in Ghaziabad, and several others in the pipeline, creating a congested scenario with 5 multiplexes, PVR cinemas, Adlab/Imax Pacific Mall, Adlab Ansal Plaza, Wave and Fun Cinema, situated within a 6 km radius , and six more under construction within the same area. In a situation where supply is fast exceeding demand, there is stiff intercentre competition between these multiplexes with only the big format multiplexes flourishing and the smaller ones already making huge losses. The Ghaziabad cinema theatres may be broadly classified into three categories based on location and the class of audience that the theatres target and cater to. The first category includes the high profile multiplexes that largely target the elite population. The Adlab theatre in Ansal Plaza, Adlab with Imax theatre in Pacific Mall, Jam Shipra in Shipra Mall, MMX and PVR Plaza in EDM belong to this category. Situated in the traffic zones of the new development area and close to elite neighborhoods, these four are the most successfully running theatres . Mainly because of the combo format of mall come multiplex, these theatres incur the maximum footfall as compared to solo multiplexes. Since in the combo format the multiplex shares its identity with the mall, by virtue of sharing the same complex, the mall significantly determines the success rates and type of crowd coming to the multiplex. People's preference for a particular multiplex is to a great degree based on their liking for the mall, since in most cases, a visit to the theatre often also entails a tour of the mall . Also since the Shopping mall cinema theatre draws a large part of its clientele from the shopping crowd, so therefore the type of crowd, which the mall attracts, is also the type of crowd that the multiplex must settle for. Hence the success of Jam Shipra and its elite clientele may be seen as caused due the general high consumer traffic of the mall and the mall's capacity to attract the elite population of Indirapuram, Vaishali and Kaushambi. Similarly EDM's general popularity with the lesser elite ensures a good profit for the PVR cinemas as it draws a big crowd by catering to the lesser affluent class of consumers of the new development area of Ghaziabad. However within their own limited capacity, shopping mall cinema theatres try to function more autonomously despite the dependency on the mall, to create their own audience type, in some cases like PVR EDM, even different from the mall's shopping crowd. Ticket range, promotional schemes and advertising strategies are the means by which multiplex theatres tend to attract and regulate audience configuration. For instance the PVR cinemas in EDM claims to target an assorted audience comprising of the lower middle class which comes from the mall crowd, and also the higher class population by advertising its brand value and hiking ticket prices. The youth crowd is generally given a low priority in these theatres which prefer to have more of a family audience, primarily because 'indecent' behavior of young couples spoils the ambiance in these places which also deters other kinds of audience from coming to the theatre due to the 'lewd' environment. Hence special measures are taken to keep the two-audience type separated. Morning shows are reserved specifically for the youth crowd, as the show timings do not suit the working patrons and housewives. The ticket rates for these shows are lower than the other shows so as to induce the youth crowd to come for these shows. By providing them with special incentives, the upper class gentries are targeted for the evening shows. For eg, apart from the usual snack bars, these theatres also have play ground spaces with sitters where parents can leave their kids and enjoy the film in peace. PVR EDM offers special kid care provisions during the Sunday evening shows comprising of dim lighting in the hall so that babies are not scared of the dark and can sleep peacefully, nappy changing facilities, kid playing zone in the cafeteria area. JAM Shipra has a separate U Kids zone, which apart from screening special children movies also has other recreation facilities such as story telling, video games, mazes etc. This provision not only ensures a good family audience but also prevents inconvenience to the audience from children by keeping them out of the auditorium. Platinum and Gold lounges are built in all these theatres to attract the super elites by offering them extravagant treatment for exorbitant prices. These lounges are different from the other auditoriums in offering reclining seats, three-course meal, in house service, and a separate entry and exit. Seemingly modeled on the lines of the ostentatious economy class seats of the flights, following their footsteps, the next thing would probably be to provide massage treatments to the patrons while they are watching the film! PVR Cinemas offer the provision of mobile booking in which case payments have to be made through credit cards. JAM Shipra is also planning to offer provisions for online ticket booking. Hence one sees that the exhibition patterns are taking a direction, which seeks to cater to and suit only the most affluent classes. Gentrification may be said to be taking place on a higher lever as it were. The second category of theatres comprises of smaller format multiplexes-the solo multiplexes, i.e the ones not allied to malls and those with only a few retail showrooms inside the same complex. SM World, Fun Cinemas, Silver City, M4U, Movie Palace, Movie World, Wave, Galaxy, and AEZ fall within this category. Most of these i.e apart from Wave Kaushambi and AEZ, are not located close to the elite neighborhoods, and therefore cater to mostly a lower middle class population. In comparison to the shopping mall multiplexes, which are in proximity to elite neighborhoods and target audiences specifically from within a radius of 5 km, these other multiplexes attempt to obtain a wider catchment area and target all classes and especially the lower middle class since the upper classes are already divided between the big formats. The solo multiplexes are facing stiff competition from the Shopping Mall multiplexes and have lost most of the upper class patrons to them. To keep the lower middle class patrons from getting similarly deflected, these multiplexes have considerably lowered their ticket rates. As a result they are barely able to avail much profit since the little return that they get goes in meeting equipment maintenance, housekeeping and security charges . The multiplexes in the border areas, such as Movie World, and those away from the Shopping mall multiplexes, such as Galaxy, Silver City are in a still better position, while those in the new development area close to the Mall-Multiplexes, like Wave Kaushambi and AEZ are the worst affected. The story of the single screen cinema halls is even more deplorable as slowly these are getting extinct unable to cope with the onslaught of new exhibition forms. All of these are located in the old development area of Ghaziabad as they were the first few entertainment centers in the area. Vasant, Urvashi, Manohar, Apsara, Star, Navrang, Pawan, Choudhary, Manochitralek belong to this category. Urvashi closed down in 2006 and Pawan and Choudhary in 2005. The rest are teetering with losses and in a few years these remaining theatres are expected to close down as well. The government in sharp contrast to its attitude towards the multiplexes is rather hostile and unsympathetic towards the situation of these old theatres. In fact the governmental schemes are favoring and aiding the process of 'cleansing', by giving incentives to old theatres to reconvert into multiplexes. Choudhary for eg, is being broken down and rebuilt into a multiplex. The reason as stated by the Entertainment Officer of the Ghaziabad Entertainment Department, is that the entertainment revenue from the multiplexes is much more as compared to single screen theatres. There is also a non-economic cause for this discrimination. Town Planner of GDA, Mr S.C Gaur, expressed his approval of the changing scenario by stating that cinema exhibition in its traditional form had been more of a problem than a source of revenue for the government. As there were specific non-parrallel show timings in single screen halls, when the show broke, the sudden rampage of audience crowd created traffic problem near the market areas. Since the multiplexes are more 'organized', providing their own parking areas and since security concerns are also taken care of by the multiplex management, so it saves much trouble for the government. Also Mr S.C Gaur commented that 'thanks to the multiplexes, theatres are being cleared of the uncouth miscreants who were responsible for the bad image of cinema theatres'. Hence also for its new 'gentry' look, multiplexes seem to incur state favor. As a result, the old cinema theatres of Ghaziabad are in a state of decay. As they have lost their earlier middle class and lower middle class audience, who are now catered by the solo multiplexes, these theatres now cater to the labour class population. Ticket rates are therefore maintained within a cheap range. Vasant has the highest ticket rates amongst these theatres- 40/-, 25/- and 15/- for balcony, dress circle and front circle respectively. Star, Navrang and Apsara offer the cheapest prices- 8/- and 10/- in Star and Navrang and 6/- and 12/- in Apsara. As the ticket prices are so low, the owners are hardly able to afford distribution and print costs of the A grade films. Vasant is still able to show one or two A grade films a month but largely restricts to B category films. The others can only afford C grade films. Sometimes these theatres also screen Blue films to attract crowd and if caught are debarred of license. Navrang had to close down for a fortnight in the month of June for this reason. In the public realm these theatres are seen as unsafe and 'immoral' spaces much like the theatres of Nigeria spoken of by Brian Larkin. They have an ominous identity in the public imaginary. None of the lower middle class people enter these areas and women keep away from their shadows even. But what is important to understand is that these spaces were not always like this. The labor classes visited these theatres even before, but the standard of films shown were not bad. The gentry shun these spaces due to their present illicit nature, but it must also be acknowledged that it is them who are responsibile in bringing about this state of affairs. From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Wed Jul 25 09:02:38 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:32:38 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] student stipendship Third posting The cinematic landscape of Ghaziabad. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707251002o5e13f2fdw53640a42c349f027@mail.gmail.com> Hello All, My third posting is a comparative analysis of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad. I am mostly looking at the exhibition patterns of these theatres to see how different theatres regulate audience flow, and function as conscious agents of social stratification A mere revamping of exhibition spaces in the form of the multiplexes and cineplexes, has revolutionized the cinematic experience in India. These new forms have not only salvaged the moribund state of Indian theatrical sector and cinema industry from the onslaught of piracy, VCD and cable television, but also imbued cinema viewing with a new legitimacy by making it an exclusively bourgeoisie form of entertainment. Finally the infamy of cinema as an 'uncongenial space' unfit for the upper class and women has been lifted, by cleansing the theatre space of its 'nuisance creating elements' - the lower inc ome group audience. The very grandioseness of cinema viewing in these luxurious spaces has shifted the emphasis from the film alone to the sensorial experience of the space. In the changed scenario watching a film is subsumed within a larger goal of an 'outing', which includes not only the thrill of entertainment but also the pleasures of experiencing luxury. And in this sense the refurbishment of cinema theatre through gentrification and spectacularisation has successfully revitalized cinema viewing by hoisting it in the public imaginary as a signifier of bourgeoisie lifestyle. As far as the built landscape is concerned like in the case of the mall, even multiplexes, in the social realm, function as divisive structures of class contestation and conscious agents of social stratification. These built forms function as homogeneous units of the rich by enabling the congregation of the gentry and exclusion of the poor. Also within themselves they maintain a hierarchy and divide the affluent class by creating stratification among the high-income group both inside the auditorium through the seating arrangement as well as in the overall targeting of specific audience groups. Like malls, the fortification and security system of the multiplex successfully insulates the premise against contamination by the lower income groups. Also by maintaining high ticket rates in comparison to the traditional single cinema hall, and making them unaffordable for the lower income groups these exhibition centers have succeeded in keeping the unwanted poor out of the glitzy premises, making cinema entertainment the privilege of the affluent consumer class. As for regulating the inflow of those who can afford the high prices, the same strategy is adopted by the multiplexes as malls of choosing their location according to the type of audience they seek to target. Also by dividing seats into different categories, for different classes and fixing different ticket prices for these, according to the affordability of each class, these theatres maintain class hierarchies inside the auditorium. This system was prevalent even in the traditional single screen cinema hall. However, the difference now is that the current system creates divisions even amongst the gentries. The most recent intervention in this regard can be seen in the new kind of hierarchiasing amongst the elites in the multiplexes today with the creation of exclusive lounges for the upper class audience. These lounges have a separate entry and exit enabling absolute seclusion of the patrons of this section from the rest of the audience. The tickets for these seats are exorbitant ranging from five hundred to eight hundred rupees. Hence one sees that as a hind side of the process of maximizing consumption, new trends are emerging to build hierarchies amongst the elite through spatial segregation, also enabling super elites to lead and flaunt extravagant lifestyles. Now in the built landscape of Ghaziabad a definite pattern can be discerned in the spatial layout of the exhibition spaces in the region, which is produced by and hence also reflective of the socio-political dynamics of urban planning. The locational arrangement of these built forms like the malls mirrors the socio-economic condition of the area. Big formats are located in the elite neighborhoods, smaller ones in the fringe areas and near lower middle class neighborhoods and the single screen cinema halls are in the old development area catering to only the lower income groups. I will now delineate a sketchy outline of the exhibition patterns of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad to reveal the underlying logic of exhibition with an aim to illustrate the divisionary role of exhibition centers in the socio-economic realm. In the past four years, Ghaziabad has witnessed a rapid proliferation of exhibition spaces, as multiplexes have mushroomed up in the area under the Ghaziabad development scheme of providing adequate commercial recreation to the new population brought to the area by the real estate sector. This explosion has primarily occurred under the new government entertainment policy regime to provide tax exemption for five years to multiplex projects and also due to the cheaper land rates of the region as compared to the downtown and other areas of the NCR. Thus it becomes a viable option for developers to set up projects in the outskirt regions, as land rates in the central city is so high that even reasonable commercial returns never adequately make up for the huge investment costs. At present there are in total fourteen multiplexes in Ghaziabad, and several others in the pipeline, creating a congested scenario with 5 multiplexes, PVR cinemas, Adlab/Imax Pacific Mall, Adlab Ansal Plaza, Wave and Fun Cinema, situated within a 6 km radius , and six more under construction within the same area. In a situation where supply is fast exceeding demand, there is stiff intercentre competition between these multiplexes with only the big format multiplexes flourishing and the smaller ones already making huge losses. The Ghaziabad cinema theatres may be broadly classified into three categories based on location and the class of audience that the theatres target and cater to. The first category includes the high profile multiplexes that largely target the elite population. The Adlab theatre in Ansal Plaza, Adlab with Imax theatre in Pacific Mall, Jam Shipra in Shipra Mall, MMX and PVR Plaza in EDM belong to this category. Situated in the traffic zones of the new development area and close to elite neighborhoods, these four are the most successfully running theatres . Mainly because of the combo format of mall come multiplex, these theatres incur the maximum footfall as compared to solo multiplexes. Since in the combo format the multiplex shares its identity with the mall, by virtue of sharing the same complex, the mall significantly determines the success rates and type of crowd coming to the multiplex. People's preference for a particular multiplex is to a great degree based on their liking for the mall, since in most cases, a visit to the theatre often also entails a tour of the mall . Also since the Shopping mall cinema theatre draws a large part of its clientele from the shopping crowd, so therefore the type of crowd, which the mall attracts, is also the type of crowd that the multiplex must settle for. Hence the success of Jam Shipra and its elite clientele may be seen as caused due the general high consumer traffic of the mall and the mall's capacity to attract the elite population of Indirapuram, Vaishali and Kaushambi. Similarly EDM's general popularity with the lesser elite ensures a good profit for the PVR cinemas as it draws a big crowd by catering to the lesser affluent class of consumers of the new development area of Ghaziabad. However within their own limited capacity, shopping mall cinema theatres try to function more autonomously despite the dependency on the mall, to create their own audience type, in some cases like PVR EDM, even different from the mall's shopping crowd. Ticket range, promotional schemes and advertising strategies are the means by which multiplex theatres tend to attract and regulate audience configuration. For instance the PVR cinemas in EDM claims to target an assorted audience comprising of the lower middle class which comes from the mall crowd, and also the higher class population by advertising its brand value and hiking ticket prices. The youth crowd is generally given a low priority in these theatres which prefer to have more of a family audience, primarily because 'indecent' behavior of young couples spoils the ambiance in these places which also deters other kinds of audience from coming to the theatre due to the 'lewd' environment. Hence special measures are taken to keep the two-audience type separated. Morning shows are reserved specifically for the youth crowd, as the show timings do not suit the working patrons and housewives. The ticket rates for these shows are lower than the other shows so as to induce the youth crowd to come for these shows. By providing them with special incentives, the upper class gentries are targeted for the evening shows. For eg, apart from the usual snack bars, these theatres also have play ground spaces with sitters where parents can leave their kids and enjoy the film in peace. PVR EDM offers special kid care provisions during the Sunday evening shows comprising of dim lighting in the hall so that babies are not scared of the dark and can sleep peacefully, nappy changing facilities, kid playing zone in the cafeteria area. JAM Shipra has a separate U Kids zone, which apart from screening special children movies also has other recreation facilities such as story telling, video games, mazes etc. This provision not only ensures a good family audience but also prevents inconvenience to the audience from children by keeping them out of the auditorium. Platinum and Gold lounges are built in all these theatres to attract the super elites by offering them extravagant treatment for exorbitant prices. These lounges are different from the other auditoriums in offering reclining seats, three-course meal, in house service, and a separate entry and exit. Seemingly modeled on the lines of the ostentatious economy class seats of the flights, following their footsteps, the next thing would probably be to provide massage treatments to the patrons while they are watching the film! PVR Cinemas offer the provision of mobile booking in which case payments have to be made through credit cards. JAM Shipra is also planning to offer provisions for online ticket booking. Hence one sees that the exhibition patterns are taking a direction, which seeks to cater to and suit only the most affluent classes. Gentrification may be said to be taking place on a higher lever as it were. The second category of theatres comprises of smaller format multiplexes-the solo multiplexes, i.e the ones not allied to malls and those with only a few retail showrooms inside the same complex. SM World, Fun Cinemas, Silver City, M4U, Movie Palace, Movie World, Wave, Galaxy, and AEZ fall within this category. Most of these i.e apart from Wave Kaushambi and AEZ, are not located close to the elite neighborhoods, and therefore cater to mostly a lower middle class population. In comparison to the shopping mall multiplexes, which are in proximity to elite neighborhoods and target audiences specifically from within a radius of 5 km, these other multiplexes attempt to obtain a wider catchment area and target all classes and especially the lower middle class since the upper classes are already divided between the big formats. The solo multiplexes are facing stiff competition from the Shopping Mall multiplexes and have lost most of the upper class patrons to them. To keep the lower middle class patrons from getting similarly deflected, these multiplexes have considerably lowered their ticket rates. As a result they are barely able to avail much profit since the little return that they get goes in meeting equipment maintenance, housekeeping and security charges . The multiplexes in the border areas, such as Movie World, and those away from the Shopping mall multiplexes, such as Galaxy, Silver City are in a still better position, while those in the new development area close to the Mall-Multiplexes, like Wave Kaushambi and AEZ are the worst affected. The story of the single screen cinema halls is even more deplorable as slowly these are getting extinct unable to cope with the onslaught of new exhibition forms. All of these are located in the old development area of Ghaziabad as they were the first few entertainment centers in the area. Vasant, Urvashi, Manohar, Apsara, Star, Navrang, Pawan, Choudhary, Manochitralek belong to this category. Urvashi closed down in 2006 and Pawan and Choudhary in 2005. The rest are teetering with losses and in a few years these remaining theatres are expected to close down as well. The government in sharp contrast to its attitude towards the multiplexes is rather hostile and unsympathetic towards the situation of these old theatres. In fact the governmental schemes are favoring and aiding the process of 'cleansing', by giving incentives to old theatres to reconvert into multiplexes. Choudhary for eg, is being broken down and rebuilt into a multiplex. The reason as stated by the Entertainment Officer of the Ghaziabad Entertainment Department, is that the entertainment revenue from the multiplexes is much more as compared to single screen theatres. There is also a non-economic cause for this discrimination. Town Planner of GDA, Mr S.C Gaur, expressed his approval of the changing scenario by stating that cinema exhibition in its traditional form had been more of a problem than a source of revenue for the government. As there were specific non-parrallel show timings in single screen halls, when the show broke, the sudden rampage of audience crowd created traffic problem near the market areas. Since the multiplexes are more 'organized', providing their own parking areas and since security concerns are also taken care of by the multiplex management, so it saves much trouble for the government. Also Mr S.C Gaur commented that 'thanks to the multiplexes, theatres are being cleared of the uncouth miscreants who were responsible for the bad image of cinema theatres'. Hence also for its new 'gentry' look, multiplexes seem to incur state favor. As a result, the old cinema theatres of Ghaziabad are in a state of decay. As they have lost their earlier middle class and lower middle class audience, who are now catered by the solo multiplexes, these theatres now cater to the labour class population. Ticket rates are therefore maintained within a cheap range. Vasant has the highest ticket rates amongst these theatres- 40/-, 25/- and 15/- for balcony, dress circle and front circle respectively. Star, Navrang and Apsara offer the cheapest prices- 8/- and 10/- in Star and Navrang and 6/- and 12/- in Apsara. As the ticket prices are so low, the owners are hardly able to afford distribution and print costs of the A grade films. Vasant is still able to show one or two A grade films a month but largely restricts to B category films. The others can only afford C grade films. Sometimes these theatres also screen Blue films to attract crowd and if caught are debarred of license. Navrang had to close down for a fortnight in the month of June for this reason. In the public realm these theatres are seen as unsafe and 'immoral' spaces much like the theatres of Nigeria that Brian Larkin has written on. They have an ominous identity in the public imaginary. The lower middle class people refrain from entering these spaces and women keep away from their shadows even. But what is important to understand is that these spaces were not always like this. The labor classes frequented these theatres even before, but the standard of films shown were not bad. The gentry shun these spaces due to their present 'illicit' nature, but it must also be acknowledged that it is them who are responsibile in for the present degradation of these spaces. From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 26 07:24:38 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:24:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: Fwd: Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Message-ID: <157058.94715.qm@web56802.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:15 PM Subject: Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Hello everyone. In this post I will brief you on some of my experiences, in the past 2-3 months, while on this project Over the past few weeks I have travelled to some of the places where secondhand bookshops/stalls are located and met up with a few old time passionate buyers and also some older residents of the city to get a sense of their experiences of these shops. During the time that I started out I came to know of a second-hand book exhibition at a book store called OM book store . I promptly journeyed to the bookstore located at what felt like the farthest end of the city at a place called Jeedimetla. To my surprise I found an exhibition of Christian devotional books, laid out quite in the jumble sale fashion, under a tent outside the bookstore, and quite a number of people browsing through the wares accompanied by soft lilting devotional music and a well dressed smiling girl moving around offering customers cups of orange drinks. A little doubt crept up my mind, do religious book seconds count as second hand books? But the journey had been too long to turn back without taking a good look around. As a Christian myself I felt that if not for the sake of the project at least for my personal satisfaction I would find some thing useful. I found a wide variety of books not just hymn books, prayer books and metal DEFANGED.13757> ---------- Forwarded message ----------jacket dented bibles but also a whole range of lifestyle books; on depression, teenage, coping with terrorism, on pregnancy and other 'trying periods' of human life, of course the common denominator here was that all books had a religious bent to their solutions for these day to day problems. There were other books on crafts, children's story books, activities for Easter Christmas etc. Some of the books clearly were used books , others were difficult to classify as they were in quite a good condition. I decided to have a chat with the bookshop owner but was told that he was away so I wandered around into a large go down like area behind the store and was taken aback by the complete contrast to the scene of the exhibition outside, before me was the scene of a number of helper boys engaged in unpacking huge cartons of books, packing other cartons and the whole place had the urgency, and organised atmosphere of a general production environment. As I walked into the go down the heads belonging to the constantly moving hands turned around, eyebrows were raised quizzing, a courteous helper however did direct me to a glass cabin amidst the piles of cartons; I am not sure I would not have spotted it otherwise. The name plate announced The stores manager and I was ushered into the presence of Mr Kunju, who insisted on being called 'kunju uncle' as he explained everyone called him there. He turned out to be willing to help in more than one way. and started out in the direction I most dreaded- a thanksgiving ode to God for all that he and his family had received , however I did manage to get some crucial insights into the business. Amidst his rhetoric on the wonderful ways of God he managed to share his knowledge about the working of the shop and what I later discovered is the larger chain of shops and the ongoing exhibition. It turned out that most of the books in the exhibition had arrived from foreign countries like the US where people sponsored the printing and export of these books to countries like India, Africa etc for the benefit of Christians here who could not afford to buy these at their original prices. And what do they do with these books once the exhibition wound up? He explained that these books also constantly travelled across the country to different exhibitions etc till they were totally exhausted (in response to my query he added that it was rare that a book would not be sold at least one of their centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Goa etc). I found this method of dealing with excesses interesting. It also, as I will explain in my later posts, offers an insight to how the overflow of print material is tackled by some businesses dealing with these. Interestingly I found that they had also tried to send their wares to the pavement booksellers at Koti, Abids etc( we will explore these in detail later) but found that they did not sell very well there. Why? Because these kinds of books, devotional, with a religiously bent etc, attracted customers through word of mouth publicity. These two insights into import of the books and the differential selling methods of different categories of books turned out to be very useful in my actual interest in the second hand book trade. I had been right about my hunch on the usefulness on this shop. The book trade after all has to have some similarities as it deals with the same goods. As I later found out many of the Second-hand bookshops like Bestbooks etc operated in quite a similar fashion. The cycle of; Imports of rejected books from US etc- sifting at warehouses-setting up of exhibitions etc were replicated sans the religious colour in other seconds book businesses also. We will explore some of these businesses individually later. My next post follows this. [Visit to the exhibition at OM books( now rechristened STL(Send The Light Books)and Interview with 'Kunju Uncle' conducted on April 15th,2007] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/dbf4bf48/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:15 PM Subject: Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Hello everyone. In this post I will brief you on some of my experiences, in the past 2-3 months, while on this project Over the past few weeks I have travelled to some of the places where secondhand bookshops/stalls are located and met up with a few old time passionate buyers and also some older residents of the city to get a sense of their experiences of these shops. During the time that I started out I came to know of a second-hand book exhibition at a book store called OM book store . I promptly journeyed to the bookstore located at what felt like the farthest end of the city at a place called Jeedimetla. To my surprise I found an exhibition of Christian devotional books, laid out quite in the jumble sale fashion, under a tent outside the bookstore, and quite a number of people browsing through the wares accompanied by soft lilting devotional music and a well dressed smiling girl moving around offering customers cups of orange drinks. A little doubt crept up my mind, do religious book seconds count as second hand books? But the journey had been too long to turn back without taking a good look around. As a Christian myself I felt that if not for the sake of the project at least for my personal satisfaction I would find some thing useful. I found a wide variety of books not just hymn books, prayer books and metal jacket dented bibles but also a whole range of lifestyle books; on depression, teenage, coping with terrorism, on pregnancy and other 'trying periods' of human life, of course the common denominator here was that all books had a religious bent to their solutions for these day to day problems. There were other books on crafts, children's story books, activities for Easter Christmas etc. Some of the books clearly were used books , others were difficult to classify as they were in quite a good condition. I decided to have a chat with the bookshop owner but was told that he was away so I wandered around into a large go down like area behind the store and was taken aback by the complete contrast to the scene of the exhibition outside, before me was the scene of a number of helper boys engaged in unpacking huge cartons of books, packing other cartons and the whole place had the urgency, and organised atmosphere of a general production environment. As I walked into the go down the heads belonging to the constantly moving hands turned around, eyebrows were raised quizzing, a courteous helper however did direct me to a glass cabin amidst the piles of cartons; I am not sure I would not have spotted it otherwise. The name plate announced The stores manager and I was ushered into the presence of Mr Kunju, who insisted on being called 'kunju uncle' as he explained everyone called him there. He turned out to be willing to help in more than one way. and started out in the direction I most dreaded- a thanksgiving ode to God for all that he and his family had received , however I did manage to get some crucial insights into the business. Amidst his rhetoric on the wonderful ways of God he managed to share his knowledge about the working of the shop and what I later discovered is the larger chain of shops and the ongoing exhibition. It turned out that most of the books in the exhibition had arrived from foreign countries like the US where people sponsored the printing and export of these books to countries like India, Africa etc for the benefit of Christians here who could not afford to buy these at their original prices. And what do they do with these books once the exhibition wound up? He explained that these books also constantly travelled across the country to different exhibitions etc till they were totally exhausted (in response to my query he added that it was rare that a book would not be sold at least one of their centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Goa etc). I found this method of dealing with excesses interesting. It also, as I will explain in my later posts, offers an insight to how the overflow of print material is tackled by some businesses dealing with these. Interestingly I found that they had also tried to send their wares to the pavement booksellers at Koti, Abids etc( we will explore these in detail later) but found that they did not sell very well there. Why? Because these kinds of books, devotional, with a religiously bent etc, attracted customers through word of mouth publicity. These two insights into import of the books and the differential selling methods of different categories of books turned out to be very useful in my actual interest in the second hand book trade. I had been right about my hunch on the usefulness on this shop. The book trade after all has to have some similarities as it deals with the same goods. As I later found out many of the Second-hand bookshops like Bestbooks etc operated in quite a similar fashion. The cycle of; Imports of rejected books from US etc- sifting at warehouses-setting up of exhibitions etc were replicated sans the religious colour in other seconds book businesses also. We will explore some of these businesses individually later. My next post follows this. [Visit to the exhibition at OM books( now rechristened STL(Send The Light Books)and Interview with 'Kunju Uncle' conducted on April 15th,2007] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/dbf4bf48/attachment-0003.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 26 07:24:59 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:24:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: Fwd: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. Message-ID: <368673.5451.qm@web56801.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: alice samson To: cugambetta at yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 3:21:52 PM Subject: Fwd: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:22 PM Subject: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad Buyers. While on the one hand I have spent a considerable amount of time hunting out various kinds of Second-hand book markets and shops in Hyderabad I have also simultaneously interviewed a number of buyers/collectors/aficionados (can someone supply me with a word for a passionate second-hand book buyer!!). My conversations with some old time residents of Hyderabad like, prof.Javeed Alam, revealed that in his time inspite of being a student in the city his modest inheritance had ensured that he never went to the pavement sellers of second- hand books nor had he shopped for textbooks etc at the Koti seconds shops. Instead he would frequent the rare, antique bookstores in the area close to the bangles bazaar at Charminar where he picked up expensive, rare books for his collection. As Mr Prashant Iyengar in responding to my first post pointed out and Javeed's account confirms,the profile of the second hand book book buyer seems to include a crucial class factor. There are others like Ms Chitra (name changed) who works for an NGO in the city that provides educational services for children and has been a frequent visitor of the bookshops like Bestbook store at Tilak road, Abids; which stocks a phenomenal number of Second-hand books stacked all around the floor of the shop with just enough space to squeeze past. Chitra has a special interest in children's books both for her NGO and her personal interest and frequently requests the shop owner to get her larger quantities of these. Her requests are always met with the same answer that it is impossible to ask for specific books to be brought in. The modus operandi of these shops is not conducive to large quantities of specific requests. We will dwell a little more on the exact modes of operation of the second hand book trade, however Chitra's experience hints at the fact that the element of chance plays a very big role in not only purchase but also procurement for the DEFANGED.72> ----- Forwarded Message ----sellers. . Chitra has been in the city since childhood and remembers some markets like the Koti second hand text book market as being there for over two decades. Chitra sifts through the secondhand book shops on the lookout for childrens books and teaching materials. A frequent visitor of Best Books at Tilak Road, Lakdikapul and the quite frequent Best Books exhibition stall at Y.M.C.A, she finds a lot of books utterly useless to her amongst these are; hoards of Novels, Health books; largely on how to handle pregnancies etc, cookery books; Chitra finds them ridiculous because most of them deal with baking and preparation of non-vegetarian dishes, mostly using ingredients hard to come by here sometimes she also spots a couple of books suitable to Indian styles of cooking, books on crafts activities; again useless as materials are hard to procure in India, outdated computer books, books on Science and accounting, however amidst these she says she always manages to find something of interest to her at a fabulous bargain price; Disney books that cost Rs 450 at the retail shop 3 kms from Best; Himalaya Book Stores, can be picked up for as low as 90-100 at the Best books Shop. Moreover Chitra, adds gleefully, many a time she manages to convince the seller to settle for an even lower price. Chitra rates the price as usually being about 1/4th of the original cost. She has even managed to convince the Best Books seller to buy back his own books at ½ the price he sells it to her but he won't accept books from other seconds sellers. There is also a method behind the seeming madness in the variety of books and a very important change in the working of this business from the traditional methods of functioning of the second hand book trade. In subsequent posts I will give you a detailed account of the interesting way in which this trade now operates Chitra also filled me in on another very different experience of shopping for second hand books at the pavements of Abids and Koti in Hyderabad. Today a drive past Koti inevitably draws our attention to an absence ,even to a newcomer in the city, the graffiti on the walls outside Koti women's college announce such things Prakash books Shifted to Shop number 516 Gokul Arcade And a hundred other such pointers to the new addresses of the displaced old shops. As Chitra and others told me the pavement that is now barren, with only the graffiti pointing to, what had become something the city had grown around. It was hardly the shops that were the cause of congestion or nuisance that were the reasons cited behind their removal. They were small shops, remembers Chitra, maybe slightly bigger than a pan shop, propped against the compound wall of the women's college, stacked with text books reference materials etc from floor to ceiling and more books fighting for space on the counter. Hundreds of students came to these shops from the Women's college and the nearby Arts College as well as the schools located nearby and at other places in the city. Seema recalls her school days in Hyderabad when these shops were the succour for many poor students, children from families with many children for whom books were unaffordable, people who wanted to read to make a better lives for themselves etc. Though the shops have been provided an alternative location, many feel that they are not what they used to be. People like Chitra feel there has not been any significant reduction in congestion as the area itself is like that with schools, colleges, cart sellers etc all-jostling for space. The need for a space that makes books easily available and affordable is clearly felt. Chitra feels that this is also an excellent way to promote the reading habit. Until the next post… [ Interview were conducted with Ms Chitra on 10th July, 2007 and prof Javeed on multiple occassions in June] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ps. Thank you Mr Prashant Iyengar and Basscom Guffin for sharing your experiences at these book shops and in Hyderabad. It would be extremely useful if others also can share their experiences at these shops in other cities and in Hyderabad. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/036cc10e/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:22 PM Subject: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad Buyers. While on the one hand I have spent a considerable amount of time hunting out various kinds of Second-hand book markets and shops in Hyderabad I have also simultaneously interviewed a number of buyers/collectors/aficionados (can someone supply me with a word for a passionate second-hand book buyer!!). My conversations with some old time residents of Hyderabad like, prof.Javeed Alam, revealed that in his time inspite of being a student in the city his modest inheritance had ensured that he never went to the pavement sellers of second- hand books nor had he shopped for textbooks etc at the Koti seconds shops. Instead he would frequent the rare, antique bookstores in the area close to the bangles bazaar at Charminar where he picked up expensive, rare books for his collection. As Mr Prashant Iyengar in responding to my first post pointed out and Javeed's account confirms,the profile of the second hand book book buyer seems to include a crucial class factor. There are others like Ms Chitra (name changed) who works for an NGO in the city that provides educational services for children and has been a frequent visitor of the bookshops like Bestbook store at Tilak road, Abids; which stocks a phenomenal number of Second-hand books stacked all around the floor of the shop with just enough space to squeeze past. Chitra has a special interest in children's books both for her NGO and her personal interest and frequently requests the shop owner to get her larger quantities of these. Her requests are always met with the same answer that it is impossible to ask for specific books to be brought in. The modus operandi of these shops is not conducive to large quantities of specific requests. We will dwell a little more on the exact modes of operation of the second hand book trade, however Chitra's experience hints at the fact that the element of chance plays a very big role in not only purchase but also procurement for the sellers. . Chitra has been in the city since childhood and remembers some markets like the Koti second hand text book market as being there for over two decades. Chitra sifts through the secondhand book shops on the lookout for childrens books and teaching materials. A frequent visitor of Best Books at Tilak Road, Lakdikapul and the quite frequent Best Books exhibition stall at Y.M.C.A, she finds a lot of books utterly useless to her amongst these are; hoards of Novels, Health books; largely on how to handle pregnancies etc, cookery books; Chitra finds them ridiculous because most of them deal with baking and preparation of non-vegetarian dishes, mostly using ingredients hard to come by here sometimes she also spots a couple of books suitable to Indian styles of cooking, books on crafts activities; again useless as materials are hard to procure in India, outdated computer books, books on Science and accounting, however amidst these she says she always manages to find something of interest to her at a fabulous bargain price; Disney books that cost Rs 450 at the retail shop 3 kms from Best; Himalaya Book Stores, can be picked up for as low as 90-100 at the Best books Shop. Moreover Chitra, adds gleefully, many a time she manages to convince the seller to settle for an even lower price. Chitra rates the price as usually being about 1/4th of the original cost. She has even managed to convince the Best Books seller to buy back his own books at ½ the price he sells it to her but he won't accept books from other seconds sellers. There is also a method behind the seeming madness in the variety of books and a very important change in the working of this business from the traditional methods of functioning of the second hand book trade. In subsequent posts I will give you a detailed account of the interesting way in which this trade now operates Chitra also filled me in on another very different experience of shopping for second hand books at the pavements of Abids and Koti in Hyderabad. Today a drive past Koti inevitably draws our attention to an absence ,even to a newcomer in the city, the graffiti on the walls outside Koti women's college announce such things Prakash books Shifted to Shop number 516 Gokul Arcade And a hundred other such pointers to the new addresses of the displaced old shops. As Chitra and others told me the pavement that is now barren, with only the graffiti pointing to, what had become something the city had grown around. It was hardly the shops that were the cause of congestion or nuisance that were the reasons cited behind their removal. They were small shops, remembers Chitra, maybe slightly bigger than a pan shop, propped against the compound wall of the women's college, stacked with text books reference materials etc from floor to ceiling and more books fighting for space on the counter. Hundreds of students came to these shops from the Women's college and the nearby Arts College as well as the schools located nearby and at other places in the city. Seema recalls her school days in Hyderabad when these shops were the succour for many poor students, children from families with many children for whom books were unaffordable, people who wanted to read to make a better lives for themselves etc. Though the shops have been provided an alternative location, many feel that they are not what they used to be. People like Chitra feel there has not been any significant reduction in congestion as the area itself is like that with schools, colleges, cart sellers etc all-jostling for space. The need for a space that makes books easily available and affordable is clearly felt. Chitra feels that this is also an excellent way to promote the reading habit. Until the next post… [ Interview were conducted with Ms Chitra on 10th July, 2007 and prof Javeed on multiple occassions in June] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ps. Thank you Mr Prashant Iyengar and Basscom Guffin for sharing your experiences at these book shops and in Hyderabad. It would be extremely useful if others also can share their experiences at these shops in other cities and in Hyderabad. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/036cc10e/attachment-0003.html From vpjain28 at rediffmail.com Fri Jul 27 20:53:02 2007 From: vpjain28 at rediffmail.com (Ved Prakash Jain) Date: 28 Jul 2007 04:53:02 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Noise Pollution Message-ID: <20070728045302.24398.qmail@webmail36.rediffmail.com> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-2955 Size: 6509 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070728/52595169/attachment.bin -------------- next part -------------- Dear Friend, Recently, the Supreme Court has reprimanded the civic authorities for allowing traders and hawkers encroaching and occupying footpaths, causing great sufferings to pedestrians. But the courts also need to book other culprits: Delhi has more than one lakh places of worship, invariably encroaching on public land, including footpaths and, in some cases, also roads (please go to the links). Not only these structures are illegal and above law, but also serve as platforms for fundamentalist and obscurantist activities. What is most disgusting is that they are a big source of noise pollution, disturbing peace and causing sleep related problems (socially produced suffering). They encroach on pavements which blocks footpaths, the sufferer being the pedestrians who are forced to walk on the roads along with the traffic with all the risk it entails. And, of course, will find a place in guinea book for blaring auditory hells in almost every neighborhood: generate noise continually (from early morning to mid night) from chimes and bells (often exceeding 100 db) which is highly irritating and disturbs the peace of the residents. These structures even spill on to the roads and, as road blocks, often cause traffic jams. When the traffic becomes chaotic, the frustration of the motorists finds its outlet in mad honking of the horns, raising the noise level to menacing heights. The law which prohibits noise only from 10PM. to 6 AM. needs to be widened in scope. we should bear in mind that the age of homogeneous working hours is long past and every body can not observe the golden rule of “early to bed and early to rise”. With the World becoming a global village, the concept of day and night has ceased to be a local affair: People work in Delhi, for example, in call centers not because it is day time in Delhi but because it is day time in America. Moreover. All kinds of incentive schemes like night surfing and mobile talk encourage people to work late hours in the night. In a significant judgment the Supreme Court has ruled: “undisputedly, no religion prescribes that prayers should be performed by disturbing the peace of others, nor does it preach that that they should be through sound producing instruments in the name of religion in a civilized society.” In-spite of the constant refrain from various authorities, the MCD, the DDA and even the Honb’l Supreme Court not to tolerate encroachment of public land, they defy the demolition squad with impunity. Further, in all the residential colonies pavements and roads are used for car parking leaving no room for pedestrians to walk. The issue needs to be addressed in the right perspective. Regards, V.P.Jain Reader (Retd), Department of Economics, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi. Link: http://www.scribd.com/people/view/6506 http://www.scribd.com/doc/35903/SEZ Please forward it to a friend From elkamath at yahoo.com Sat Jul 28 06:38:48 2007 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:38:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Consolidating ideology in law? Legal and judicial reform programmes at the World Bank Message-ID: <136809.43782.qm@web53601.mail.re2.yahoo.com> From the Bretton Woods Project website: Consolidating ideology in law? Legal and judicial reform programmes at the World Bank The World Bank has vastly increased the resources it commits to good governance, with a large portion of that going to a complex and under-researched area: legal and judicial reform. Researcher Victoria Harris explores how the Bank uses such reforms to cement in place its preferred market-based development paradigm. http://brettonwoodsproject.org/legalreformatissue ____________________________________________________________________________________ Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070728/c9570daa/attachment.html From rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in Sun Jul 29 09:32:24 2007 From: rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in (raju jadhav) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:32:24 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting One Message-ID: <383794.99800.qm@web94008.mail.in2.yahoo.com> My self Sangita Chandu Thosar , I have completed my post graduation in political science From S.P. College Pune. Presently I am doing M. Phil from Yashwantrao Chavan Open University the topic is “ POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OF DALIT WOMEN IN PUNE– A DALIT FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ”. Born in poor dalit family I have spent my childhood in a slum areas. Hence I am witnessing the problems faced by the dalits their harresment at the hands of the corporation officials & works & the police personals. being a part of this society I was organically linked with their sorrows & pains a sort of anger did developed against .the municipality officials & police. while going through these experiences I got enrolled in a well known academic institution called Fergusson .In this period I was introduced to various new things .I got aquented with various individuals & institution working in the social field. got attached personally with number of them .during this period I got connected with SATYASHODHAK VIDYARTHI SANGATHANA ( hence forth S.V.S.). which works on the question of bahujan students & I started working for them. While working in S.V.S. perspective to look at the DALIT BAHUJAN questions did develop .In this period S.V.S. published a book right to love & the question of violence ,written by Dr. Sharmila Rege.it was about the problem of one sided love affairs & the murders of young girls committed in Maharashtra them by publishing this S.V.S. tried to reach to the college youngsters with a value of man – woman equality in doing these activities with S.V.S. I starkly realized the realities about women subordination & the functioning of patriarchy .Though aquented with women questions earlier but now I realized the problem of patriarchy which is at the root of all this in general during the college days I stated reaching the problems like exploitation & subordination of woman and through S.V.S. I started fighting against it. For a year I worked with a pune based organization which is working with the waste picker women it gave me an opportunity to work with the waste picker women directly .which provided valuable insight to the lives of these women who are I got a glimpse of the life of these women who belong to the weakest and most exploited section. Of the society .this ‘ glimpse ’ gave a stark realization that situation of these women is like living hell .These women are primarily related to dalit castes. After toiling the whole day these women manage to earn merge amounts . still they are looked upon with suspicion .at home these women have to face beating ,abuse and suspicion of their husband (who are in many cases alcoholics and unemployed ) in the outside world she has to face exploitation on account of caste where as on the domestic front she is a victim of patriarchy .Even her hard earned money is taken away. These terrible experiences shattered me and made me realize the diverse nature of exploitation of women the romantic notion that ‘women are the same across the different strata of society’ dissolved completely. because of the hierarchical caste system even the subordination & exploitation of women is varied in India after reading Mahatma Phule I realized it even more major discourses in the political & soual spheres in India started after the coming of Mandal commission .Commission recommended for a 27 % reservation for the O.B.C. T he O.B.C.’s forms a major lot of the overall Indian population .recommendations of Mandal commission generated political awareness among the OBC’s to fulfill the political ambitions OBC especially the influential castes entered the parliamentary politics. this helped to expand the boundary of parliamentary. democracy. however these discussion and actions were limited to men women who are weaker and more exploited in the present social hierarchy continued to remain on the periphery of parliamentary democracy. in spite of their empowerment being discussed at so many for a. in comparison to other countries India still lays behind in political representation of women even today .the manner in which women reservation bill is being postponed shows how hollow discussions on women empowerment are. Recently dalit feminist perspective has grabbed attention of the intellectual world. Conventional / Traditional feminist framework has proved to be insufficient to deal with over all exploitation and subordination of Indian women .hence this framework is being rejected on the analytical & movement fronts. Conventional feminist and has remained limits to urban .due to these limitations dalit feminist perspective was put forward .this perspective can address women’s issues more. While finalising the research topic I naturally selected the subject that was close to my heart since post – graduation I have been keen to do research on women’s issues. I chose dalit feminist perspective as a tool to analyses women’s issues as it will give me an opportunity to test if dalit feminist is capable to address women’s issues. For this research topic I have selected pune city and the period of 1995 – 2007 in my opinion this study is essential to understand the nature of women’s representation in the political journey of the urban center like pune. --------------------------------- Once upon a time there was 1 GB storage in your inbox. Click here for happy ending. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070729/e7be30af/attachment.html From mayurisamant at yahoo.com Sun Jul 29 09:41:06 2007 From: mayurisamant at yahoo.com (mayuri samant) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:41:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting Two- Media Representation Message-ID: <383247.15542.qm@web51907.mail.re2.yahoo.com> In my second posting I am trying to explore the role that media and especially print media played in this whole issue of desecration of statue and the kind of violent reaction that it received by Dalit masses. Various reactions to the issue of desecration of the statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Kanpur took violent turn in all over Maharashtra, which further gave rise to intense debate both among activists and academicians. An important incidence in this chain of events was setting ‘Deccan Queen on fire’1. Almost all the newspapers condemned this event by arguing that, though the anger of Dalit masses is justified the kind of reaction that they gave can not be justified on any grounds. It is interesting to recall a kind of scenario that was there at the time of Gujarat riots. At that time almost all the news papers filled their columns with articles in which the out dated Newtonian principles of action- reactions (that is every action has a reaction) were used very conveniently to justify the massacre that victimized Muslim community in Gujarat. Since media is an integral part of the public sphere, this issue of ‘different treatment’ compels us to ask question that ‘how secular is the public sphere’. In other words, these issues tend to show how ‘public’ of some specific caste, community, class and gender has more importance that that of ‘others’. Thus, before going in to further discussion of the issue of collective action let us first discuss the role that these newspapers played in creating the public opinion, which might help us to throw some light on some of the important questions regarding the construction of public opinion in urban spaces with respect to collective action. In modern society media holds a great responsibility towards construction of public opinion. Though today the electronic media has acquired a special importance the print media continues to play a vital role. One of the reasons for this is that even today, in this electronic world, the ‘printed material’ still continues to have great impact on the minds of the people. So, there is a great tendency to accept whatever has been published in the newspapers without enough scrutinizing the same. For instance, often the ‘proof’ of authenticity of any news or event is based on the fact of it being published in newspaper. A common man always uses this to prove his/her point to others because he/she believes that whatever has come up in the newspaper is ‘The Truth’. Apart from this newspapers also work as a pressure group by persistently writing and focusing on particular issue of public interest because of which they are also called the ‘fourth pillar of the democracy’. While taking in to consideration this vital role that newspapers play it is essential to ask the question whether they do justice to this. For instance, it is important to look critically in to how these news papers ‘covered’ that whole incidence of the violent upsurge by Dalit massed not just after the desecration issues but the one that took place also after the event of organized killing of a Dalit family in Khairlanji village of Bhandara district of Maharashtra. In this case they were expected to play the most patient and responsible role. However, if one does a chronological analysis of the news that appeared in different newspapers one can argue that the whole focus of the ‘reporting’ was on the violent upsurge of Dalits and on ‘showing’ how Dalits have become ‘victims of hatred’. The only paper that up held the issue of Khairlanji was ‘Samrat’2. So called mainstream newspapers such as Lokasatta, Maharashtra Times and even Times of India, initially did not even take the notice of the event. But later on they started giving some news regarding Khairlanji occasionally in some ‘corners’. During the course of this time one of the news channels brought ‘breaking news’ of desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar in Kanpur. As the news spread Dalit masses all over Maharashtra expressed their anger through various violent acts. One of the acts that caught the attention of all the newspapers was that they set Deccan Queen on fire near Ulhasnagar, Bombay. But it is important to note that it was done only after making all passengers getting off from the train. So, not a single human calamity took place. Next day it was the headline of almost all the newspapers with the pictures of the burning train covering almost half of the front page. Not just that, but even in the subsequent pages there were articles under very provocative headings such as ‘Queen of Deccan on Fire’ along with the reactions of common people on the whole incidence. One of the leading newspapers in Marathi called Lokasatta gave the picture of burning train with the heading “Anarchy”! All other newspapers including English newspapers emphasized the fact how law and order in the state is now on the verge of collapsing. It is really disturbing that the newspapers, which maintained convenient silence about the brutal murder of a Dalit family, were calling unrest among Dalit masses as anarchy. The main reason behind showing the pictures of burning train was to create an impression that how ‘Dalits have created great problems because of such immaterial issue of desecration of just one statue’. Some newspapers also reported it as the ‘glory of Maharashtra’ getting burnt. Here it is interesting to see for whom it is a glory. It is important to notice that Deccan Queen has always been a symbol of glory only for few upper case/class people of the city of Pune and Mumbai. So, the act of burning of Deccan Queen without causing any human calamity was in a way a symbolic attack on the middle class/upper caste mentality of these two cities who were least bothered about the issues of desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar which meant an insult of not just Dalits but the whole Ambedkarite community in general. Here the attempt is not to justify the violent upsurges which do in a way cause some kind of law and order problem but as a student of social sciences one should be able to politically locate such events in the broader context. It requires asking critical questions such as on what background this upsurge happened, what were the political as well as social factors behind it, can one call this upsurge as ‘anarchy’ or it was a collective reaction given to the deprived and so a secondary status that Dalits have in society. Without dealing with such critical questions the one-sided role that newspapers played really makes one question their ‘unbiased ness’. Though the presence of newspapers like ‘Samrat’ openly advocated the voice of Bahujan Samaj brings some hope the mainstream newspapers continues to represent a higher caste/class voice in the society. 1 The Deccan Queen is an Indian passenger train that connects Mumbai with Pune. It is a daily means of transport for thousands of passengers traveling between the two cities. It is also called ‘Dakkhan chi Rani’ in Marathi, which literally means the Queen of Deccan. 2 Samrat is a Marathi daily newspaper in Maharashtra, which is considered to be representing the voice of Bahujan Samaj, which is considered to be anti-establishment, and so differs radically from other mainstream newspapers. ?? ?? ?? ?? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/ From rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in Sun Jul 29 09:54:09 2007 From: rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in (raju jadhav) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:54:09 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting Two-Dalit Feminism Message-ID: <741144.47149.qm@web94006.mail.in2.yahoo.com> In my second posting I attempt to review the debate of Dalit Feminism that has taken place in Maharashtra. Relationship between Dalit and feminist politics is an important issue around which many of the debates of contemporary Dalit politics revolve. The emergence of autonomous Dalit women’s organizations in the 1990s gave rise to a politico-ideological platform called Dalit feminism there by giving rise to an intense debate around the issue of caste and gender and their interrelatedness. The formation of the National Federation of Dalit Women and the All India Dalit Women’s Forum, were seen as the expression of such assertion of autonomous Dalit women’s identity. At the state level, especially in Maharashtra, one can see such organizations forming. Maharashtra Dalit Mahila Sangahatana was formed in 1995; a year earlier the women’s wing of the Bhartiya Republican Party (RPI) and the Bahujan Mahila Sangh had organized the Bahujan Mahila Parishad. In December 1996, at Chandrapur a ‘Vikas Vanchit Dalit Mahila Parishad’ was organized and a proposal for commemorating December 25th (the day Ambedkar set Manusmriti on flames) as ‘Bharatiya Stree Mukti Din as against 8th March, which is celebrated as International Women’s Day, was put forth. There has been a serious debate around the celebration of 25th December as Bharatiya Stree Mukti Divas involving various scholars, mainstream feminists, Dalit feminists, activists from different Dalit political parties, and also Dalit Christians. The Indian Association of Women’s Studies carried out this debate through a special issue that they brought out on the occasion of ‘Bharatiya Stree Mukti Din’ in December 2003. There were various questions raised by this debate. For instance, it was questioned whether there was a need to have another ‘day’ when already 8th March was being celebrated as International Women’s Day; and in this context this move of celebrating 25th December as Indian Women’s Liberation day was seen as ‘divisive’. However, a strand supporting 25th December as Indian Women’s Liberation Day answered this criticism by arguing that declaring 25th December as Indian Women’s Liberation Day was a ‘political statement’ to challenge mainstream feminist politics that, according to them, failed to address the question of caste and consequently that of Dalit women particularly. In this way the major debate around this issue basically dealt with the question of interrelatedness between caste and gender. However, interestingly the issue of religious identity also came in front through these debates. For instance, some Dalit Christian women strongly opposed this move by arguing that it did not take in to account the interest of religious minorities and here that of the Christian community. In other words, according to them, the significance of 25th December (Christmas day) for the Christian community was being sidelined by these Dalit feminist groups who were advocating the need to celebrate it as Indian Women’s Liberation Day. This has challenged the claimed all encompassing character of Dalit feminism there by giving rise to serious debates around the issue of caste, gender and religion and especially around their complex relationship to each other. Further, in 1997 the Christi Mahila Sangharsha Sangahatana, an organization of Dalit Christian women was also founded. Thus, as Sharmila Rege argues, ‘these different organizations have put forth varying non-Brahmanical ideological positions and yet have come together on several issues such as the issue of Bharatiya Stree Mukti Divas (though there are also some opposing positions) and the issue of reservation for OBC women in parliamentary bodies’ (Rege 1998). Further, apart from the debate around this particular issue of celebration of Bharatiya Stree Mukti divas, the emergence of autonomous Dalit women’s organizations in general also gave rise to a debate that raised several issues such as the relationship between Dalit politics and feminist politics. It was started first by Gopal Guru’s essay called ‘Dalit Women Talk Differently’. Different feminist groups organized a series of discussion around the paper in Pune. Alochana – Centre for Research and Documentation on Women in June 1996 also organized a two-day seminar on the same issue. The discussions from the seminar revealed various positions. Through his essay ‘Dalit Women talk Differently’ Guru points to the politics of ‘difference’ which has become a major feature of feminist politics and in which Dalit women today are engaging themselves. With this there has been a general concern for representation of Dalit women both at the level of theory and politics. In the context of this, as Guru argues, Dalit women justify the case of talking differently on the basis of external factors such as non-Dalit forces homogenizing the issue of Dalit women and internal factors such as the patriarchal domination within Dalits (Guru 2003: 81). What he tries to argue here is that, caste blindness of the feminist politics and gender blindness of Dalit politics together has sidelined the interests of Dalit women, who are subjected to the exploitation that takes place due to their particular caste as well as gender status. This specific location of Dalit women has created a necessity for an ideological as well as a political platform for ‘their’ voice, which is ‘different’ from the mainstream feminist as well as Dalit political voices that claim to represent them (Dalit women). Sharmila Rege, although recognizing the importance of naming the differences that emerge out of caste, class, ethnicity etc; and despite agreeing with Guru regarding the specific location of Dalit women and the epistemic privilege that they have due to this location, is highly critical of creating such a category of difference. According to her, it has a limited analytical as well as political significance. She locates the emergence of this category in the context of the alliance between feminism and post structuralism/post-modernism. It is in the period of 1980s-90s that one can witness a shift in feminist thought in terms of the visibility of black and third world feminist work. In spite of this, there is some kind of reluctance on the part of white middle class feminists to confront the challenges posed to them by these black/third world feminists (Rege 1998). And this shedding off the responsibility is justified by creating the category of ‘difference’. In other words, with this a process of division of labor is taking place by which ‘historical tasks’ are being assigned to each and every group. So now confronting racism is the sole responsibility of black women. Thus Rege argues, ‘a commitment to feminist politics demands that such limited political and analytical use of this category of difference be underlined’ (ibid). Similarly, in the Indian context, the invisibility of the lineage of contributions and interventions of women in the non-Brahmin movement has led scholars to perceive the recent autonomous assertion by Dalit women as a different voice. In this context the formation of autonomous Dalit women’s organizations was seen as suggesting ‘one more stand point’ within such framework of difference and that of multiple/plural stand points. Rege is particularly critical of this kind of formulation. She is arguing that we need a shift in the focus from just naming the differences and multiple voices to the social relations, which will convert these differences in to a stand point. Thus, in my view, Rege is arguing for an objective stand point stemming from subjective experience. This kind of formulation clearly attacks the marking of separate epistemic territories, which is implied in the formulation of multiple stand points based on ‘difference’. Thus, in Rege’s formulation there is a journey from subjectivity to objectivity. In other words, the Dalit feminist stand point that she formulates, though it stems from the subjective experience of Dalit women and though it acknowledges the epistemic privilege that Dalit women have due to their specific location in the socio-political structure, it (this formulation) takes a form of objective epistemological position which is ‘available’ to non-Dalit feminists. In this sense it is constructive i.e. it can be cultivated and it is not dependent on birth. Thus, according to Rege, this Dalit feminist stand point proves to be emancipatory and calls for a revolutionary epistemological shift. Though she is calling it ‘Dalit feminist stand point’ she is careful in not attaching any essentialist, homogenous character to it. As she argues, ‘it is obvious that the subject/agent of Dalit women’s stand point is multiple, heterogeneous even contradictory, i. e. the category of ‘Dalit women’ is not homogeneous- such a recognition underlines the fact that the subject of Dalit feminist libratory knowledge must also be the subject of every other libratory project and this requires a sharp focus on the processes by which gender, race, class, caste, sexuality-all construct each other. Thus, we agree that the Dalit feminist stand point itself is open to libratory interrogations and revisions’ (ibid). Chhaya Datar has responded to Sharmila Rege’s comprehensive efforts to formulate a Dalit stand point by asking ‘is it a more emancipatory force?’ (Datar 1998); though she appreciates Rege’s efforts to chart in comprehensive manner the recent history of Dalit women’s movement and its theorization in Maharashtra. Her first contention is that Rege while placing the contemporary feminist debate within the narrow framework of feminist versus post-modernist streams, tends to overlook another vibrant stream called Ecofeminism which according to Datar does focus on caste and gender based oppression of Dalit women, particularly when women are losing their livelihood in the rural areas because of displacement and environmental destruction. Thus what Datar argues is that Dalit feminist stand point can not become a superior stand point; instead it merely helps inform the liberatory knowledge of other movements to expand their scope and richness. Apart from these responses there were also other responses by feminist scholars and activists like Kiran Moghe, Vidyut Bhagwat and Pratima Paradeshi. As Moghe argues, the left party based women’s organizations have viewed the emergence of autonomous women’s organizations as ‘setting up separate hearth’ (Moghe 1996; cited in Rege 1998). Thus, she is critical of any kind of autonomous assertion in general and that of Dalit women in particular because according to her, any kind of autonomy is limiting. In the case of Dalit women’s organizations she argues that ‘they face a threat of being autonomous from the masses’ if they did not keep the umbilical relation with the RPI, a Dalit political party. Vidyut Bhagwat who is arguing against Moghe’s position states that this kind of formulation lacks self-reflectivity and the awareness of the dialectics between left parties and the autonomous women’s groups. Thus according to her, ‘to label this kind of autonomous assertion from the marginalized as identitarian and limited to experience, tend to overlook the history of struggle by groups to name themselves and their politics’ (Bhagwat 1995; cited in Rege 1998). Further, there are also various apprehensions raised about these autonomous Dalit women’s organizations that criticize them for being predominantly neo-Buddhist organizations (Rege 1998). Pratima Paradeshi has responded to these apprehensions by arguing that such apprehensions are historically insensitive and they tend to overlook historical trajectories of the growth of the Dalit movement in Maharashtra (Paradeshi 1995; cited in Rege 1998). --------------------------------- Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-27 Size: 12302 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070729/06868be1/attachment.bin From mayurisamant at yahoo.com Sun Jul 29 09:56:33 2007 From: mayurisamant at yahoo.com (mayuri samant) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:56:33 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting Three-Theoretical Frameworks of Collective Action Message-ID: <88182.97270.qm@web51903.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Before going in to various issues related to collective action and also various processes of its ‘legitimization’ in urban spaces it is essential to look in to different theoretical frameworks of collective action that are developed in the discipline. In this third posting I am trying to discuss the theoretical framework of the study of collective action. Today the theoretical field of collective action has entered a new phase or a new millennium with urbanization happening at a great, extra ordinary speed especially in the context of global south, the new wave of globalization where concepts like nation, nation state are being questioned and lastly the fall of Soviet Union or in other words, disintegration of USSR. These three things have together framed the context of the study of collective action, one of the areas of which tends to focus on the swelling impact of urban centers on collective action. Study of collective action today is not merely considered as a ‘sub-topic’ in sociology but it is now very much central to the discipline. In other words, it is now considered as one of the main subject matters of sociology especially with Buchler’s formulation of sociology and collective action being the ‘siblings of modernity’. It logically follows from his argument were he shows how sociology was a child of modernity since it was enlightenment that broke the intellectual ground in which modern sociology would ultimately take root. He further shows how even the idea of conscious collective action having the capacity to change society as a whole came only with the era of enlightenment (Buchler 2000). His argument helps one justify the need to study collective action being a major analytical lence to study society. Apart from the scheme that Buchler has developed there are also other theorists who are worth considering because it might give us a perspective to look at any collective action in general and this particular collective action that we are considering Manuel Castell in his work ‘City and the Grassroots’ (1983) analyses collective action as the generic term that includes social movements as one form of consciously undertaken and organized within a specific aim. He suggests that ‘urban social movements are collective actions consciously aimed at the transformation of the social interests and values embedded in the forms and functions of a historically given city’ (Castell 1983). Since movements can throw light on the collective action constructing the city, the study of the city through the lence of collective action over the years would prove to be beneficial in evaluating the nature of the city. Though Castell’s argument helps us to understand why one would look at collective action in order to study the city or why the study of collective action is very much central to urban studies, his definition of collective action in terms of what constitutes collective action is very limiting. Castell has discussed forms of collective action only as they refer to the cities he studied. More contemporary theorists of collective action such as Tilly and Maheu also defined collective action in a broader sense. Charles Tilly (2004) in his recent work highlights three ideological tendencies where popular collective actions are considered as social movements, namely ‘inflation of the term to include all sorts of popular collective action past and present [the] conflation of the movement with its supporting population, networks, or organization and treatment of movements as unitary actors’ (Tilly 2004). Earlier he (1986) discussed the repertoires of collective action involved in each case of collective action. In his study of popular project in France he introduced the notion of the limited repertoire of a society for society and argued that in different time periods there have been different repertoires of collective action. Here again the definition of collective action is vague. As per this definition the notion of collective action is still restricted to organized action or movement. Maheu (1995) agrees with Tilly’s position. He argues that ‘a more rigorous use of the notion of collective action would allow us to move beyond movement centered analysis and also advocates going beyond institutionalization of collective action while analyzing how collective actions are defined (Maheu 1995). Apart from these frameworks of collective action, when one is dealing with the dilemmas regarding ‘spontaneous’ and ‘organized’ collective action, which is the core issues with regard to the kind of collective action that we are dealing with, looking at James Scott’s formulation that he has developed in his work ‘Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance’ becomes essential. As Scott rightly argued in his work, the limitations of any field of study are most strikingly revealed in its shared definition of what counts as relevant. In other words, most of the things, events in any given study are often ignored by the virtue of being ‘irrelevant’. For instance, in most of the studies of collective action there is a danger of making sweeping generalizations regarding some kind of upsurges, similar to the one that took place after the desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Such generalizations often tend to label such actions as ‘spontaneous upsurge of emotions’ not worthy of much attention. By another simple analysis such collective actions are neglected by labeling them merely as a ‘political ploy’. Whatever be the case, one does not take pains to dig in to what constitutes or constructs this so called ‘spontaneity’. Even in case of an organized political ploy, one does not go in to explaining what makes thousands of people come on the street and put their lives in danger. Thus, we need explore the gray areas that lie between two poles of spontaneity and organized collective action. In other words, we need to go beyond the dichotomous view regarding spontaneous collective action and an organized collective action. For instance, as James Scott has argued in his work, a great deal of recent work on the peasantry concerns itself with rebellions and revolutions. Except some standard ethnographic accounts of kinship, ritual cultivation and language it is fair to say that much attention has been devoted to organized, large scale. Protest movements that appear, if only momentarily to pose a threat to the state (Scott 1990). Drawing from this we can argue that there is a need to develop ‘ethnographies of collective action’ in the city, which will help take the notion of collective action beyond its well established boundaries. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/ From naveenkanal at gmail.com Sun Jul 29 22:19:18 2007 From: naveenkanal at gmail.com (Naveen Kanalu) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:49:18 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Muharram in the light of Weaver Migration in the Deccan Message-ID: <5be243090707292319u30cbdec4kb7809a317b52fd7c@mail.gmail.com> I am presently working on Muharram in the Deccan as a Student stipendship holder at the SARAI. This is my third posting. Muharram in the light of Weaver Migration in the Deccan: A historical examination of the Deccan in the medieval as well as colonial period presents an interesting picture of the range of economic activities including agriculture, artisanal processes and trade relations. Indeed, for a long period the accepted notion in the economic history of the Deccan has been that the pre-colonial rural economy was one of self-sufficiency at least in terms of economic activities. However, recent studies point to the fact that the economy was not only vibrant with strong trade links and market networks of mercantile nature but also spanned over large regions like the handloom sector, which had links spread from the Saurashtra to Madurai, the heart of Tamil culture. This reveals a strong mercantilist character of the region in artisanal occupations and trades, prominently cotton and silk handloom. Such an integration of economic activities through out the Deccan is linked with the constant migration of artisans and specifically the weaving castes and is spread from as early as the 12th Century A.D. onwards. Migration has been a strategy for subsistence and also survival from famines and conflicts and more importantly for the betterment of living standards. Handloom weavers have engaged in collective movements for long as a survival strategy and have also been closely intertwined with state formation, moving to emerging markets and centres of political activity. However, the movement in the British period has been reflective of regional dynamics such as the rise of newer markets and trading centres outside the traditional institutions and regions of handlom concentration in the Deccan. This change is significantly reflected in the decline of the handlooms at an increasing rate through the nineteenth century. For analytical reasons and the qualitative distinction among the migratory behaviour, the process could be understood in three historical strands: the Pre-Colonial (12-17th Century), Early Colonial (1750- 1870s) and the Late Colonial (1870s onwards) periods. An attempt is made to hypothesise the origin of Muharram as a popular religious activity and the migration of weavers. It is interesting to note that the regions where Muharram assumes a nature of a carnival have a common social and cultural pattern in terms of the caste and class relationships and political conditions. It is also distinct from regions such as Mysore and Hyderabad, which have had differing socio-political conditions as elaborated elsewhere. Though Mysore had a prominent silk producing industry, this is a much later development and being a fertile region, agriculture remained a prominent occupation here. Hence, the scope of migration was limited. Pre-Colonial Migration: Historical evidence suggests the migration of professional weavers well before the colonial period, in the medieval ages. The artisans were involved very little in agriculture and hence were not integrated in the 'jajmani' village systems of medieval times. The limited dependence on land for employment meant that weavers had greater opportunity of mobility. Sufficient recorded evidence is available from the medieval times of migration of artisans from regions of declining political power to rising ones. Especially, in the case of weavers this was even truer as they supplied high quality cloth for the nobility and textiles formed a significant part of both internal and external trade. Thus, concentration of weavers usually tended to political centres, which were not only markets in themselves but also trading centres or the coastal habitations in case of export of textiles. Thus, the weavers were strongly linked with state formation, a phenomenon that is absent in the colonial period. Migration took place either due to an acute distress or as a mark of protest against the social and economic conditions. Weavers being largely dependent on the purchasing power of the agricultural castes faced serious threat more than any other group during famines. The artisans not only had no grain stocks to survive through the famine nor were they able to earn a living out of selling cloth as the general purchasing power declined. Other than that high taxation, dominant regimes and the downfall of states caused migration on a large scale. However, not only were the push factors important in making migration decisions, so were the pull factors. The Push factors were only of a temporary character, i.e. they acted only at times of extraordinary conditions. However, the weavers were a strongly knit community and dynamic in character. Thus, the guilds under master weavers always looked for settling in towns of greater prosperity, which were either markets or the centres of political activity. Further, evidence of the royal families and nobility frequently inviting fine craftsmen from different and far off provinces is commonly found. Most of the accounts of medieval migration are linked with the Vijayanagara Empire, under whose expansive and well-administered territory, the weavers received patronage. The Khatris and Sourashtras from present day Gujarat migrated to the Deccan and the Salis and Devangas of the Andhra region concentrated in the Vijayanagara capital. Further, with the fall of the empire, castes such as the Devangas, Kaikkolars and Sourashtras penetrated further into the Tamil country to Madurai, where the Nayakas had gained control. On the other hand, with the rising Maratha power, textile trade was encouraged. Thus Pune, Solhapur and Burhanpur continue into the colonial period as centres of textile production and trade. Early Colonial Migration: It is not only significant to note that migrations were well connected with the political conditions in Medieval Deccan, but also that production and trade was under the control of communities and families from within the weaving castes. Not only were weavers well knit and had the ability to enhance their economic opportunities but also resist times of difficulties. They formed strong community ties wherever they migrated by forming guilds, adopting brahminical rituals and building temples. However, they were ridden with disputes such as the right/left rivalry amongst their sub-castes. Some castes proclaimed themselves as having been created from the right hand of the Gods and hence claimed superiority in the social system over others who were supposed to be created from the left hand. In addition, weavers were typically known for the tensions within their sub castes but other communities as well in the medieval times. All this was to gain political and economic clout. With the disintegration of state structures in the Deccan in the eighteenth century, and the rise of colonial interests, migration not only became increasingly dynamic but also changed the character and nature of caste relations and functions. The growth of textile imports from Britain in the early nineteenth century did not entirely displace the handloom sector, nevertheless opportunities declined for artisans who were increasingly absorbed as peasants. However, inter regional migration of weavers continued but was qualitatively different from the pre-colonial period. The collapse of the state structures and repeated famines only increased the distress of weaving castes. Not only were employment conditions weakening but the weavers lost the control over both production and merchandise decisions. Increasingly, medieval weaving centres were displaced by new centres or coastal towns as trading centres. Further, production was controlled by 'Sahukars' or merchant-capitalists who provided the weavers with yarn imported from Britain or other regions, paid them piece-good wages and collected the cloth for trade. Not only were the weavers paid low wages but had no control except for working as labour. This would have clearly meant a destruction of the networks within the weaving castes that existed in the medieval times. Thus, migration does not remain a community based and permanent one to newer centres as in the pre-colonial period but one of short and seasonal movements to newer places. This was especially the case of the Telugu weavers to the Maratha districts of the Hyderabad state. With poor margins to subsist on and the exploitation of the Sahukars and yarn dealers, the condition of weavers was awful and more so at times of famines. Thus, in the first half of the nineteenth century, Padmasalis who wove coarse cotton migrated from Nalgonda, Medak, Karimnagar, Anantapur and other districts to Sholapur, Narayanapet, Ahmednagar, Pune in the Bombay Presidency. Migrations were not permanent with mainly the adult males moving to work at times of poor conditions, leaving behind their families and communities. Thus, weavers moved to newer towns and visited their families on occasions. Newer social and cultural relations would be established with old belief structures side by side. Not only did communities practiced their religious beliefs in their newer settlements but also imbibed the practices in these regions. However, with most of these migrations occurring due to rising unemployment, lower wages and profitability and newer methods of production caused repeated distress and volatility in their lives. They have remained in the memories of communities and expressed in various forms and more popularly in mass congregations. The growth of associations of weaving castes gave them a political voice to demand better opportunities but occasions such as Muharram present a more popular version involving the sentiments of the community members. Naveen Kanalu Ecole normale superieure From mayurisamant at yahoo.com Mon Jul 30 03:43:03 2007 From: mayurisamant at yahoo.com (mayuri samant) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 04:43:03 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Important Corrections with reference to Posting Three-Theoretical Frameworks of Collective Action Message-ID: <561886.85506.qm@web51906.mail.re2.yahoo.com> I have been attending an open course on “Collective Action in the Urban Arena” floated by Dr. Shruti Tambe in Sociology Department of Pune University. The framework with which I have started the discussion in the posting that ‘studies of collective action have entered in to a new millennium which has provided an important context for the study of collective action in urban spaces’ was very well discussed in the class. Through the course of the discussion in the class it triggered to me that it will be well suited for the kind of empirical work that I intend to do for this Stipend ship Programme, but in the posting I forgot to acknowledge this. So, readers are kindly requested to re-read the posting with this important correction. (This is to conform to the rules regarding pleasurism in Pune University and also elsewhere). Before going in to various issues related to collective action and also various processes of its ‘legitimization’ in urban spaces it is essential to look in to different theoretical frameworks of collective action that are developed in the discipline. In this third posting I am trying to discuss the theoretical framework of the study of collective action. Today the theoretical field of collective action has entered a new phase or a new millennium with urbanization happening at a great, extra ordinary speed especially in the context of global south, the new wave of globalization where concepts like nation, nation state are being questioned and lastly the fall of Soviet Union or in other words, disintegration of USSR. These three things have together framed the context of the study of collective action, one of the areas of which tends to focus on the swelling impact of urban centers on collective action (as per the discussion taken place in an open course on “Collective action in the Urban Arena” floated by Dr. Shruti Tambe). Study of collective action today is not merely considered as a ‘sub-topic’ in sociology but it is now very much central to the discipline. In other words, it is now considered as one of the main subject matters of sociology especially with Buchler’s formulation of sociology and collective action being the ‘siblings of modernity’ (Buchler 2000). It logically follows from his argument were he shows how sociology was a child of modernity since it was enlightenment that broke the intellectual ground in which modern sociology would ultimately take root. He further shows how even the idea of conscious collective action having the capacity to change society as a whole came only with the era of enlightenment (ibid). His argument helps one justify the need to study collective action being a major analytical lence to study society. Apart from the scheme that Buchler has developed there are also other theorists who are worth considering because it might give us a perspective to look at any collective action in general and this particular collective action that we are considering Manuel Castell in his work ‘City and the Grassroots’ (1983) analyses collective action as the generic term that includes social movements as one form of consciously undertaken and organized within a specific aim. He suggests that ‘urban social movements are collective actions consciously aimed at the transformation of the social interests and values embedded in the forms and functions of a historically given city’ (Castell 1983, cited in PhD theses by Dr. Shruti Tambe). Since movements can throw light on the collective action constructing the city, the study of the city through the lence of collective action over the years would prove to be beneficial in evaluating the nature of the city. Though Castell’s argument helps us to understand why one would look at collective action in order to study the city or why the study of collective action is very much central to urban studies, his definition of collective action in terms of what constitutes collective action is very limiting. Castell has discussed forms of collective action only as they refer to the cities he studied. More contemporary theorists of collective action such as Tilly and Maheu also defined collective action in a broader sense. Charles Tilly (2004) in his recent work highlights three ideological tendencies where popular collective actions are considered as social movements, namely ‘inflation of the term to include all sorts of popular collective action past and present [the] conflation of the movement with its supporting population, networks, or organization and treatment of movements as unitary actors’ (Tilly 2004,cited in ibid). Earlier he (1986) discussed the repertoires of collective action involved in each case of collective action. In his study of popular project in France he introduced the notion of the limited repertoire of a society for society and argued that in different time periods there have been different repertoires of collective action. Here again the definition of collective action is vague. As per this definition the notion of collective action is still restricted to organized action or movement. Maheu (1995) agrees with Tilly’s position. He argues that ‘a more rigorous use of the notion of collective action would allow us to move beyond movement centered analysis and also advocates going beyond institutionalization of collective action while analyzing how collective actions are defined (Maheu 1995, cited in ibid). Apart from these frameworks of collective action, when one is dealing with the dilemmas regarding ‘spontaneous’ and ‘organized’ collective action, which is the core issues with regard to the kind of collective action that we are dealing with, looking at James Scott’s formulation that he has developed in his work ‘Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance’ becomes essential. As Scott rightly argued in his work, the limitations of any field of study are most strikingly revealed in its shared definition of what counts as relevant. In other words, most of the things, events in any given study are often ignored by the virtue of being ‘irrelevant’. For instance, in most of the studies of collective action there is a danger of making sweeping generalizations regarding some kind of upsurges, similar to the one that took place after the desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Such generalizations often tend to label such actions as ‘spontaneous upsurge of emotions’ not worthy of much attention. By another simple analysis such collective actions are neglected by labeling them merely as a ‘political ploy’. Whatever be the case, one does not take pains to dig in to what constitutes or constructs this so called ‘spontaneity’. Even in case of an organized political ploy, one does not go in to explaining what makes thousands of people come on the street and put their lives in danger. Thus, we need explore the gray areas that lie between two poles of spontaneity and organized collective action. In other words, we need to go beyond the dichotomous view regarding spontaneous collective action and an organized collective action. For instance, as James Scott has argued in his work, a great deal of recent work on the peasantry concerns itself with rebellions and revolutions. Except some standard ethnographic accounts of kinship, ritual cultivation and language it is fair to say that much attention has been devoted to organized, large scale. Protest movements that appear, if only momentarily to pose a threat to the state (Scott 1990). Drawing from this we can argue that there is a need to develop ‘ethnographies of collective action’ in the city, which will help take the notion of collective action beyond its well established boundaries. 1 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/ From sumalathabs at gmail.com Mon Jul 30 08:56:40 2007 From: sumalathabs at gmail.com (sumalatha b.s) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:26:40 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third Posting Message-ID: <798e17240707300956i39bf7144j177b950e93b0b3a4@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, This is my 3rd Posting on Sarai Studentship on Cities titled 'STOCK BROKERING BRANCHES IN CITY SPACES: Exploring the new Phenomenon of Kerala'. As told in the earlier posting, I presently will be highlighting the perceptions of Malayalee's approach towards the Stock brokering culture. The tryst with investors opened a new world of thought regarding speculation, investment, return, liquidity, high technology and city spaces. These people keep in pace the dynamics of stock market investment like a cricket score board keeper busy updating the scores. It was from this interaction that I understood that basically there can be two major classes of stock investors and many more, within this division. They are day speculators and long-term investors. While the day speculators are intra-day investors, who will be looking at the slightest chance of price change to book the profits in a single day, long-term investors are speculative in a longer period of time anticipating bigger price changes. There are long-term investors who are like sleeping investors also[1] <#_ftn1>. Most of the investors however, do not confine strictly to these divisions, there are investors who will be having long-term positions and at the same time indulging in day- speculative trading. At the outset, it will be ideal to see the basic economic rationale before going straight into analysing the nuances from the investor class point of view. As a beginning let us meet Dominic (name changed), a retired teacher. Dominic can be an ideal representative of Keralities venturing into this scenario of late. "The interest on post office and bank deposits is meager compared to the prospective returns from investment in equity and mutual funds. There is an element of risk, but it is worth taking," he says. Due to this, people are looking towards newer investment avenues like land and real estate and in stocks. Together with this, the increased money flow into the region through remittances[2] <#_ftn2> is also a reason. Rajeev, a stock brokering branch manager from the northern Kerala says 'People are aware of the low returns from investing in bank deposits'. Simon, another branch manager from a rural area however brought into focus the agriculture prices. He says 'the increased income due to the bumper rubber prices is also providing an impetus to the new investment culture. Together with this, the bad shape of other agricultural products has prevented the people from investing in agriculture'. As mentioned by Dominic, the low returns from other investment avenues are one of the common perceptions voiced in favour by most of investors I interacted upon. Gopan a government employee told 'if you want you have high returns for your money, you should invest in stock markets which will give you good returns'. However he was also vary of the risks involved and was supportive of the need for having sufficient information. Some of the investor just wanted more money. These are people whose need for money has landed them in this arena. It may not be purely greed that is guiding them, but the rising living conditions associated with urbanization has prompted them into this investment. Anil a professional from the city says 'I indulge stock brokering business just to make money. The expenditures are more now a day, compared with the earlier periods'. To my query that this is greed, he replied 'this is not greed for money; I want to meet my two ends. My salary is not enough most of the times. To meet these, I indulge in investing in stocks'. Some others like Prashanth consider this as a fashionable profession to be indulged with, in a society. Says he 'You know this is quite fashionable also; I mean a sort of white collar job. You are increasing you wealth through this profession' Another reason attributed by many is the liquidity provided by the investments in stocks. Teena (name changed) a lecturer views that this is also the most liquid investable avenue 'You can sell the stocks when you wants the money back. If you are a day speculator, and if you smart and lucky then you can retrive the money that day itself. Within three days you money will come into your account. Where else do you get such an avenue?' There are people who turn into an investor for time pass activity. Says Kumar 'even though I am occupied with my business, I invest as a time pass activity. But at week-ends I feel terribly bored and will be looking towards Monday for the beginning'. However, to my question regarding the gambling nature, he was accepting to a certain extent that this inclination towards speculation can be due to a type of casino affect[3] <#_ftn3>. Abdul Rahiman a Gulf returnee considers this as his profession. He says 'I want to make fair returns with the money I earned till date. Since investing in business is risky and since this business has a decent societal image associated with it, I consider this as a nice profession'. There were many who spent their days in these branches. In fact, the view of a decent societal image was also implicitly mentioned by the majority during the interactions. This, they felt is unavoidable phenomenon in city life. This sounded like a fashion trend creeping into the very root of urban life or developing with the development of cities. Benson was aware of need for having through information, 'but you should have enough information'. This view was however supported by Utham (name changed) who is retired business man. He says 'one should have a through knowledge before venturing into this business, especially day speculation. The investor should be aware of the general economic and business conditions, business and corporate news etc. the prices can be affected my many exogenous factors. One should get some experience with respect to the basic knowledge guiding stock movements'. Apart from this, the increased knowledge about stock markets now a day is another reason for this phenomenon. Says Joseph (name changed) a stock brokering franchisee manager 'Even the college students owns an account. They know what a stock market means, what are other investment options, the profitability and benefits of investing in stock markets. That is why they are ready to invest using their pocket money. Women too come here for investments, housewives and professional ladies do also prefer investing their money in stocks[4] <#_ftn4>. Most of the television channels air up to date information regarding the stocks. I think even school going children knows at lest what a stock market is'. He implicitly referred to the large improvements in the field of information and communication technology augmenting the high knowledge- society of Kerala in this case. However, some of the clients also voiced about the impacts of social networks on them in luring them this activity. Sunita a housewife says 'the societal space around you is well aware of these developments, this will always keep you well informed about the news. For example in this area it self, my friends who are also investors (clients with other brokers) will share their news regarding some of the forecasting on stocks made by them. An urban environment always augments these societal functions. The news spreads very speedily here.' The growing number of stock brokering branches shows the social, economical and technological reshaping of Kerala. However, it will be highly improper, to leave out the perceptions of the public but those who are not part of this activity regarding the growth of these stock brokering branches in Kerala. While common people view this phenomenon with wonder and as an inevitable factor of the urbanization happening in Kerala, academic sections consider this as an output of economic liberalisation. Certain others viewed this as a reshaping of the capital under the aegis of technology and urbanization. ------------------------------ [1] <#_ftnref1> These are high wealth investors who are given special services by the stock brokering branches. They will inform about suitable chances of price rise based on brokering firms analytical forecasting. Once the investments are made, the firm will inform the investor about the price range to be sold (and may even sell at certain instances). Virtually these investors does not need to keep in pace with the news in the stock market. [2] <#_ftnref2> From expatriates working in gulf, Europe and US and from the income from software professional working in other states. [3] <#_ftnref3> Some people seem to be crazy about these activities. They seem to breathe, eat and drink stocks. [4] <#_ftnref4> People like Teena also bring into prominence the increased women participation in this scenario. She is based in Cochin. According to her, Cochin has a sizable amount of women investors. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070730/fd217219/attachment-0001.html From renucherianp at gmail.com Mon Jul 30 18:47:14 2007 From: renucherianp at gmail.com (renu cherianp) Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:17:14 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] third posting- space of chrisma in a city Message-ID: <613457570707301947l6355675buf3a605fd93a4eb81@mail.gmail.com> *Popularization of the Charismatic Movement.* Hi friends It is my third posting. It deals with the advertisements of the C.H.M, the charismatic movement taken for the present study. Here I am going to discuss about the role played by these advertisements in creating a religious space among the community. The primary aim of an advertisement is to catch the attention of common people towards the product or the service. Generally, advertisements are done only for those things, which are brought under the category of commodity. So now, day's religion has come under the group of commodity that needs advertisements for its publicity and popularity. Apart from all other religious groups C.H.M has advertisements for its publicity inorder to familiarize it in the society. The main purpose of these advertisements are first to give a description of the nature and specialties of the movement. Secondly, attract people towards it by giving the testimonies and other miraculous events as examples. These advertisements are packed with charismatic leader's message, captivating captions and testimonies of believers along with their photos. In addition, the headings, statements and layout are created with an intention to attract those who are facing problems or disabilities in their lives and tempting them to attend C.H.M's meetings. They publish their advertisements in newspapers, periodicals, leaflets; flux boards e.t.c. C.H.M also sells C.D's regarding their worship and testimonies. They present big cut outs of the main pastors in the street and road side. They also publish notices and palm let's regarding their worship and ideologies. Some of the captions in their advertisements are quoted below for an analysis. 1*) Are you in the shadow of curse? Come, Jesus will give you deliverance* Here in the advertisement the catching words are 'shadow of curse' and 'deliverance from Jesus'. The word shadow of curse is used to mention the condition of suffering in ones life. C.H.M is giving more importance to curse because they consider curse as the creation of Satan. The second half of the caption says about the solution of this suffering and Jesus Christ is presented as the solution. It means that, if any one in the society is facing any sufferings she/he can reach C.H.M and god will save him/her from all sorts of sufferings. 2*)Miracles are happening today. Come and receive the blessings*. This caption also has two parts. First one is a general statement, says that miracles are happening. Material benefits, healing, spiritual awakening etc are considered as the miracles. In the above caption the catching word is miracles, the possibility of miracles through C.H.M is presented in front of lay people. Along with this they invite others to have the miracles in their life. The term miracle is an attractive word for all human being. It means that C.H.M can do many miracles that can solve the dilemmas of the human being. These miracles are given through their meetings. By attending the meeting people can have these miracles. *3)Miracles happening on behalf of Jesus Christ.* * * Here also the term miracle is emphasized. They emphasize that miracles are possible only through the Jesus Christ, so one who believes in Jesus Christ Can easily have all these miracles. C.H.Mpresents itself as the way to get miracles. It says that Jesus Christ is the one who can do all the miracles *4)Get redeemed from your sin.* * *This is also a general statement addressing all people. Since it is a general statement those who reads is the subject of this statement. This statement says that 'you' (those who reads the advertisement) are in sin. And it is essential to get redemption from ones sin. This in turn constructs a lacune in the mind of readers that they are sinners and this sin is the cause of all sufferings in their life. And C.H.M provides the solution to this sin. We can note that they have given more emphasis to certain words in their advertisements. This enables a person to feel that he has some problems to be solved and it can only be solved by approaching these peoples. Testimonies of healed ones are the attracting segment of their advertisements. These testimonies include incidence showing ones redemption from sufferings. These sufferings are financial problems, health problems, etc. A person with the same problem, by reading the testimony feels that he also can get solution to his problem after approaching C.H.M. Here I am presenting a testimony from an advertisement. Jesus Christ transformed the shadow of grief in my life "My wife was a uterus cancer patient. We were almost disappointed. We contacted HF fellowship, and their team visited our home and prayed for us. They asked us to undergo chemotherapy only after further tests. On a screen test it was found that no symptom of cancer was there in the body of my wife. Jesus saved our family and I cannot abstain from giving testimonial." People who are suffering from chronic diseases get attracted by this testimony approach C.H.M for their healing.Thus the movement get popularised among the society. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070731/98606a1c/attachment.html From kartiknair at gmail.com Tue Jul 31 10:55:34 2007 From: kartiknair at gmail.com (Kartik Nair) Date: Wed, 1 Aug 2007 00:25:34 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Appu Ghar: Anxiety of Amusement [Posting III] Message-ID: <83898cc70707311155g5895b52cn9e86017fb72f8167@mail.gmail.com> Following is a report of my meeting with the reputed creator of Appu Ghar, Sharat Das. MYTH OF ORIGINS? **6.40 P.M. 16 July 2007 After my total failure to navigate the hostile urban labyrinth that is New Friends Colony [that could be a whole different paper], a helpful intern from Sharat Das's obscure office building leads me to it, my car trailing his motorbike. A rebrick façade gives way to an appreciably older, more worn interior in which files and dead air are stacked around people stacked around insufficiently lit desks. An unassuming man of unimposing proportions, Sharat Das has stepped out of his private office to take a smoke. As we return to his table, Mr Das takes the lead by apologizing for a show of endless tobacco conflagration that shall, somewhere further down this page, saturate the air with its indistinction. I had expected Sharat Das to be many things, but chain-smoker I did not anticipate. Could he be that hero, the long-forgotten donor figure, Dilli's Willy [Wonka]? Was this the man who cracked an iron-willed Prime Minister with a little idea for a children's park? "She had a coy smile on her face" he recalls, with the clarity of someone whose best years are behind him, and who is now revisiting a hallowed hall in the back-lot of his mind. "She said to me, 'Mr Das, what would you like me to do?' I didn't hesitate. There were customs and excise duties and entertainment taxes, and I said, 'Madam, the children of my country cannot afford these things.' I remember it precisely": within minutes, a brief phone call to her private secretary connected Sharat Das to Pranab Mukherjee's office at the Ministry of Commerce. In five minutes Indira Gandhi had helped flip the switch on Sharat Das's interesting and unprecedented vision for what he called 'the backyard of Pragati Maidan'. "That night I had six drinks instead of three" he confesses with disarming heartiness. "But there was just one thing that bothered me…" The Prime Minister had asked for a *favour*. Instead of the simply adequate (if somewhat generic) charms of the name 'Amusement Park', she had suggested christening the project 'Appu Ghar'. As the beloved mascot and a frequently extrapolated, commercially viable element of the Asian Games design, Appu had something all enduring brands seek: affirmative recall value. Mr Das: "Only much later did I realize the simple genius of it…She [Gandhi] had been talking in the terms of brand equity in a time before it existed." That was the end of August. The park was scheduled to open in November. "That was my idea too… To have it open on the 19th of November. When I told her about it, she had a coy smile on her face…We had known each other for a while by then. Every year, on her birthday, I would take her a plant, she loved them." Sharat Das had been the architect of the Indira Gandhi Stadium. That experience, he says, left him exhausted. "I was very tired. I wasn't interested in working. I wanted to be idle." And in the midst of this idle life came his next commitment, appropriately, a leisure park. It was the perfect lucky break. A friend of his took him to dinner to meet two of his friends, Indians with a garment export business in Sweden. Looking to invest a few crores in real estate, they found themselves eating beside an architect who came highly recommended. "When they asked me for investment ideas, I suggested an amusement park." Where that idea came into his head at that very moment he knows. "I had always been fascinated with Disneyland… I'd never been there but I'd read everything there was to read about it. I was taken with the idea of it, so I put it to them." These friends were persuaded, and a few days later Sharat Das was in the ITFO offices to meet Chairman Yunus. Proposals were drafted and re-drafted, Das was traveling to Europe and the USA on reconnaissance excursions, a company was registered under the name International Amusement Limited, and Sharat Das signed on as chairman. The next step was to place the orders for the rides. "We never designed any of the original rides. An order was placed with a firm in Milano, and a 1-item order with a firm in Germany. 12 November was to be the delivery date." Then came the end of October - and "the fatal day" - as he calls it with as much History Channel drama as sober sadness. The assassination obviously killed the official festive spirit surrounding the anticipated opening; the riots were a bit of an obstruction to outdoor leisure, and perhaps a most pragmatic consideration. The Milano ferry with the park rides had docked in Bombay, but the nonplussed Italians found themselves in a port where all anchors were down. (A Boney M concert scheduled for the 3rd of November at Bradbourne Stadium stood postponed indefinitely [TOI 2 Nov 1984].) <#_ftn1> As nationwide transport systems lurched and halted, park officials were faced with the interesting possibility of not having a park to open at all. Unfazed, Sharat Das says he dispatched someone to Bombay to deal with the "paper-work" of clearances and licenses, telexed the Milano engineers to come in ahead of the machines, and arranged a meeting with Rajiv Gandhi: "He said to me, 'Das, I have not gone anywhere in these two weeks except between home and South Block. I do not think I can do this'… He wasn't sure it was the right thing to do." In a cruel twist, Indira Gandhi herself lent brand equity to the park: she had already given the gift of a name, now she was giving the gift of her birthday, a post-mortem sanctification and legitimization of revelry in the shadow of mourning. Such notions must have occurred to her son. He agreed to make his first public appearance since his mother's bloody execution at the opening of a children's park. "I remember reading about Disneyland…the day President Kennedy was shot dead, flags went down across the United States. Not in Disneyland." Mr Das explains that the official position was that the flag there was the Flag of Peace in the World of Children, such a flag of 'innocence' would always reign. The test had come to Appu Ghar, and all too soon. Would it, could it, should it open? As a dozen closed container trucks snaked their way from the Deccan to Delhicarrying mysterious shipments from Milano, engineers laid the foundations for rollercoasters and swaying ships. Appu Ghar would be the highlight of the 6th India International Trade Fair. A small story appears on the third page of The Statesman dated 14 November, from a staff reporter who was taken with others on a field trip to Appu Ghar: "On Tuesday, reporters were taken for a 'live' demonstration, but there was no electricity. However, Mr Yunus said that during the fair uninterrupted power supply would be ensured through a standby generator." From the night of the 14th, when the materials arrived, to the crack of dawn on the 19th, "we worked," Das says, "24 hours a day into 60 minutes. But we had it ready when it needed to be." ------------------------------ <#_ftnref1> I found it productive to record what Mr Das had to say rather than to interrogate his claims. A myth of origins, however dubious, retains the aura of permanence and elliptical authority. An analysis of the interview follows shortly. One could ask several questions: How much more of a hand did the NRI from Sweden have? And Mrs Gandhi? What is the place of Walt Disney in the imaginary of leisure spaces around the world? Why? Why has Mr Das not gone back to Appu Ghar, his labour of love, since he left the organization in 1988? -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-78781 Size: 11233 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070801/18dce537/attachment-0001.bin From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Thu Jul 19 12:21:32 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:51:32 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Campaign Appeal to PM to repeal EIA Notification 2006 Message-ID: <469F09BA.30704@bgl.vsnl.net.in> Environment Support Group ® *105, **East End B Main Road**, Jayanagar 9^th Block East, **Bangalore** 560069 **INDIA*** *Telefax: 91-80-22441977/26531339 Fax: 91-80-26534364* *Email: *esg at esgindia.org or* *esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in * Web: *www.esgindia.org * * 17 July 2007 Dear Friends, As you are aware, the Environment Impact Assessment Notification - 2006, issued by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests on 14 September 2006, is amongst the most controversial legislations brought into effect in recent times. This subordinate legislation provides the Ministry enormous powers to justify and clear a wide variety of high impact projects including petrochemical complexes, nuclear power plants, large infrastructure projects such as roads and railroads, dam building, mining, highly polluting industries, construction of high density commercial and residential complexes, Special Economic Zones, Exclusive Economic Zones, airports, etc. EIA Notification is the only piece of legislation that provides statutory support to appreciate the potential environmental and social impacts of such projects, and also for involvement of local communities and the wide public in making decisions on such matters. In comprehensively revamping this Notification, the Indian Environment and Forest Ministry actively neglected the need to consult Parliament, Legislatures, Local Governments and the wide public and admittedly consulted only with industry and investment lobbies. Needless to state, the outcome is the current EIA Notification that wholly subordinates environmental and social considerations to investment priorities. Shockingly, the Notification subordinates the importance of prior informed consent and due and legitimate participation of the wide public to the discretion of the executive. Since the EIA Notification was issued last year, this deeply flawed legislation has proven to be a major problem in implementing its provisions to the Ministry of Environment and Forests. In addition, State Governments have been lagging behind in constituting a variety of Expert Commitees and Impact Assessment Authorities required for effective implementation of the provisions of this Notification. Shackled by budgetary constraints, this over-bureaucratisation of environmental decision making in India has resulted in achieving the very opposite purpose of what the Ministry is mandated to do - the conservation of our natural resources, protection of ecologically sensitive areas, protection of lives and livelihoods and mitigation of the adverse impacts of development. Over a dozen circulars, notes and memos issued by the Ministry in clarification of the features of the Notification, is evidence enough of how deeply flawed this Notification is, and how problematic its operationalisation has become. We are of the sincere opinion that if this Notification is not repealed with due dispatch, India and its peoples will suffer unnecessarily from the adverse consequences of industrial and infrastructure development that will subordinate environmental and social considerations and threaten the ecological security of India. We have comprehensively addressed this issue in our publication /"Green Tapism: A Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification - 2006"/, details of which are available online at www.esgindia.org. Even as we were grappling with the implications of the EIA Notification, leaked copies of the proposed comprehensive amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, to be replaced by the Coastal Management Zone Notification, reveals that the Ministry proposes to comprehensively dilute our coastal protection laws next. As we share our concerns, we urge you to join us in pressing for the repeal of the EIA Notification 2006 by writing to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who also holds the portfolio of Environment and Forests. A draft letter highlighting various issues of concerns is enclosed for you consideration. Please feel free to adapt this letter and do include your full contact details before sending it to the Prime Minister. We believe that multiple appeals would bring greater emphasis on this matter of critical importance and hopefully help in securing for India an effective and pro-environment EIA law. We will be grateful if you mark a copy to us. We are also happy to share with you the proceedings of the release of "/Green Tapism/" on 4^th June 2007 by Dr. B. K. Chandrashekar, Hon'ble Chairman, Karnataka Legislative Council. The release included a discussion involving a rather diverse panel reflecting the views of the Government, regulatory authorities, academia, industry, social action and media. This panel brought out a range of perspectives on environmental regulation in the country. A report of the proceedings is attached. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Leo F. Saldanha Bhargavi S. Rao Arpita Joshi Environment Support Group Encl. As above -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismRelease_040607_lite.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 246940 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0001.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RepealEIANotif_Campaign_Letter_PM_170707.doc Type: application/applefile Size: 35840 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0001.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismBkreview_DH_15July07.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 532378 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0001.jpg From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Thu Jul 19 12:48:41 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:18:41 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Campaign Appeal to PM to repeal EIA Notification 2006 Message-ID: <469F1061.2050107@bgl.vsnl.net.in> Environment Support Group ® *105, **East End B Main Road**, Jayanagar 9^th Block East, **Bangalore** 560069 **INDIA*** *Telefax: 91-80-22441977/26531339 Fax: 91-80-26534364* *Email: *esg at esgindia.org or* *esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in * Web: *www.esgindia.org * * 17 July 2007 Dear Friends, As you are aware, the Environment Impact Assessment Notification - 2006, issued by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests on 14 September 2006, is amongst the most controversial legislations brought into effect in recent times. This subordinate legislation provides the Ministry enormous powers to justify and clear a wide variety of high impact projects including petrochemical complexes, nuclear power plants, large infrastructure projects such as roads and railroads, dam building, mining, highly polluting industries, construction of high density commercial and residential complexes, Special Economic Zones, Exclusive Economic Zones, airports, etc. EIA Notification is the only piece of legislation that provides statutory support to appreciate the potential environmental and social impacts of such projects, and also for involvement of local communities and the wide public in making decisions on such matters. In comprehensively revamping this Notification, the Indian Environment and Forest Ministry actively neglected the need to consult Parliament, Legislatures, Local Governments and the wide public and admittedly consulted only with industry and investment lobbies. Needless to state, the outcome is the current EIA Notification that wholly subordinates environmental and social considerations to investment priorities. Shockingly, the Notification subordinates the importance of prior informed consent and due and legitimate participation of the wide public to the discretion of the executive. Since the EIA Notification was issued last year, this deeply flawed legislation has proven to be a major problem in implementing its provisions to the Ministry of Environment and Forests. In addition, State Governments have been lagging behind in constituting a variety of Expert Commitees and Impact Assessment Authorities required for effective implementation of the provisions of this Notification. Shackled by budgetary constraints, this over-bureaucratisation of environmental decision making in India has resulted in achieving the very opposite purpose of what the Ministry is mandated to do - the conservation of our natural resources, protection of ecologically sensitive areas, protection of lives and livelihoods and mitigation of the adverse impacts of development. Over a dozen circulars, notes and memos issued by the Ministry in clarification of the features of the Notification, is evidence enough of how deeply flawed this Notification is, and how problematic its operationalisation has become. We are of the sincere opinion that if this Notification is not repealed with due dispatch, India and its peoples will suffer unnecessarily from the adverse consequences of industrial and infrastructure development that will subordinate environmental and social considerations and threaten the ecological security of India. We have comprehensively addressed this issue in our publication /"Green Tapism: A Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification - 2006"/, details of which are available online at www.esgindia.org. Even as we were grappling with the implications of the EIA Notification, leaked copies of the proposed comprehensive amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, to be replaced by the Coastal Management Zone Notification, reveals that the Ministry proposes to comprehensively dilute our coastal protection laws next. As we share our concerns, we urge you to join us in pressing for the repeal of the EIA Notification 2006 by writing to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who also holds the portfolio of Environment and Forests. A draft letter highlighting various issues of concerns is enclosed for you consideration. Please feel free to adapt this letter and do include your full contact details before sending it to the Prime Minister. We believe that multiple appeals would bring greater emphasis on this matter of critical importance and hopefully help in securing for India an effective and pro-environment EIA law. We will be grateful if you mark a copy to us. We are also happy to share with you the proceedings of the release of "/Green Tapism/" on 4^th June 2007 by Dr. B. K. Chandrashekar, Hon'ble Chairman, Karnataka Legislative Council. The release included a discussion involving a rather diverse panel reflecting the views of the Government, regulatory authorities, academia, industry, social action and media. This panel brought out a range of perspectives on environmental regulation in the country. A report of the proceedings is attached. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Leo F. Saldanha Bhargavi S. Rao Arpita Joshi Environment Support Group Encl. As above -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismBkreview_lite_DH_15July07.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 172868 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0002.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismRelease_040607.doc Type: application/applefile Size: 78336 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0002.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RepealEIANotif_Campaign_Letter_PM_170707.doc Type: application/applefile Size: 36352 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0003.bin From varanashi at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 23:02:44 2007 From: varanashi at gmail.com (varanashi) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:32:44 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Sacred Spaces - Seminar at MMB Message-ID: <469fa032.1abd600a.25f0.ffffdc0d@mx.google.com> FYI Sathya -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/6d791cb8/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MMB Part1.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 568004 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/6d791cb8/attachment-0001.pdf From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Sat Jul 21 11:13:39 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 05:43:39 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [WaterWatch] Campaign Appeal to PM to repeal EIA Notification 2006 Message-ID: <469F1061.2050107@bgl.vsnl.net.in> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070721/3c47a8b2/attachment.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismBkreview_lite_DH_15July07.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 172868 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070721/3c47a8b2/attachment.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismRelease_040607.doc Type: application/msword Size: 78336 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070721/3c47a8b2/attachment.doc -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RepealEIANotif_Campaign_Letter_PM_170707.doc Type: application/msword Size: 36352 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070721/3c47a8b2/attachment-0001.doc From karthik.guevara at gmail.com Sun Jul 1 16:12:53 2007 From: karthik.guevara at gmail.com (karthik guevara) Date: Sun, 1 Jul 2007 16:12:53 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting "Music from the margins : Gaana songs as a subaltern phenomenon Message-ID: <2fd660060707010342r650958d7m7538ef0e6a2ecb7@mail.gmail.com> Hai I am D.Karthikeyan currently a student stipendiary at CSDS sarai. Following is my first urban study posting for the research project. "Music from the Margins: Gaana Songs as a Subaltern Phenomenon". In this posting I am giving a brief introduction to the concepts of culture and subculture. In the remaining postings I shall discuss on how Gaana music as a form can be called as an sub culture by tracing the genealogy of Gaana songs and how it came into existence and to look into the cultural aspects of Gaana songs, its lyrics and find out how it helps in the identity formation. CULTURES AND SUBCULTURES A MINIMAL DEFINITION The word culture can be referred to the level at which social groups develop distinct patterns of life and give expressive form to their social and material life experience. The culture of a group or class is peculiar and 'distinctive way of life' of the group or class, the meanings, the values and ideas embodied in institutions, in social relations in systems of beliefs, in mores and customs, in the uses of objects and material life. Culture is the way social relations of a group are structured and shaped: but it is also the way those shapes are experienced, understood and interpreted. (Hall "et al.," 1975, p.10) Culture just like different groups and class are unequally ranked in relation to one another and they stand in opposition to one another in terms of domination and subordination along the scale of cultural power. The classification and ordering of the world through structures is based on the power, position, and the hegemony of the powerful interest in the society. The class, which has the means of material production at its disposal, has control at the same time over the means of mental production, so that thereby, generally speaking, the ideas of those who lack the means of mental production are subject to it … Insofar, therefore, as they rule as a class and determine the extent and compass of an epoch … they do this in its whole range, hence among other things rule also as thinkers, as producers of ideas, and regulate the production and distribution of the ideas of their age: thus their ideas are the ruling ideas of the epoch. (Marx, 1970) The dominant culture of a complex society is never homogenous in structure it is layered reflecting different interests within the dominant class containing different traces from the past. Subordinate cultures will not always be in open conflict with it. The culture, which becomes the dominant culture, need not necessarily be without any opposition, there are subcultures, which grow within the dominant culture therefore challenging them from within, or what E.P.Thompson calls as "warrening it from within". (Thompson, 1965) The Birmingham school also view youth subcultures through the prism of class and suggest they are doubly articulated to a parent culture (the working-class) and the dominant culture. Subcultures are defined here as "smaller, more localized and differentiated structures, within one or more of the larger cultural networks." (Hall "et al.," 1975, p.13) There is a distinction to be drawn, however, between subcultures and other resistant or alternative cultures : Working class cultures are the home of subcultures, while middle-class cultures create counter-cultures. (This can be understood in the case of 'Bharatnatyam' in India how the Middle classes of Madras city especially the Brahmins appropriated the dance through a process of sanskritisation and made it an nationalized cultural identity). Subcultures must be understood, foremost, in relation to the hegemonic forces of the dominant culture so class-based correlation can be made. Antonio Gramsci's notion of hegemony elucidates how a fraction of working-class culture, youth, comes to have its expressive elements curtailed and its lived reality circumscribed by the operation of hegemony. Society in a much wider sense can never be one-dimensional and the working class is never completely absorbed by the dominant class. The occupation of these lacunae is understood as "winning space," a negotiated version of the dominant culture's values that the working-class has appropriated as an alternate moral system permitting legitimization of their means of expression. Subcultures can also be a set of cultural practices that develop their own history and structure, ones, which are detached from the symbolic and social firmament of the dominant culture. Subcultures must distinctively exhibit enough shape and structure to identify them selves different from their 'parent' culture. They must be focused around certain activities, values, certain use of material artifacts and most importantly territorial spaces that significantly differentiates from the wider culture. The subculture is a symbolic structure, which tries to resolve the contradictions that exist (latent or manifest) in the parent culture. The subculture, although a symbolic structure, depends upon territoriality to anchor individual members to a collective reality. It is debatable whether the contradictions of the parent culture can be solved. Subcultures merely transcribe terms at a micro social level and inscribe them in an imaginary set of relations. Music subculture can be defined as a group of identifiable musicians' audiences, groups and participants with shared identities and values. Subculture theory requires attention to look at a music culture, which operates on certain logics: the symbolic, the social, the spatial, the temporal, and the ideological or political. Subcultures are enunciated through particular symbolic practices and forms of communication: specific styles of dress, music, speech, textual production, and deportment. Subcultures emerge at particular kinds of geographic locations and material spaces, and engage in particular uses of those spaces. Gaana songs are a sub-culture of Chennai urban culture. Gaana in simple words is another name for 'Tamil Rap' song(s), which is getting transformed into a viable commodity by entering the market and undergoing a process of sanitisation. It comes across at issues like Politics, urban poverty, caste, violence and sex. Gaana songs came into existence as part of the urban culture and it has its roots in the slums of chennai. The Gaana as a popular cultural form is distinct in structure, rhyming verses while talking about the loves and lives of the slum people. Gaana comes from a mixture of different Tamil dialects and other languages the Dalits, fisherfolk of Chennai encounter. References Karl Marx, The German Ideology (London: Lawrence & Wishart Ltd 1987). Stuart Hall and Tony Jefferson, Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Post-War Britain (London: Hutchison, 1976). Phil Cohen, "Subcultural Conflict and Working-Class Community," in eds. Ken Gelder and Sarah Thornton The Subcultures Reader (London: Routledge, 1997), pp. 90-99: 94. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070701/9a6d9bfb/attachment-0002.html From sadan at sarai.net Tue Jul 3 20:32:53 2007 From: sadan at sarai.net (Sadan) Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 11:02:53 -0400 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Renu Cherian on city and cherisma Message-ID: <468A651D.2040206@sarai.net> Dear All, Find below a posting sent to me by Renu Cherian. She is currently a sarai-csds student stipend. hope you will enjoy reading it.comments and responses should be made either on this list or can be sent directly to Renu on renucherianp at gmail.com wishes, sadan. Hi friends, This is my first posting. My study analyse how the charismatic movement constructs its own religious space within the community. I have selected a popular Christian Charismatic Movement in Kerala, whose head quarters is at Kottayam town (Kottayam town is also the district head quarters of Kottayam district). I have given fake names in my writing. And I have named the Christian Charismatic Movement as ‘C.H.M’. Participatory observation and fieldwork were followed for the collection of data. It was an interesting experience for me. Here I am going to share my experiences with you. Here in my first posting I am presenting a regular worship pattern followed by ‘C.H.M’. In the coming postings I will discuss more about the performative elements of worship. ‘C.H.M’ has lots of worship centers or churches at main city centers in all over Kerala along with several centres at various parts of the country and outside the country. Two persons started it about 10 years ago; I name them as John and Thomas. They are the main pastors of this movement (The charismatic Figures of the movement). ‘C.H.M’ conduct their worship in a big tents constructed with G.I poles and G.I sheets. Worship is conducted on every Friday and Sunday at daytime. More than thousands of devotees assemble there for the worship in a day. Men, women and children participate in the meetings. Among the worshippers, women are the majority. People from all classes, castes and religion came to worship there. Although people from the lower middle class background, form a significant proportion of the gathering. A DAYS WORSHIP [Worship at ‘C.H.M’ church in Kottayam town] Here I shall demonstrate a regular worship of ‘C.H.M’ to comprehend the pattern that convey out of it. The convention starts at 9a.m with a song. At the beginning, main pastors are not in the stage; junior pastors are initiating the meeting at this time. They give short messages and sing songs. Malayalam and English songs are sung with the accompaniment of musical instruments (drums and organs). People are instructed to wave and clap their hands according to the music. When the mob is in high sprit, one of the main pastors of ‘C.H.M’ appears on the stage. Now he is triggering the meeting. He, after a song, selects a bible portion and starts his message. In traditional Churches, the priest delivers the message by standing still at a place, while here in the ‘C.H.M’ worship the pastor is always moving around the stage, shouting and exhorting the people. The worship is a blend of speeches, songs and prayers. Along with these there are special prayers for the miraculous healing of the affected. All through the worship, the whole mob is actively and emotionally participating. They are crying, shouting, clapping and waving through out the meeting. During the message the main pastor, ask the devotees to give hands to the adjacent one and repeat some statements which are spoken by the leader, or ask some questions, or say some wishes to the person near by. Example; “God will relieve you from all of your troubles, and sufferings” “Jesus Christ has the power to do many thing.” Some times the pastor asks the devotees to ask some questions to each other. Example “You please say any one of the blessing which you have received from God during the previous week?” Both of them will answer the question to each other. This enables an active participation from the devotees. PRACTICE OF SPEAKING IN TONGUES During the prayer, devotees are clapping their hands and singing according to the music played. And as the rhythm increases their clapping frequency increases, and they say words, which are not at all familiar to the present society. Some of them utter sounds that resembles to howling. For the devotees, this is holy ritual, called speaking in tongue. While for a layperson it is only crying, shouting and uttering of meaning less words. For gaining the power of tongues, the crowd begins to utter ‘sthothram, sthothram, sthothram”(it is a Malayalam word) which means “glory, glory, glory”. This finally leads to saying of strange words, which they call speaking in tongues. Example: SHANTHALALA…. SHANTHALALA… It is meaningless only to those who are outside this worship. However, for those who are participating in the worship and practicing the speaking in tongues, it is meaningful. They consider these words are as the gift of holy sprit. Here the Holy Sprit is considered as the power behind doing all these things. They call it as spiritual awakening, which is the most precious goal of all who approaches the Charismatic movement. Those who experience spiritual awakening have the feeling that they are near to God. And so God will hear their prayers and will fulfill it. Here one can view a kind of extreme confidence in devotees. This hysterical condition is experienced in every meeting. During this highly emotional condition of mind they make prophesies. PRACTICE OF HEALING Then comes the time for miraculous healing. During the prayer meeting the main pastor speak out the names of some diseases (example: body pain, arthritis, heart problems, cancer e.t.c) and state that, the person with these diseases are going to be healed at this instant. He then asks those people to stand up. And a lot of sick people stood up. Then the main pastor announces the entire believers to pray for the cure of these persons. He along with the community of believers starts praying. Then the main pastor says that “Jesus will touch you now. You are going to be healed at this moment ” He adds, “Satan and his bindings are going to be broken. And you are going to be cured now.” At this point the mob becomes highly excited. Then after the prayer for miraculous healing, the pastor asks healed one to lift up their hands. We can find that about 85% of the sick were healed. And then the healed ones are invited to the stage to deliver their testimonies. RECEPTION OF NEW COMERS The new comers are received in a particular way in the meeting. They are asked to stand up at their places and few members of ‘C.H.M’ reach these persons, embrace them and pray for them. The whole community is also praying for the new comers. Then a card is given to them, which is wished-for to be returned after recording their personal details. OFFERTORY Offertory is taken in the course of the meeting. There is no demand for the offertory. Gathering can give according to their will. The concerned people collect the money. The money is then brought to the stage, and the pastor prays for the offerings and also for the whole community. EUCHARIST (Holy Communion) Then the Eucharist is conducted. Bread in trays and Wine in small cups are placed on a table in the stage. After glorifying it by the main pastor, it is distributed among baptized devotees. After theEucharist the pastor prays and thus a regular meeting comes to an end at 2 o’clock in the afternoon. Here we can find an important thing that this worship group has no written liturgy, and also the ritual practices or performances don’t follow any regular order. Here I conclude my brief description of the one days worship. From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Tue Jul 3 19:02:58 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Tue, 03 Jul 2007 19:02:58 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Invitation to an evening of Astrophysics and Blues, 7th July at ESG Message-ID: <468A500A.3070903@bgl.vsnl.net.in> Dear All, We invite you to a fantastic combination of a talk on *"High Energy Aspects of the Solar & Stellar Coronae" *by Dr. Vinay Kashyap, an Astrophysicist at the Chandra X-Ray Center, Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), Cambridge, USA followed by a concert by *"Sarjapur Blues Band"*. The talk is at 5 pm and the concert at 7.00 pm on Saturday, 7th July 2007 at ESG. Details of both programmes are enclosed and we invite you to participate in both. Kindly let us know in advance if you will participate so we can make appropriate seating arrangements. Please also pass on these invitations to your friends and colleagues. Looking forward to your participation. Bhargavi S. Rao -- Environment Support Group (R) 105, East End B Main Road Jayanagar 9th Block East Bangalore 560069. INDIA Tel: 91-80-22441977/26531339 Fax: 26534364 Email: bhargavi at esgindia.org or esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Web: www.esgindia.org -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070703/8131da30/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Vinay Kashyap_SolarFlares_ESG_talk_070707.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 77451 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070703/8131da30/attachment-0004.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Sarjapur Blues Band_ESGInvite_070707.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 351037 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070703/8131da30/attachment-0005.pdf From mansilight at gmail.com Wed Jul 4 17:33:20 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Wed, 4 Jul 2007 17:33:20 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second posting: Whose lake is it anyway?-1 Message-ID: <998c34570707040503x19abb295k5525f72d5c6ae8c1@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, We jointly present our posting in a single essay this time. Parts of this essay go into our paper draft. Do take time to read through. We presented our work to our institution and it was well received. Meera, Sreeja and Sowjanya. Whose lake is it anyway?-1 Birth of the Hebbal 'lake'- Physical and Social Bangalore has two unique topological terrains — North Bangalore and the South Bangalore. North Bangalore is a relatively more level plateau and lies between an average of 839 to 962 meters above sea level. The middle of the taluk has a prominent ridge running NNE-SSW. There are gentle slopes and valleys on either side of this ridge. The Hebbal Lake situated in this low-lying area of the valley was once part of this large wetland landscape. It was made into a deeper lake and part of a chain of interconnected tanks through impoundment to meet the town's water requirements in the 16th century by Kempe Gowda I. As the city grew big the drinking water for the city could not be sourced from these lakes alone and the lakes were reduced to an inlet for sewage, storm water drains and cattle bathing places. Meanwhile the physical boundaries of the city have been expanding taking Hebbal into its folds: the suburban became the urban; the village that was 'Hebbal' on the road to Hyderabad became a town enroute the new international airport. The lake caught in this urban influx found itself subsumed as a part of an urban park making a transition into visual and recreational space. With the physical transformation of the lake from a wetland marsh into a drinking water reservoir on to being a component of a public park, the social meanings of the lake constructed by different people and its waters has also been changing. The features of the lake which indicate its health or integrity have also changed according to the anthropocentric view of the lake. When it was being used as a drinking water reservoir potable water quality parameters were its markers. In its new avatar the discourse of lake restoration highlights visual parameters of vastness and blueness. Silt and water plants disturb this aesthetic notion and the idea of a lake drying up as a part of its natural cycle does not fit this new portfolio. 'Artifact' of nature Rolston (2004) claims that human beings are naturally political and build themselves a polis in which they can socialize. According to him the architectures of nature and culture are different, and culture always seeks to improve nature, yet the management intent spoils the wilderness. Culture processes by their very 'nature' interrupt evolution. Fear is the general response of the urban dweller to the wild. Communities would be happier with plastic plants and trees. Despite this, human beings have dimensions within themselves which relate to the wild and the rural. Parks and gardens package this wilderness and nature for the urban dweller. A tamed nature is the desirable halfway artifact that brings the wild into the safety of a totally built space. "Still, our homes are cultural places in their construction, but there is always a natural foundation, a sense of belongings to the landscape. For all those boundaries that we defend against the external world, our virtues are not confined to those of maintaining our separateness. "( Rolston, 2004) Nature is thus adopted into the urban but it is under the terms of urban living. While nature is unpredictable, unstable and constantly changing, the artifacts of nature are as frozen as the built environment. No erosion, denudation or asymmetry is allowed unless planned for. Flower beds are laid with seasonal precision to mask the natural flowerless state of plants. New species of flora and fauna are introduced for aesthetic appeal alone. Lakes are maintained full even in hot summer months. This 'aesthetic' value is then added as an amenity to market real estates. Thus land, air, water and living forms are brought to the service of human markets. These habitats are complexly embedded. They are not just contrived because they contain aspects of nature. At the same time they are not merely receptacles of nature, they are not mere substitutes for natural landscapes. These are managed ecoscapes. It is in this management that the various politics are played out – politics of man and nature, politics of aesthetic values and utilitarian values, politics of state and civil society and the politics of the public and private. Whatever the nature of these ecoscapes, they are associated with culturally shaped values. The lake and its environs are meant to embody all that the urban is not. The experience of nature is seen as that which purifies and restores. Thus it's a space for activities that assume a high value such as those connected with parenting, spending time with loved ones, leisure or intellectual activities and fun and health activities. The park is also seen as a laboratory to learn nature appreciation. Nature journalism adds to this social construction of nature with a steady stream of exotic photographs and articles aimed specifically at the urban middleclass Indian. The park planners are thus merely catering to these particular social constructs. The question that then becomes central is which construct is being commodified in the present management of the lake. This shapes both the inner architecture of the lake and the actors involved in the business of lake development. This is why boating, food courts and amusement will get a legitimate 'public' space in the lake. This conceptualisation of a public park as a visual and recreational space for the urban dwellers is a recent phenomenon. The best urban spaces were always imperial gardens which were reserved for the ruling elite often out of bounds for the common urbanite. Urban planning before 20th century contained recreational spaces for the ruling class but largely ignored the needs of ordinary city dwellers. With the acknowledgement of the importance of open and recreational spaces in promoting public health, the public park movement for the common public began in Europe in the 1830's. In Europe andUnited States two distinct phases are identified. Early parks emphasized the natural landscape offering a pastoral or wilderness component to the urban environment of straight lines and rigid angles. The second phase saw sports facilities invading park environs which were originally designed as quiet retreats. The mixture of sports and landscape created a new concept of public parks and linked recreation . Dayton (2000) The conceptualization involved in the present restoration plan of Hebbal Lake involves a singular notion of the public. Our study reveals that the public is manifold with different social constructs of the lake. There is also a multiplicity in the claims and discourses of lake management. The next posting will present the field notes of our rapid ethnographic study containing key informant interviews. References Drayton, Richard, "Nature's Government: Science, Imperial Britain, and the 'Improvement' of the World", New Haven, Yale University Press, 2000. Rolston, Holmes III, "Environmental Virtue Ethics: Half the Truth but Dangerous as a Whole" , 2004 from URL - http://www.cep.unt.edu/ISEE2/rolston.pdf accessed on 03/07/07 From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 5 18:15:59 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:15:59 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation in the Mall. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707050545l30aea478pfd17f05b8feb74a2@mail.gmail.com> Hello all, My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of this process of transformation. My first posting looks into issues of gentrification, and class regulation in the malls. The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the 'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or 'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial atmosphere' within these premises.) Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation from other groups. Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies to attract a particular income group, while at the same time dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural design and interior décor appeal to the specific tastes of certain groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is completed.) Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and 'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the consumer from all sides. (I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an attractive sensorium inside the malls) From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 5 18:21:38 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:21:38 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] IstPosting. Gentrification an Class regulation in the Mall Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707050551p7c2fa314g42aa718e2df8bfb3@mail.gmail.com> Hello all, My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of this process of transformation. My first posting is a partial account of the cultural and sociological aspect of the Mall, as I look into issues of gentrification, and class regulation. The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the 'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or 'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial atmosphere' within these premises.) Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation from other groups. Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies to attract a particular income group, while at the same time dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural design and interior décor appeal to the specific tastes of certain groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is completed.) Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and 'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the consumer from all sides. (I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an attractive sensorium inside the malls) From sebydesiolim at hotmail.com Sat Jul 7 19:27:25 2007 From: sebydesiolim at hotmail.com (sebastian Rodrigues) Date: Sat, 07 Jul 2007 19:27:25 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] IstPosting. Gentrification an Class regulation in theMall In-Reply-To: <7fe7fedf0707050551p7c2fa314g42aa718e2df8bfb3@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Very insightful posting indeed. Malls besides being an isolosionist economy is emerging as powerful social and cultural segrationist too, infact more so! Looking forward to your future postings! Seby Visit my blog at http://www.openspaceforum.net/twiki/tiki-view_blog.php?blogId=17 >From: "ipsita sahu" >To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net >Subject: [Urbanstudy] IstPosting. Gentrification an Class regulation in >theMall >Date: Thu, 5 Jul 2007 18:21:38 +0530 > >Hello all, > >My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study >of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider >suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization >and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of >this process of transformation. My first posting is a partial account >of the cultural and sociological aspect of the Mall, as I look into >issues of gentrification, and class regulation. > > The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row >along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street >arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior >space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the >traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor >shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically >along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the >'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously >separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street >experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, >uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The >boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily >function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these >exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus >territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing >two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones >without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the >society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of >the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent >and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security >guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East >Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to >prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, >vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or >'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven >or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to >keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial >atmosphere' within these premises.) > > >Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find >temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and >distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a >hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better >calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall >space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and >produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of >memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and >difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the >city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and >attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary >refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and >overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides >the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part >of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has >become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large >cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and >reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial >grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in >functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who >are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the >absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the >only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's >clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become >effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, >community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social >regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the >broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means >of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they >also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation >from other groups. > > Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and >lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social >phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the >society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular >mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these >malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the >associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a >particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have >already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space >structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of >consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it >has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups >within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. >However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic >prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies >to attract a particular income group, while at the same time >dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and >the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes >and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural >design and interior d�r appeal to the specific tastes of certain >groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The >malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a >distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the >Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal >Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is >regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is >completed.) > > >Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in >mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who >frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does >not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some >loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the >place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings >and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the >mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of >the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its >turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and >'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the >multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the >limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. > >The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into >real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional >street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate >consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an >enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street >arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the >shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement >provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance >viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive >facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the >mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the >consumer from all sides. > >(I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall >in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the >use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an >attractive sensorium inside the malls) >_______________________________________________ >Urbanstudygroup mailing list >Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > >To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit >https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup _________________________________________________________________ Wedding bells are ringing. When's your time to walk the aisle? http://ad.in.doubleclick.net/clk;112111293;17571293;v?http://www.simplymarry.com/timesmatri/faces/jsp/UserTrackLandingPage.jsp?origin=hotmail_taglines_ros_june07 From yashdeeps at hotmail.com Mon Jul 9 11:02:29 2007 From: yashdeeps at hotmail.com (Yashdeep Srivastava) Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 15:32:29 +1000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. References: <7fe7fedf0707050545l30aea478pfd17f05b8feb74a2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: In the light of Ipsita's very interestin post, just though I might share an article that is due for publication in Indian Architect and Builder and is due for publication in August 2007 (Kaiwan, has very kindly agreed to let me share it with the urban study group). I thought it might be of interest... Regards, Yash MAL(L)PRACTICE: Creating Architectures of Consumerist Privilige in India's Hinterland Yashdeep Srivastava On a trip to Lucknow in India, about a year back, for a family wedding, I was confronted with urban imagery that I had come to expect in metropolitan India but was unaccustomed to in smaller cities. Since it was a wedding, one was prone to consumer indulgences that led to visits to Lucknow's favoured shopping precincts like Chowk, Aminabad and Hazratganj. While the old bazaars of Chowk and Aminabad remained as vibrantly disordered as before, the ordered colonial arcades of Hazratganj appeared tired and lacklustre. The reason for this neglect materialised, barely two hundred metres from Hazratganj. Saharaganj is a new shopping mall that has become the draw card for the urban middleclass that once thronged to Hazratganj. In the days to come, I was to discover more such shopping malls[1] that had sprung up adjacent to middle class and elite housing colonies like Gomti Nagar. Unlike Kapurthala and Faizabad Road, which are inspired by discarded business district models popular in the west in the 60s and 70s, which were vigorously pushed by local development authorities, Saharaganj is a shopping mall and is similar to those in the suburbs of the developed world. Saharaganj was a bustle even on a hot summer afternoon just as the covered walkways of Hazratganj used to not too long back. Physical changes were rapidly overcoming Lucknow at a rate that I had never witnessed before and I imagined this must be occurring in India's other regional cities too. The purpose of this essay is to draw attention to the changing urban form of India which is a stark reflection of successive government's liberal economic policies. Through the example of Saharaganj, it demonstrates the impact of state economic policies on Indian society as a whole and its widespread influence on the control and domination of public urban space through the complementary mediums of architecture and private real estate development in India's regional centres. Neoliberalism and the middleclass Since India's foreign exchange crisis in the early 90's, successive Indian governments have adopted neoliberal economic policies that were originally championed by the Reagan and Thatcher governments in the US and UK and disseminated globally by the IMF and the World Bank. Neoliberalism marks the withdrawal of governments from the task of regulating the market or indeed participating in the market through state-owned industry to facilitate equitable resource distribution among their populations. The protagonists of neoliberal policies believe in the market as the ultimate, impartial and self-correcting arbitrator for all human wants and needs. The adoption of Neoliberalism is often manifested in the privatisation of state owned industries, the liberalisation of capital and commodities markets, increased private participation in the development of property and civic infrastructure and the decline of state subsidy for essential services[2]. Neoliberalism with its emphasis on markets understandably favours the elite and the middleclass in Indian society, who have the wherewithal to influence or participate in market dynamics. The emergence of shopping malls and multiplexes like Saharaganj are symptoms of this phenomenon that relocate the public realm into the private domain of the privileged classes[3]. Lucknow Lucknow is the capital of Uttar Pradesh and the administrative head quarters of the state government. From being an important urban settlement and the capital of the Avadh principality in the Mughal era, it was relegated and neutered into a regional centre, complete with an attached cantonment, in the colonial days. Today, it remains a modest urban centre, with limited influence on the larger polity of the Indian federation, partly abetted by political intransigence and a lack of vision by its political leadership. Lucknow's own history has largely moulded its urban fabric. From the Baroque palaces and mosques of the decadent yet culturally enlightened Nawabs of Avadh to the utilitarian yet grand colonial arcades of Hazratganj or Charbagh Station, layers of the region's history can be read in its streets and landmarks. The dawn of the of the postcolonial era is marked by iconic structures of self-rule like the Vidhan Sabha and more recently state-led development of architecturally droll institutional precincts in sectors of Gomti Nagar and middle class housing colonies like Indira Nagar. Many of these iconic precincts and structures are imbued with meanings of a bygone era and have easily slipped into contemporary semiotic lexicon, albeit with new meanings. Hazratganj is one such precinct. While Aminabad and Chowk are traditional markets of pre-colonial vintage, Hazratganj has the dignified air of a colonial promenade in close proximity to the former British cantonment. Its rectilinear colonnaded footpaths, reminiscent of Connaught Place, flank a wide road no longer than perhaps a kilometre. Anchored on one end by a now defunct India Coffee House, it is a strip of fashionable shops with anglicised names. Amongst others, the precinct is the site of a now closed art deco cinema theatre called Mayfair, which predominantly showed Hollywood films and also housed the British Library. It was where the memsahibs of the Raj strolled leisurely on warm summer evenings. The colonnades of Hazratganj were for Lucknow what Benjamin's Arcades were for Paris - a single spatial repository of goods from around the world (Benjamin 2002). Post-independence, Hazratganj continued to be the privileged shopping street, especially for Lucknow's upper classes and aspiring students from the neighbouring university. In the seventies, Hazratganj expanded to include Janpath, a non-descript but beloved shopping ensemble of dubious architectural merit. The act of leisurely strolling in Hazratganj has a quaint and colloquial epithet-'ganjing'. Hazratganj and ganjing are intricately woven into the memories of all generations of 'Lucknowites', who in turn bestowed multiple layers of meaning on 'Ganj'. On this visit, Ganj seemed to have lost that buzz and appeared rather dull. The grand colonial patina of architectural style that once lent it dignity now looked jaded and decayed. Saharaganj The stark reality of changing times and shifting loyalty comes to fore when you cast a glance at this shopping mall, curiously called Saharaganj. Lucknow's focus of capital and desire has moved barely a few hundred metres away from its old haunt and the very idea of ganjing has undergone change. Just as a vacuous devouring of espressos on the Janpath deck replaced passionate discussion on Nehruvian socialism in India Coffee House, McDonald's cappuccino within air-conditioned Saharaganj is redefining the hackneyed hype surrounding shaam-e-Avadh or evenings of 'Oudh'. India's liberalised economy and growing consumerism are reshaping and altering her urban scapes, not just in the metropolitan commercial hubs, but in hitherto smaller urban nuclei too. Saharaganj is Lucknow's first shopping mall, claims a national architecture magazine, and India's third largest. Inaugurated in November 2005, the report reads like a press release and a publicity exercise by its promoters proclaiming its opening with much fanfare. The developers claim to have created a 'new look' for Lucknow with the aim of ".introduc[ing] modernity in the city, which till now has been known for historicity." It further suggests that the mall is a catalyst for bringing ".a certain lifestyle into the lives of [its] people" and is an attempt to ".redefine Lucknow" as a 'modern' and 'upcoming' city (A+D 2005). The promoters in deference to popular belief have portrayed Lucknow as a backward town and linked modernity with shopping malls. Shopping malls, in turn, are projected as symbols of national progress by politicians to capture the imagination of the upper classes. In cleverly appropriating the word 'ganj' and coupling it with the developers brand name, not only is the notion of Lucknow's public space privatised, in its spatial design, it is gated as an idea. Intimidating aluminium-clad boxes with liveried security are in stark contrast to the physically open and once unapproachable promenades of postcolonial Hazratganj. The box and its single entry perform the task of screening 'riff raff'. As if that was not enough, the alienation is completed by the daunting signs and signage that conspicuously signify access to status that that was once merely a muted aspiration for the bulk of the socialist-minded Indian middleclass. These visual devices of exclusion are not new tactics for mall managements to divisively categorise the public; a few years back a shopping mall in Mumbai demanded that visitors produce credit cards as a rite of passage into the mall! These practices create a whole subclass in our cities that are relegated to the role of non-citizen. While they are direly needed to perform menial tasks in the emergent economy they are simultaneously excluded from participating in the city's civic life. They are seen as a necessary 'evil' to be tolerated in India's path to modernity. Thus it is common to see municipal authorities passing laws against hawkers, tucking away the poor behind elegant facades of slum redevelopment or the forcible appropriation of land to build special economic zones or to even turn Mumbai into Shanghai! Seen in isolation, some of these schemes could appear to be benevolent attempts to improve conditions for the poor, they are in fact manipulations to further the privileged classes' collective image of modern India at any cost. For architects and the middle class alike, modernity and development reside in the images popularly associated with modernity, thus promoting a cult of 'image at any cost'. The Indian middleclass itself has undergone change which is quite evocatively captured in the Bollywood film Bunty aur Babli. Here the middle class protagonist's aspirations can no longer be contained in their small town, represented commonly as bastions of old value with an inherent inertia to change, they escape to crime and the lights of the tumultuous big city for the fulfilment of their desires and recognition. Far from being a self-conscious consumer, raised on Gandhian ideals of austerity and state-engineered socialist rhetoric, the new middleclass are conspicuous consumers who spew with conviction the state's liberal mantras of progress. No longer is the main street shopping strip model like Hazratganj or a bazaar like Aminabad acceptable to this class, abetted by access to world media, aspirations for consumption and lifestyle are calibrated against the western standard of the mall. This has a direct impact on the already deteriorated environmental quality of Indian cities in addition to issues of equity and access to resources. The demands on energy to air-condition and power these structures are very large when compared with the climatically sympathetic bazaars or even arcaded shopping strips of the past. However, shopping malls reify the very core of the liberal paradigm where increased consumption of resources and goods is a reflection of growth and consequently national development. However, this opens up another area for discussion which is not the main objective of this essay. Nonetheless popular notions of modernity remain central to the discussion. Derived from a modernist and colonial preoccupation with hygiene and public health, Dipesh Chakrabarty (2002) argues that the public space or bazaar is the space of chance encounter with the unfamiliar 'other'. He valorises the bazaar as a place where traditional concepts of inviolate communities are rewired to precipitate temporary familiarity between disparate social groups. Not Saharaganj, it is a zone of exclusion precluding the possibility of that chance encounter with the other in class terms. By extension, shopping malls become the space that is 'subject to a single set of communal rules' where the sense of the outside is reversed - the bazaar becomes a socially homogenous extension of the house. Architects, apart from being largely middle class, are also beholden to the private developer for their livelihood as professionals. Like the protagonists in Bunty aur Babli, they are enamoured by the glamour and recognition that the media and professional awards can bring to them. As vendors of a dominant image of modernity, they are drawn into perpetuating and supporting the larger game of liberal interests and fulfilling desires while whetting new ones through their manipulation of space and articulation of facades. They are thus the agency for creating and supporting enclaves of privilege and design thus becomes an act of subjective indulgence and self-gratification tempered by prevalent architectural fashion forecasts consumed by the upper class. This is in sharp contrast to the high ideals of architectural Modernism and marks the departure of Indian architecture from its principles of spatial justice for social causes towards a post-modern architecture of the façade that maps market forces. Each of these objects stands in splendid isolation of the urban fabric that surrounds it, like the ego of the maverick architect who designed it. The city becomes a motley collection of icons, where the signs of imperfect participation by construction workers are erased by perfectly engineered façade systems and symbols of consumerism. The architect, the Modern hero, the harbinger of social change turns into an artist in pursuit of self-gratification when not surrendering to market forces. Conclusion We perpetually live in changing times. The shift from bazaars to shopping strips to malls is but a feature of the progression and evolution of human life on earth. Each era of change brings with it a new vocabulary in all forms of expression. Space is produced by society to mirror its dominant preoccupations as the social theorist Lefebvre (1991) has said. The Indian government's economic policies are changing the urbanscape not only in metropolitan areas but in smaller cities as well. As the government increasingly relies on privatisation and the market to meet the basic needs of its citizens, one is confronted by the unleashing of deeply divisive forces that deepen the already immanent class divide that earlier governments had strived to fill. Clearly, only the needs or rather the desires of a few are being met by these policies and yet its icons like malls and multiplexes have come to dominate skylines and public space. Shopping malls like Saharaganj embody and express much of what this economics entails. By enclosing the hitherto public realm like the bazaar into imaginary fortresses of privilege, these structures rob the city of diversity and difference. Instead they paper over difference with a universalised aesthetic imperative for global produce. The private control of public space, and by extension the diversely opinionated Habermasian public sphere, smothers the voice of difference within a civilised society. This is an anathema to modernity even if the icon itself may suggest otherwise. Architects and planners in surrendering to these vested interests abdicate their responsibility to society. Rather than using their training to offer a more equitable vision for society, they push their idiosyncratic expression as a brand-building exercise for their patrons, further impoverishing the Indian urban fabric. They steal the cities of the rich qualitative vitality of human life that marks them apart in the first place and of something that their counterparts in the developed world endeavour to inject into their own cities. Understandably, it is difficult to change the government's economic policies in the face of a 9% growth, however it is incumbent on architects and the middle-class others who shape urban habitat to demand and demonstrate equitable access to resources and the public realm. Not just for themselves but also for the huge sub class that is without a voice or wherewithal to influence outcomes that affect us all. Let us be modern, rather than simply look it. 2518 words BIBLIOGRAPHY A+D 2005, Events - Sahara Ganj Inauguration, A+D, Vol: XXII, No: 12. (pp. 32). [December 2005] Benjamin, W. 2002, The Arcades of Paris, The Arcades Project (pp. 873 - 874). Cambridge Ma: The Belknap Press. Chakrabarty, D. 2002, Of Garbage, Modernity, and the Citizen's Gaze. In D. Chakrabarty (Ed.), Habitations of Modernity:Essays in the Wake of Subaltern Studies (pp. 65-79). Chicago and London: The University of Chicago Press. Harvey, D. 2005, A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Lefebvre, H. 1991, The Production of Space. Malden, MA: Blackwell Publishing. Stiglitz, J. E. 2002, Globalization and its Discontents. London: Penguin Books. Voyce, M. 2007, Shopping Malls in India: New Social 'Dividing Practices'. Economic and Political Weekly. pp 2055-2062. June 2, 2007 -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1] A collection of shops connected by a single covered or enclosed walkway on one or several levels - the term represent a building type that has come to be accepted as a universal. In colonial times, 'The Mall' represented the high street shopping strip most commonly found in hill stations or summer retreats for expatriate British officers in the hills. [2] Refer to Stiglitz's and Harvey for a detailed discussion, both recent visitors to India (Stiglitz, J. E. 2002, Globalization and its Discontents. London: Penguin Books. Harvey, D. 2005, A Brief History of Neoliberalism. Oxford: Oxford University Press.) [3] A recent article in the Economic and Political weekly highlights this phenomenon (Voyce, M. 2007, Shopping Malls in India: New Social 'Dividing Practices'. Economic and Political Weekly. pp 2055-2062. June 2, 2007) ----- Original Message ----- From: "ipsita sahu" To: Sent: Thursday, July 05, 2007 10:45 PM Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. Hello all, My research project for the Sarai Student Stipendship 2007 is a study of the malls and multiplexes in Ghaziabad as a part of the wider suburban materiality. I am looking into the nature of suburbanization and the role of these built forms as produced and thus expressive of this process of transformation. My first posting looks into issues of gentrification, and class regulation in the malls. The generic design of the Mall with retail shops arranged in a row along pathways is modeled along the lines of the traditional street arcade. It creates a pseudo- street atmosphere within an interior space. The mall misses out on nothing that one finds in the traditional market including grocery stores and small vendor shops-'chaat-shop', corn stand, 'pan-shop', dotted strategically along the corners of the mall in a street like fashion. However, the 'enclosure' of these shops inside a larger interior space consciously separates these consumer spaces from the street and all the street experiences so loathed by the urban gentry- the noise, stench, dirt, uncomfortable weather, and contact with the threatening urban mob. The boundary walls of these premises and the security checks primarily function as cordons for segregating the urban poor from these exclusive gentried premises. The built structure of the mall thus territorializes and gentrifies consumer space by spatially dividing two economic classes- the ones with purchasing power and the ones without it. It creates a secure place for the affluent class of the society who do not have to come in contact with the 'dark' figures of the metropolis- the 'uncouth, unsophisticated and potentially violent and harmful' urban poor. (During my interaction with a few security guards at the entry gates of the Pacific mall, Shipra mall and East Delhi Mall, it was revealed that the guards were strictly told to prevent members of the labour classes such as the cab drivers, vendors, rickshapullers, and others who were not 'dressed' properly or 'looked' appropriate- 'as when someone wears slippers or is unshaven or reeks of liquor.' Even forceful measures are taken if required to keep them out. This is done in order to maintain a 'congenial atmosphere' within these premises.) Malls provide idyllic spaces for the urban gentry to 'relax' and find temporary respite from personal problems through indulgence and distraction. The fast-paced temporal rhythm of the city produces a hyperstimulated mind and for such a mental state, there is no better calm than distraction. The hyper sensorial environment in the mall space anesthetizes the consumer with its deluge of visual stimuli and produces a 'distracted' state of mind, which enables the suspension of memory and thus provides escape from gnawing worries, tensions and difficulties that arise from living hectic and demanding lives in the city. These enclosed 'urban dreamscapes' with their alluring and attractive appearance and feel-good atmosphere thus provide temporary refuge for urban dwellers from the hostile, ugly, threatening and overpowering outside cityscape. As for indulgence, shopping provides the ultimate recreation for urban consumers as they spend a large part of their time and energy cultivating consumer lifestyles, which has become an important mode of forming identities in cities. In large cities where relationships are mostly based on fleeting, distanced and reserved associations and judgments have to be based on superficial grounds, material possessions and outward appearances go a long way in functioning as modes of sociability. Not only in relation to those who are 'known' but especially in public spaces in the midst of the absolute unknowns, the strangers, where visual apperceptions forms the only medium of communication, the outer make of a person such as one's clothes, accessories, general get up, body language etc become effective representative codes to ascertain a person's status, class, community etc. As stated by Simmel, fashion and lifestyles are social regulatory systems of stratification and hierarchiasation within the broad economic class of consumers. As much as these function as means of individuation and identification with a certain desired group, they also at the same time serve as modes of differentiation and separation from other groups. Malls with its cultural identity as storehouses of fashion and lifestyle goods are sites, which superbly demonstrate this social phenomenon of stratification amongst the higher economic class of the society. The liking and preferences of consumers for any particular mall is curiously based on the class of customers who come to these malls and their fashion predilections is also determined by the associations they draw between the fashion trends extolled by a particular mall and the type of consumers that it appeals to. I have already stated as to how the mall in its role as a public space structurally and through surveillance regulates the inflow of consumers by the segregation of the lower income groups. However, it has no such means to discriminate between the different income groups within the consumer class and to privilege any particular group. However considering the way social hierarchies affect the economic prospects of the mall, different malls have devised various strategies to attract a particular income group, while at the same time dispelling other groups. For instance, the type of retail shops and the general standards of price range and design cater to the tastes and affordability of a certain class. Similarly, the architectural design and interior décor appeal to the specific tastes of certain groups. The location of a mall also determines its clientele. (The malls of Ghaziabad follow this pattern for one is able to see a distinct variation in the crowd of each of these malls such as the Shipra Mall, Pacific Mall, East Delhi Mall, Crossriver Mall and Ansal Plaza. I intend to give a detailed description of how clientele is regulated in these malls as my fieldwork looking into these areas is completed.) Not all who come to the mall have serious consumerist objectives in mind. A large part of the mall crowd consists of the youth who frequent these places simply to 'hang out' and 'kill time', which does not necessarily have to include buying. One sees these figures, some loners, others in groups and many as couples sauntering around the place surveying window displays or just idly standing along railings and other such recesses and observing the general activity inside the mall. These 'flaneurs' make the most of the magnificent sensorium of the mall and revel in its exhibitionist spectacle. The mall in its turn caters to their interests and provides special niches and 'hang-out zones' such as the food-court, coffee houses and the multiplex in an attempt to eke out as much as possible out of the limited purchasing capacities of these consumers. The mall constantly devises new means to convert 'pseudo-buyers' into real consumers. In this respect it far surpasses the traditional street arcades in its capacity and effectiveness to perpetuate consumer culture. By virtue of its architectural design of being an enclosed space, the mall exercises its greatest advantage over street arcades. The street arcade has both exterior and interior within the shopping complex, i.e. the shops and the street, and this arrangement provides a threshold for casual window shoppers and other chance viewers enabling them to resist the drawing forces of the attractive facades of retail shops. However, within the enclosed space of the mall there is no escape from the luring forces acting upon the consumer from all sides. (I will carry out this discussion about the luring power of the mall in my second posting where I will look into the architectonics and the use of lights, music and the role of window displays in creating an attractive sensorium inside the malls) _______________________________________________ Urbanstudygroup mailing list Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup From aliak77 at gmail.com Mon Jul 9 12:31:36 2007 From: aliak77 at gmail.com (Kath O'Donnell) Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 17:01:36 +1000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. In-Reply-To: References: <7fe7fedf0707050545l30aea478pfd17f05b8feb74a2@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <383607190707090001v2df97eb2u8a3d6027f0a076da@mail.gmail.com> interesting posts and topic. just out of interest, what do the urban poor think of the malls? and are they taking people away from the local markets/businesses. this was a problem in Australia (Brisbane) when I was growing up and malls were becoming more popular. many of the local shops/stores/businesses closed down or tried to move to the malls but couldn't afford the rent there. is this a problem in india too or does the larger population there still allow for the smaller businesses as well as larger malls? I think the larger malls allowed for the urban sprawl in brisbane - the city spread outwards (instead of upwards) with centres of malls in the suburbs for people to find all they needed (?) in one spot rather than having to go into the city to the larger stores. (not sure if we're meant to comment/ask questions on these posts or they're just for posting) there's some interesting topics on this maillist though. cheers kath On 7/9/07, Yashdeep Srivastava wrote: > In the light of Ipsita's very interestin post, just though I might share an > article that is due for publication in Indian Architect and Builder and is > due for publication in August 2007 (Kaiwan, has very kindly agreed to let me > share it with the urban study group). I thought it might be of interest... > > Regards, > > Yash > MAL(L)PRACTICE: Creating Architectures of Consumerist Privilige in India's > Hinterland > > > > Yashdeep Srivastava > > -- http://www.aliak.com From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Jul 10 16:19:56 2007 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:19:56 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] URBANIA Schizoid Cityscapes outlook article Message-ID: <86b8a7050707100349oe5cf006sc7cee22639f276ad@mail.gmail.com> Atul Loke A priest on a Mylapore bylane attends a call URBANIA *Schizoid Cityscapes* *Techies are rebooting urban equations. The cussed natives are revolting, the converts are rejoicing.* Sugata Srinivasaraju | e-mail | one page format | feedback: send | Special Issue: The South Special - *The Bangalore-vs-Bengaluru tussle wasn't just about a change in the name of the city, or a debate about extricating it from the chains of colonial history. It represented a gnawing social split, and symbolised how the 'majority' had been excluded from the tech revolution that Bangalore has witnessed since 1995. It was a logical and obvious fallout of a digital divide that happens in all hi-tech cities. * - *With its faux-baroque curlicues and soaring columns, Chennai's Citi Center Mall is a hump-backed monster that squats a few kilometres from Mylapore, the city's oldest, historic neighbourhood. While some gawk at the mall's high-ceilinged stores and pastel-coloured gelatos, others talk about the growing disconnect between this new landscape and the old. In Chennai, the traditional insiders seem to have rejected the prosperous outsiders. * - *Adman Anvar Ali Khan feels Hyderabad is probably the world's "ultimate schizophrenic city". Until the 1990s, it was known for decaying monuments and old-world culture. Suddenly, it morphed into a global IT hub and was featured in international media—in magazines like * Fortune *and * BusinessWeek*. "It was like time-lapse photography. Both these cities lie parallel to each other, but rarely intersect," concludes Khan. * *** Every city is several sub-cities that coalesce, converge, conflict with each other, or remain disconnected. This is especially true of tech geographies, like Silicon Valley, where the contrast is exaggerated. In 2000-01, during the height of the New Economy hype, over 60 individuals became millionaires every day in the Silicon Valley, while 15 per cent of children under five years lived in poverty in one of the counties, Santa Clara. In India, the issue is more complicated by an interplay between tradition and modernity, and an internalised collision between the old and new values. Ever since Andhraites winged their way to the US by waving their H1B visas, and the American workers got Bangalored due to outsourcing, many southern cities witnessed a dramatic and radical transformation. Brahmins became entrepreneurs (as one of them says, "I don't want to be working for someone else for life"), it was no longer indecent to flash one's wealth (epitomised by swanky cars and glitzy houses). And boasting about one's success became an inherent part of life (a former colleague says that "the south borrowed all the wrong things from the north"). Citi Center Mall, Chennai. Today, in the southern cities, there is a clash of cultures—cool cats rub shoulders with their conservative counterparts, and career-capitalist segments are engaged in endless debates with the academic-ethical classes. In Bangalore, Koshy's (like Calcutta's Coffee House) coexists with NMH Tiffin Room. Chennai's IT hub on Old Mahabalipuram Road intersects with urban villages. And, in Hyderabad, says Khan, "Mumbai's Bandra-Kurla complex seems to have been grafted into Lucknow's old Imambara area." Explains Solly Benjamin, an independent researcher: "Bangalore is, in many ways, a 'divided' city. The glass-walled office complexes, malls and entertainment centres contrast with the squatter settlements." Adds Mohammed Habeebuddin, a social worker in old Hyderabad: "Young girls here now complete education to work at a call centre. But many others don't give a hang about IT." Comments M.S.S. Pandian, an economist: "There is a huge gulf between the prosperous south and north Chennai. It's creating a condominium culture. t has made people in the north to seethe with anger." To get a sense of this divide in physical terms, just take a look at the new socio-economic maps of Chennai that are being plotted by The Madras Office for Architects and Designers. They distinctly show that the modern clusters of atms and restaurants (serving international and Chinese cuisines) have cropped up in the southern part of the city. Says Pandian: "Unlike in south Chennai, one can hardly find an ATM in north Chennai." Similar borders now define Bangalore. But the more major changes are reflected in the daily lives of the city-dwellers. *Money alone doesn't mark sub-cities. New and old values clash, tradition and modernity seldom marry.* A theatre festival organiser, who recently moved from Pune to Bangalore, categorically says that she's "still seen as an outsider, even though we are allowed to work within the artistic community". She points out that when she was first called in to organise an important festival, "lots of people, very old and good friends, were really pissed off. I was shocked, but it is true. Cultural anxiety is economic anxiety with a mask on". It is in Chennai, the last among the cyber-trio to change, that the tensions are more visible. Margaret Zinyu, a colour specialist with Ford Motor, talks about her experiences while looking for a house. "It was difficult to find one as most ads advertised for families, vegetarians, or Brahmins." Malavika P.C., an artist and graphic designer, recalls that her house search encountered several moralistic questions since "I moved out from my parent's home in Chennai itself". She concedes that the city is opening up, but maintains "it's still far, far more conservative than the other places I've seen". Harpulak Bahadur, a senior manager with a leading KPO (knowledge process outsourcing) unit, agrees. "Even between Chennai *Cool cats and conservatives snub each other. Capitalists lock horns with the academic-ethical classes.* and Bangalore, I think Chennai is still conservative in more ways than one. For instance, I still find it difficult to enter pubs in Chennai that do not allow stags. In Bangalore, I can easily offer to buy a drink to a girl outside any pub and enter it. That's how easy it is. In Chennai, I still struggle! But Chennai is also changing because of the outsiders," he explains. Like in Mumbai, moral policing has caught on in the south. Nitya Raman (name changed), a local who works with a financial services firm, narrates her harrowing interaction with the cops. "Last month, I went to a friend's place after a few drinks at a pub, and his neighbours called the cops. They complained that my friend was running a brothel. Since my friends didn't understand Tamil, I intervened. I realised that I was a better 'enemy'—a local who didn't stand for any values. I was physically dragged to the police station, and spent four hours there. It was one long nightmare." A fashion show at Garuda Mall Rightly or wrongly, Bangalore has had its share. Dance bars were shut down as they were "corrupting the youth". The pubs have been instructed to close at 11 pm, with the last order at 10.30, because of high-profile shootouts. And the city police regularly conducts breath-analyser tests to prevent drunken driving. A few mainstream colleges have an unwritten rule against the wearing of jeans and miniskirts. And there are regular complaints by old-timers about the immorality in the tech world. Although ad-filmmaker Mohammad Ali Baig says it is wrong for the non-IT sections to envy their counterparts in the Hitec City, he agrees that there is a cultural degradation. "Step into any BPO in Hyderabad, and it is difficult to tell one employee from the other. All of them look like copies of each other. Their aspirations are monetary, their dreams and body language the same. It is like a dead culture. The IT sector, while fulfilling monetary requirements, will only lead to a robot-like society," he feels. Rues Ali Khan: "My generation of Nehruvian youngsters had different values about life, education, work and money. I know of youngsters in their twenties who have been put through a good education, but instead of pursuing a career like we would have, they are basically hustlers. They do a quick assignment or deal, make money, and hang around and 'chill' for a few months. Then they do it all over again. Logically, it makes sense: you earn well, you enjoy. But somehow it seems a flaky way of life to me." Prasad IMAX on Necklace Road, Hyderabad Gnani, a noted columnist and writer in Chennai, agrees. *Chennai has its chunk of ATMs and swanky restaurants in the south. Bangalore too has such polarisation.* "The trouble today is that we are seeing a breakdown of the feudal culture and the start of a capitalist one. In the old culture, a servant cared about the master as he was taken care of by the master. But there is no such personal relationship or emotional bonding in a capitalist culture," he says. "Sections of employees in new-age firms, who crave for pubs and an active nightlife, are already alienated from the society in some way. Unlike the '70s, the middle class no longer feels that it is the keeper of the society's conscience." More importantly, some experts believe that the so-called economic benefits of the wired and wireless world have only accrued to a minute segment of the society. For example, the ballpark figure often quoted by industry leaders is that IT has created about three lakh jobs in and around Bangalore. The spillover effect has generated another six lakh jobs. Even if you generously take the figure to be 10 lakh in a city with an estimated population of 6 million, it constitutes a poor minority. Benjamin explains the issue from an inequality perspective. "At present, almost one-third of Bangalore's population *Old-timers lament the IT world is immoral. But the techies boast they contribute to the city's progress.* has only partial or no access to piped water. One study estimated that 'more than half' of Bangalore's population depends upon public fountains—many of which supply contaminated water." Access to other services like toilets is as bad. An official report stated that there were 1,13,000 houses without latrines, while 17,500 had dry latrines. In a study of 22 slums, nine had no latrines. In another 10, there were 19 public latrines for 16,850 households or 1,02,000 inhabitants. Nonetheless, the techies think they have contributed to the socio-economic progress of the three cities. For example, those who defend the name Bangalore contend that they were partially responsible for putting the city on the global map, and for Bangalore to become a commonly used verb. Today, India is respected and the expatriate population has risen manifold because the lifestyles in these cities are comparable to any other western city. It was because of the IT revolution that Wired ranked Bangalore at a high 11th among 46 global technology hubs based on various parameters. Ironically, the most vociferous support for the new culture comes from Chennai. Says Geetha Doctor, a freelance journalist: "I think Chennai's come a long way, and adapted very well. It's growing in a quiet but determined way. It's becoming hip and happening, and the profile is much younger. They have cleared up the IT highway, cleaning up and making the city more beautiful, and people have a civic pride that was never there before. We're, of late, witnessing a sort of Singaporisation of Chennai." Adds V.R. Devika, an educationist and art critic, who works with an NGO and Prakriti Foundation: "Madras is mostly portrayed as a Brahmin city—it's not! There are many young people wanting to become the Jeans Generation, to become middle class and take the IT opportunity.Evidently, Madras is on the brink of major change. Despite its orthodoxy, it's very open—though in danger of becoming Bangalore. What's to be admired is that we are capable of jeans on the outside, davani (half-saree) at home." And, with no trace of ambivalence. ------------------------------ Sugata Srinivasaraju, Madhavi Tata, Shruti Ravindran, K.S. Vasanth and Raghu Karnad -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-25122 Size: 23699 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070710/ce63f34f/attachment-0002.bin From yanivbin at gmail.com Tue Jul 10 16:22:40 2007 From: yanivbin at gmail.com (Vinay Baindur) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 16:22:40 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] That Side Of The Street Jeremy Seabrook Message-ID: <86b8a7050707100352l13f7c204n4ac18d097e304a38@mail.gmail.com> *That Side Of The Street* *An involuntary apartheid, it's in the fabric of the 'successful' city* Jeremy Seabrook For the past quarter-century, Indian politicians have been obsessed with transforming their cities into a futuristic elsewhere: Bal Thackeray's 1980s vision of Mumbai as Chicago, the current ambition to make Mumbai the Shanghai of tomorrow, the desire to bring Manhattan to Marine Drive and to reshape Bangalore or Hyderabad as Singapore. It seems a pity that India, land of villages, cannot invent or imagine a city that is Indian, without reference to some gilded outstation of fantasy. Now that more than half the world's population is urban, the 'heart' of a country is no longer to be sought in the rural areas. *Emblems of the new India, Bangalore and Hyderabad flaunt the borrowed plumes of an alien urbanism.* Its cities determine the country's self-presentation; and image becomes all-important. The positive image of the city is essentially corporate, international, a hub of connectivity with other 'world cities'. Bangalore and Hyderabad have flaunted these borrowed plumes of an alien urbanism better than anywhere in India; and this is why they, rather than Mumbai or Delhi, are promoted as emblems of the new India: characterised by what Solomon Benjamin sees as the distinction between the 'corporate' and the 'local' economies. The former has priority, in terms of land, water and power resources, amenities and services, while the second depends upon local political linkages and networks of production and distribution. These are bound to go down before the superior circuits of national and international elites. Few cities in India are concerned with all the usual 'social cleansing', that is the removal to the far periphery of settlements of the poor, usually for the sake of some high-profile international event (the Delhi clearances are in anticipation of the Commonwealth Games), some infrastructural imperative or 'developmental' necessity. All justify the transfer of land from use for local livelihoods to the corporate sector. In the process, those disadvantaged by it become virtually invisible. There is no need to dilate on the often-rehearsed 'miracle' of Bangalore or Hyderabad. Who is not familiar with those pyramids of glass lodging footloose international capital, the gilded nomads of globalism wanting to 'give back' something to India, as long as they can enjoy luxurious condos, farmhouses, golf courses and resorts, the tree canopies and colonial bungalows demolished and transformed into real estate, the four-wheel-drive cars purring in the ruts of congested streets? IT alone contributes more than 5 per cent to the Indian economy, and sector exports are estimated at over $30 billion this year. People come from all over India to marvel at Bangalore and Hyderabad: perhaps they see their own future inscribed in an iconography of fabulous luxury. The face India shows to the world has changed in the past 15 years, from impoverished supplicant to global competitor. The altered decor of the successful cities is the embodiment of this. But behind the marble facades, another India languishes, thrust into an involuntary apartheid by the heroic makers of fortunes. The urban poor: on their unacknowledged labour glittering cities rise. They learned the meaning of hardship very young: on the stony streets, child labourers—recently once more legislated out of existence in India—spread their scavenged treasures—rusty metal, rags, plastic, the toxic residue of electronic goods, broken glass and bone. Meanwhile, in the factory, with its long rows of Juki sewing machines, the rays of sunlight are thick with dust and cotton particles which quietly, damagingly enter the lungs of young women bent over garments they will never wear. If privilege thinks of poor people at all, it is as hands to open doors, serve meals, wash clothes; eyes to keep guard over private villas and watch by night palaces of glass; ears to listen for the thief in the night or the intruder on the stairs— fragments of humanity.Injustice is built into the fabric of the 'successful' city, which exhibits only one aspect of a world far more complex than anything that appears in its exotic imagery. The city is undermined by the pain, exploitation and loss which are built into its fabric, and which remain a constant threat even to its most soaring structures and glittering monuments to modernity. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070710/3ac0f906/attachment-0002.html From meetnandi at hotmail.com Wed Jul 11 04:20:57 2007 From: meetnandi at hotmail.com (Sugata Nandi) Date: Tue, 10 Jul 2007 22:50:57 +0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third Posting from Sugata Nandi Message-ID: SARAI Independent Fellowship Third Posting Title : Remembering Self: Remembering City By Sugata Nandi As adolescent and then a youth, growing up in a Calcutta in the fifties and sixties the city, Subhas Ranjan Chakrabarty, now retired professor of History, has a wealth of material to offer to a person studying the city of the said period. Professor Chakrabarty, who retired from the Presidency College, Kolkata in 2006, stands witness to the transitions and transformations that have made Calcutta/ Kolkata what it is. His memory of the city is, as is obvious that of a boy, an adolescent and then finally a young adult exploration dominated by the College Street area, where seven years of his formative stage were spent. Chakrabarty remembers a politically vibrant city, waiting for changes that has since the sixties are awaiting their place in history. In Chakrabarty�s opinion, a landmark event in the history of the city would be the election results of 1967. He says that the results of the general election held that year was bore the mark of the presence of the first generation that grew up since Independence. The Congress was routed in several states. In West Bengal the first non Congress Ministry, formed by the Bangla Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist), took over from a faction ridden Congress. Looking back from this point at his memory of the first public event of the city, Chakrabarty remembers having been a part of the Calcutta crowd gathered to see the Russian premier Nikita Khrushchev and Bulganin. He said that he remembers having seen a Russian man travelling in one of the cars, and went home thrilled to have witnessed an important foreign dignitary. His euphoria was to turn into disappointment next day when he found in the papers that the leaders were whisked off to the Raj Bhawan, the Governor�s office cum residential building, in a car that did not allow the leaders to be seen by the public. The Russian man who was believed to be Bulganin by many turned out to a part of the leaders� entourage only. The other important that Chakrabarty remembers of the public spaces of the city are public meetings of political parties held at a park in Raja Santosh Mitra Square. Having spent his journey from boyhood to adulthood at a house in front of the park at that place, a number of political speeches had definitely left an impact on his young mind. Speeches delivered by the Communist Party of India stalwart Hirendranath Mukherjee were �simply brilliant�, opines Chakrabarty. He adds that the overall atmosphere was so politically electrified every time any good orator spoke at a meeting held in the park, the excitement and the enthusiasm became palpable. He along with boys of his age made it a point from his late teens to be a part of the audience whenever any good orator was speaking. As adolescence rolled on, another significant public space was on the verge of becoming an integral part of Chakrabarty�s life. This was the College Street area. Stretching from the Presidency College in the north to the Medical College in the south, with the Calcutta University overlooking a large swimming pool cum lake, the area was to Mecca of the youth. His first memories of the area bring back embalming summer evenings spent at the side lake as other boys from his school took swimming lessons. The other attractions of the place were its bookshops. Being a member cum organizer of makeshift children�s library, called Mukul, in his locality he started frequenting the College Street book market while still at school. Soon as a student of the Presidency College (1960-66, from pre-university to post graduation), Chakrabarty stepped on a new stage of relating to the city. The outbreak of the Indo China war in 1962 suddenly opened a host of new questions for him and his friends at the College. For him and his generation the war meant initially a shock. China and India had been new nations that had vowed to follow the principals of the Panchsheel. The Indo China war created the first occasion for xenophobia/ a media fed mass hysteria witnessed by that generation. It was the time for turning around. He cites the example of Manoj Basu, a popular Bengali writer who serves as a classic example of this tendency. Basu had authored a book after having toured China in the fifties titled �Chin Dekhe Elaam� (a close English translation would be �Visit to China�). The book contained Basu�s outpouring of admiration for China, a neighbouring country and a new nation. The book was very popular in the late fifties. The war posed a problem for the author. By merit of the views expressed in the book the author, living the sudden tide of enmity towards China, Basu faced the possibility of being branded anti-national. So he took to the most convenient way. He denounced his views on China expressed before the war and disowned the book. Chakrabarty remembers Basu�s public burning of his own book. Close on the heels of this came two more developments. First, shoddily composed sings celebrating Indian nationalism was played over the All India Radio. Second, a section of the people discovered an opportunity to attack Communist ideology citing Communist China�s military aggression as the ground for that. The end of the war marked the beginning of a new phase of activism. The upsurge of radicalism was palpable. As a student of the Presidency College, Chakrabarty remembers the CPI student front, the Student Federation won the student union elections. Within a year of that, victory came the rift within the CPI. Within the College, the SF supporters came to be known by the appellation �Left SF�, as the CPI split in 1966, many among the left SF became the first sympathizers and later on members of the CPIM. Chakrabarty remembers as a student he believed that the break away from the CPI could have proved damaging for the Communists in general. The year 1967 was both an interesting and exciting. The best news of the year was the defeat of Congress in the Assembly elections. He says, �After coming to learn that the Congress has been defeated, we came to learn that the CPIM was not in a position to form the State Government. Soon after that, we came to learn that Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress was to become the Chief Minister of the state and Jyoti Basu was to become the Home minister. What was to follow from that time on for the next ten years was a period of transition. It was period marked by turbulence and the easy uptake of violence. From hindsight, �67 seems to be the beginning. The change came ten years later in 1977.� Chakrabarty�s reminiscences of the fifties and the sixties are that of a historian turning back at the time of his younger days. His memories of the city are in a way memories of the formative and eventful part of his life. Public spaces of Calcutta, like the College Street locality and the Presidency College, stimulated and showed the way to his making of a politically conscious and socially aware youth in the sixties. His personal reminiscence of the late fifties and the sixties is integral to the transition that the city was going to undergo (and from the mid sixties, the city started going through). _________________________________________________________________ Wedding bells are ringing. When's your time to walk the aisle? http://ad.in.doubleclick.net/clk;112111293;17571293;v?http://www.simplymarry.com/timesmatri/faces/jsp/UserTrackLandingPage.jsp?origin=hotmail_taglines_ros_june07 From renucherianp at gmail.com Wed Jul 11 09:02:46 2007 From: renucherianp at gmail.com (renu cherianp) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 09:02:46 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] charisma in city-second posting Message-ID: <613457570707102032g3446cb9co92363d1ad781f0b6@mail.gmail.com> Hi friends, I am Renu Cherian, currently a student stipendiary at CSDS . My study is about the Space of Charisma in City. This is my second posting. It is about the miraculous healing experienced by a devotee of C.H.M (The Christian charismatic movement taken as the case of the study). These informations are gathered through field work and personal interview with the devotees. I have met lots of devotees, but here I am giving only one example. Healing ministry is considered as an important element in all Christian Charismatic Movements. C.H.M also practices healing ministry in their worship. Faith healing or miraculous healing can be defined as getting better health in body, mind and spirit by means of prayer usually occurring apart from medicine. That is why it is termed as miraculous healing. Miraculous Healing is considered as the gift of Holy Spirit. It is meant that, those who have the gift can only heal the sick ones. A large number of believers who assemble in C.H.M are suffering from various types of acute illnesses, ranging from non fatal to fatal. And they have a great expectation of their physical healing. C.H.M conducts special prayer sessions for miraculous healing in all prayer meetings. Main pastor initiates the prayers for healing. In these prayers, the whole worshippers pray along with the charismatic pastor for the healing. During the prayer the main pastor announces that people with certain diseases are going to be healed now. He emphasise that presence of Jesus Christ is there in the meeting, and He will touch the sick ones and relieve them from their sickness and sufferings. These prayers last for half an hour. As the prayer progresses the believers enter in to a highly excited condition, a hallucinated state. And after the prayer it is found that most of the diseased one is healed. Healing prayers are even conducted in the houses of the sick persons. The main pastor reaches the sick ones home and pray for his/her cure after laying his hand over the diseased persons head. And after the prayer the sick one is healed. Different types of experiences are felt by these healed persons at the time of healing. Some have a feeling of electric shock in their body. While others experiences a feeling of warmth or something heavy has quitted their body It is believed and propagated that, a disease, which cannot be cured by any medicine, is cured through the prayer in C.H.M congregation. That is why such movements are getting more popular among common people. Through healing a person, the followers believe that their main pastor has the power to do miracles in the name of Jesus Christ. Main pastor was supposed to have the power to do miracles as Jesus Christ has granted him the authority to do it. Thus a divine identity is bestowed on the main pastor. Charismatic movement use these examples of healing in their advertisement to create publicity for their movement. In their advertisements they publish mainly the healing of fatal diseases. Here I am presenting the case of such a fatal healing with whom I have had a personal interview. AN INTERVIEW WITH A LADY HEALED FROM UTERUS CANCER. Valsama Joy aged 45, with her husband and two children, residing at Kottayam district, Kerala state. Her husband is an Auto rickshaw driver and she is a house wife (a lower middle class family). She and her family were the members of St.Mariey's Jacobite Church, a famous traditional church at Kottayam. She was regular to church, on all Sundays. She used to attend all other prayers conducted by the church. But unfortunately in 1997 she became a cancer patient. She was admitted to Kottayam Medical College for treatment. Her condition was becoming worse day by day. During these periods of suffering, one day she decided to commit suicide, but the attempt failed. Meanwhile one of her relatives, who was an admirer and believer of C.H.M, invited her to attend the prayer meetings. Valsama went there and attended the prayers. She felt great joy and peace while she was in those prayers. She continued her visit to C.H.M. And on one evening, while Valsama was in her family prayers the main pastor, accompanied by some devotees visited her house. They joined the prayer. The main pastor, laying his hand over her head, prayed for her healing. At that moment, she felt that a power was flowing through her body, and something heavy had left her body, and she felt instantaneous healing. Next day she went to the hospital for medical check-up so as to confirm her healing. Doctor recommended scanning and after scanning it was found that there was no cancerous cell in her uterus. After this incident she and her family left the traditional church and joined C.H.M. And she is still a strong believer of C.H.M. She says that her life has changed a lot after joining C.H.M. Here after they felt harmony in their family. Education of her children was improved a lot. Her son got admission to nursing course. Now she and her family strongly believe that their spiritual and material life became prosperous only after joining the C.H.M. She says that now she is fearless, and courageous to face any hardship in her life. She is of the belief that no harm will happen in their life. We can observe that most of the people are attracted to C.H.M due to their quest for healing. It is found that a lot of people are healed from their illness by attending these worships, and later they become strong believers and propagators of this movement. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070711/49822919/attachment-0002.html From alicesamson at gmail.com Wed Jul 11 12:38:21 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:38:21 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. Message-ID: <6b037a040707110008h54434793jef9e3c40de0628ae@mail.gmail.com> Post 1/ The Inspirations behind this project and the Objects of study. A Second-hand Bookshop The sunlight filters through the panes Of book-shop windows, pockmarked grey By years of grimy city rains, And falls in mild, dust-laden ray Across the stock, in shelf and stack, Of this old bookshop-man who brought, To a shabby shop in a cul-de-sac. Three hundred years of print and thought. Like a cloak hangs the bookshop smell, Soothing, unique and reminding: The book-collector knows its spell, Subtle hints of books and binding- In the fine, black bookshop dust Paper, printer's ink and leather, Binder's glue and paper-rust And time, all mixed together. Blake's Poems, Sir-ah, yes, I know, Bohn did it in the old black binding, In '83.' Then shuffles slow To scan his shelves, intent on finding This book of songs he has not heard, With that deaf searcher's hopeful frown Who knows the nightingale, a bird With feathers grey and reddish brown. John Arlott This poem captures quite beautifully the experience many booklovers have while at that delightful place that is the second hand bookshop. For some like me it is an experience so innocent, so joyful that I cannot express it in its entirety. I have lived and travelled through many cities of this huge country that is India and found that most cities in India, and I understand the world over have, if not a full fledged seconds market in books, at least some variant of it. However for us the second hand book markets of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bombay, Calcutta etc are legendary and most booklovers take time to visit these enroute to other places. I came to Hyderabad in August 2005 for a Masters in English and after I settled into the place I started my search for good book markets to service my personal reading habit and for my master's requirement. I soon learnt that Hyderabad had a wonderful tradition of used book markets all over the city and these cut across budgets, tastes and locations in the city. There was the Sunday book market at Abids, the rare and antique book stores near Charminar, the decades old bookshops of Koti and quite a different world altogether was the Second-hand bookshops like M.R Book centre and Best Book store; these I suspect might come close to Arlott's bookstore, but our experience at these shops definitely has a uniqueness and is different in many ways from Arlott's description of the bookshop in Britain. I also learnt that soon after I had come to Hyderabad a significant part of this tradition of used-book shops had been dismantled, leaving many book lovers disappointed and booksellers miserable. The city municipal and police departments had forcibly dismantled some hundred odd bookshops outside Koti Women's college. These shops, which specialised in school and college textbooks, had for decades serviced the countless students, teachers and learners of all types in the city. I felt the deep sense of injustice that my friends felt, that the sellers and buyers of these used-books felt. I felt the rage that old booklovers felt, at the insensitivity of the planning departments who seemed to plan only for World games, IT conferences, visits by foreign prime ministers and more importantly planned for an unattainable dream city that looked like Shanghai or Tokyo or London. I felt the yearning for a space for reading in the city, and I felt the sense of injustice that this sort of antiseptic planning evoked in all people removed from it. There is something in a second-hand book that never fails to fascinate. I like the idea that a book I'm holding has been read, loved or hated by someone before me. I like to think that fingers over the grainy pages and tucked old bills or pressed flowers as bookmarks. I like to think that someone else was amazed by the writer's lyrical prose, incensed by a character's actions or horrified at the sudden turn of events on page 234. There is some joy in opening a copy of Doctor Zhivago and finding these scribbled under the title. To Mummy, Hope you enjoy it! Love Andrew, Anne, Olivier And wandering away wondering if Mummny enjoyed it. It connects us irrevocably to the rest of humanity and we read to discover that we are not alone. My fascination for these book and bookshops drove me to undertake this research project on the 'Second Hand Bookstalls of Hyderabad'. My aim during this study is to, the extent feasible, research and document all that goes into this experience of the Second-Hand Book Shops of Hyderabad. I will also attempt to trace the relationship of these books, shops and owners with the history of Hyderabad. Over the next few weeks I will post here my experiences, findings etc while on this project. Since I do not have a predetermined structure to my exploration I will not be able to post my research in an organised manner and will most often than not post these in the form of notes, scattered writings etc. ps. Please write to me about your experiences with Second hand books in your own cities and in Hyderbad if you have been here. If you have worked on a similar project before I would love to learn from your experience with customers, bussinessmen, with people in authority etc. Alice Samson Ciefl, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail,com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070711/acd9f5b2/attachment-0002.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Wed Jul 11 20:17:03 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 07:47:03 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: [announcements] Eyes on Bombay: Panel Discussion on August 1 Message-ID: <74504.78984.qm@web56810.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: PUKAR To: announcements at pukar.org.in Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 11:18:13 AM Subject: [announcements] Eyes on Bombay: Panel Discussion on August 1 National Centre for the Performing Arts (NCPA), PUKAR and Jackfruit Research & Design cordially invite you to Eyes on Bombay a panel discussion at the preview of Next to Each Other, Bombay Jadoo An exhibition of photographs from Bombay Jadoo by Betsy Karel Eyes on Bombay is about the process of 'looking' or viewing. The panel: a photographer, a film maker, and a sociologist, will explore ‘ways of seeing’ the city - Bombay/Mumbai, in particular. In their presentations they will engage questions of space, representation, gender, ideas of public and private, city spaces and exclusion. The panel will also address photography and film-making as acts of documentation. Panelists: Shyam Benegal One of the leading filmmakers of India’s arthouse or New Cinema tradition, Benegal’s critically acclaimed feature films, ranging from Ankur in 1974 to Bose: The Forgotten Hero in 2005, chronicle the idiosyncrasies of a society in flux. Benegal is also the maker of several documentaries and ad-films including Nehru (1983), Satyajit Ray (1984) and Nature Symphony (1990). While continuing to direct films, functioning on various award juries and contributing to the academic world, he also serves the public as a member of the Rajya Sabha. Betsy Karel Born in New York City in 1946, Karel now lives in Washington, DC. She worked as a photojournalist in the 1970s and early 80s, winning awards. In 1998, after an absence of 15 years, she returned to photography to participate in The Way Home, a book and national exhibition on homelessness in America. During the past nine years, Karel has made numerous trips to Mumbai, creating the images in Bombay Jadoo. Her photographs are in the permanent collections of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Yale University Art Gallery, the Corcoran Gallery of Art, and the John F. Kennedy Library. Shilpa Phadke An independent researcher, sociologist and writer, Phadke conceptualized and led the Gender & Space Project at PUKAR from September 2003 to September 2006. As part of the project she curated a photo-exhibition, City Limits: Engendering the Public with Bishakha Datta. She is currently writing a book based on the Gender and Space project along with Sameera Khan and Shilpa Ranade to be published by Penguin India. Date: Wednesday, 1st August 2007 Time: 6:30 PM onwards Venue: Piramal Art Gallery Experimental Theatre Building National Centre for the Performing Arts NCPA Marg, Nariman Point Mumbai 400 021 PUKAR (Partners for Urban Knowledge Action and Research) Address:: 1-4, 2nd Floor, Kamanwala Chambers, Sir P. M. Road, Fort, Mumbai 400 001 Telephone:: +91 (22) 6574 8152 Fax:: +91 (22) 6664 0561 Email:: pukar at pukar.org.in Website:: www.pukar.org.in ____________________________________________________________________________________ Fussy? Opinionated? Impossible to please? Perfect. Join Yahoo!'s user panel and lay it on us. http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 DEFANGED.19668> ----- Forwarded Message ---- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070711/fe81bcff/attachment-0002.html From zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl Wed Jul 11 23:15:50 2007 From: zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl (zainab) Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 19:45:50 +0200 Subject: [Urbanstudy] From London to Bangalore Message-ID: <96b0b048a01ba3de8a7b82ececc2e2ee@mail.xtdnet.nl> Aldgate. It is literally a gate. It separates Central London from East London. East London. The infamously famous part of London City. There is Brick Lane which is the ‘culture hub’ of the city and many novels and stories have been written about Brick Lane. I have not read any of these, but I certainly know that these would be unable to capture the territorial, inward, closed and ghetto nature of Brick Lane. Don’t get me wrong, I am not condemning Brick Lane. I am stating what I have sensed. Given the political atmosphere in London, the targeting of Muslims, the experience of living in a city that is not really home for the Bangladeshis who inhabit Brick Lane, there is something inward about Bric From alicesamson at gmail.com Thu Jul 12 17:43:35 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 17:43:35 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. In-Reply-To: <6b037a040707112234i22383199tf875a431ec076ad8@mail.gmail.com> References: <6b037a040707110008h54434793jef9e3c40de0628ae@mail.gmail.com> <6b037a040707112234i22383199tf875a431ec076ad8@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <6b037a040707120513i532492ffua47213a51001b9e9@mail.gmail.com> ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 12, 2007 11:04 AM Subject: Fwd: Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. To: Sadan hi Sadan I sent thisto the urban study group but it doesnt seem to be posting onto it what shud I do? regards alice - ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 11, 2007 12:38 PM Subject: Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 1/ The Inspirations behind this project and the Objects of study. A Second-hand Bookshop The sunlight filters through the panes Of book-shop windows, pockmarked grey By years of grimy city rains, And falls in mild, dust-laden ray Across the stock, in shelf and stack, Of this old bookshop-man who brought, To a shabby shop in a cul-de-sac. Three hundred years of print and thought. Like a cloak hangs the bookshop smell, Soothing, unique and reminding: The book-collector knows its spell, Subtle hints of books and binding- In the fine, black bookshop dust Paper, printer's ink and leather, Binder's glue and paper-rust And time, all mixed together. Blake's Poems, Sir-ah, yes, I know, Bohn did it in the old black binding, In '83.' Then shuffles slow To scan his shelves, intent on finding This book of songs he has not heard, With that deaf searcher's hopeful frown Who knows the nightingale, a bird With feathers grey and reddish brown. John Arlott This poem captures quite beautifully the experience many booklovers have while at that delightful place that is the second hand bookshop. For some like me it is an experience so innocent, so joyful that I cannot express it in its entirety. I have lived and travelled through many cities of this huge country that is India and found that most cities in India, and I understand the world over have, if not a full fledged seconds market in books, at least some variant of it. However for us the second hand book markets of Delhi, Hyderabad, Bombay, Calcutta etc are legendary and most booklovers take time to visit these enroute to other places. I came to Hyderabad in August 2005 for a Masters in English and after I settled into the place I started my search for good book markets to service my personal reading habit and for my master's requirement. I soon learnt that Hyderabad had a wonderful tradition of used book markets all over the city and these cut across budgets, tastes and locations in the city. There was the Sunday book market at Abids, the rare and antique book stores near Charminar, the decades old bookshops of Koti and quite a different world altogether was the Second-hand bookshops like M.R Book centre and Best Book store; these I suspect might come close to Arlott's bookstore, but our experience at these shops definitely has a uniqueness and is different in many ways from Arlott's description of the bookshop in Britain. I also learnt that soon after I had come to Hyderabad a significant part of this tradition of used-book shops had been dismantled, leaving many book lovers disappointed and booksellers miserable. The city municipal and police departments had forcibly dismantled some hundred odd bookshops outside Koti Women's college. These shops, which specialised in school and college textbooks, had for decades serviced the countless students, teachers and learners of all types in the city. I felt the deep sense of injustice that my friends felt, that the sellers and buyers of these used-books felt. I felt the rage that old booklovers felt, at the insensitivity of the planning departments who seemed to plan only for World games, IT conferences, visits by foreign prime ministers and more importantly planned for an unattainable dream city that looked like Shanghai or Tokyo or London. I felt the yearning for a space for reading in the city, and I felt the sense of injustice that this sort of antiseptic planning evoked in all people removed from it. There is something in a second-hand book that never fails to fascinate. I like the idea that a book I'm holding has been read, loved or hated by someone before me. I like to think that fingers over the grainy pages and tucked old bills or pressed flowers as bookmarks. I like to think that someone else was amazed by the writer's lyrical prose, incensed by a character's actions or horrified at the sudden turn of events on page 234. There is some joy in opening a copy of Doctor Zhivago and finding these scribbled under the title. To Mummy, Hope you enjoy it! Love Andrew, Anne, Olivier And wandering away wondering if Mummny enjoyed it. It connects us irrevocably to the rest of humanity and we read to discover that we are not alone. My fascination for these book and bookshops drove me to undertake this research project on the 'Second Hand Bookstalls of Hyderabad'. My aim during this study is to, the extent feasible, research and document all that goes into this experience of the Second-Hand Book Shops of Hyderabad. I will also attempt to trace the relationship of these books, shops and owners with the history of Hyderabad. Over the next few weeks I will post here my experiences, findings etc while on this project. Since I do not have a predetermined structure to my exploration I will not be able to post my research in an organised manner and will most often than not post these in the form of notes, scattered writings etc. ps. Please write to me about your experiences with Second hand books in your own cities and in Hyderbad if you have been here. If you have worked on a similar project before I would love to learn from your experience with customers, bussinessmen, with people in authority etc. Alice Samson Ciefl, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail,com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/673bc7ed/attachment-0002.html From mansilight at gmail.com Thu Jul 12 16:14:02 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 16:14:02 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third posting Message-ID: <998c34570707120344h40cc5b26g2b794bd811bbda76@mail.gmail.com> POSTING # 3 (Note- The attached PDF File contains the same text inclusive of our photographs) The posting is only written notes. Shared experiences for the community- public 1 While the notion of public is being restricted to the idea of the visiting public with aesthetic or entertainment in mind, there is also the other public that have access and use the lake perhaps without the sanction of the lake managers. Our study confirms apart from the constructed visual and recreational experience of a public park, a lake is also a resource with multiple levels of usership. In that way a lake is a shared experience for the users not only as an urban landscape but as a resource of livelihoods and water. The lake is then revealed as a shared presence in the lives of these multiple users with varied experiential meanings. There are direct users such as washer folk, fishing people, cattle owners some of them having legal withdrawal and access rights while others do not have legal permission either for access or for resource use. The legal entry to the lake is through the park gates whereas the illegal entry takes place through the unfenced eastern banks close to the highway. For the villager of Hebbal, the lake is imbued with sacred meaning and also sacred conflicts. The lake for the villagers is 'Gangavva': The sacred mother in whose name periodic fights happen resulting in breaking of and reconstructing of the Goddess. The washer folk vehemently assured us that they did not use the Hebbal Lake water for washing clothes as the water is not clean. They used water off a miniature pool formed in the eastern bank of the lake where the Cauvery pipeline passes by because that water is supposed to be clean and fresh. The dhobi defended himself by also saying that the leak in the pipe is a natural one. For those who collect weeds off the lake, the lake is a sources for cattle feed. These are again squatters or illegal entrants to the lake. For them the weeds are not a threat to the lake life nor an unwelcome invasion that mar the beauty of the lake. The fishing contract is another multiple resource use scenario with the ownership of the fishes in the lake vested with the Fisheries Department who gives off 5-year lease contracts for their harvest. The local fishing contractor now is hiring migrant labour from Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh to fish for him. The field notes reflect these users, the public. Just before the public- private partnership Nov 2006 Meet the lake Interviewers- Meera, Sreeja and Sowjanya On the first day, we decided to walk along the lake perimeter and see for ourselves a bit of the local geography. One could say we wanted to experience the tangible reality of the lake we were about to engage with. All three of us were committed to some sort of eco-friendliness and Indira, one more of our colleagues joined us for the walk as she had previous acquaintance with the lake as a visitor. We paid the entrance fee of RS. 5 and went in. The side service road was full of small vendors in push carts selling roasted corn on cob, ice cream, chats and other local fast food items. There was not much litter around. The lake entrance was a large archway and the ticket booth was to the right. I managed to hunt for change in my hand bag and briefly ask the booth attendant who was in the management of the lake. He hurried us on and said that the Oberoi hotel was the management. As the visitors were trickling in, he was reluctant to chat with us so we moved inside. We also did not have anything concrete to ask him so early in our project. When we entered the park we found notices of the forest department still in place asking us not to litter etc and the department name had been struck out. There were lots of visitors walking, children playing. All the snack stalls were outside the lake gate. Cartoon figure dustbins were placed around the people area of the park. As soon as we walked in, we saw two young men fishing with lines close to the boat jetty. The pedal boats were lying disused and the water weeds surrounded the jetty. The young man ( A ) was flinging a plastic twine into the water and pulling out small wriggling fish and dropping them it an orange plastic pot. Very politely we asked him what he was doing. He told us that he was fishing and that he did not sell the fish. He was a resident of Bhoopasandra, an area that would have been on the southern bank of the lake but has been since separated by the ring road. We were curious about the fish and asked him if perhaps he actually ate them or did he sell them? He replied that he gave them to watchman in return to do "Time Pass" fishing. We peered into the fish pot and found small aquarium size fishes wriggling and wondered if there were fish in the lake worth calling the fishing activity or fish would even classify as resource? Any way since this fisherman was friendly we asked him if there were other people who fish in the lake. He said that maybe there were boats in the morning. He seemed ready to answer more questions and I asked him a direct question. I asked him if he could continue to fish if the management changed to the hotel chain. Very nonchalantly he said that the Nagavara tank that had been developed was charging 20 rupees for the entry and it was quite likely that Oberoi management would do the same. He also had told us that he actually got in free in return for the fish that he gave the watchman so it was actually a question of whether this practice would continue after the change in the management. Respondent 2: From Bidar and Karwar As we were walking along we noticed two well dressed young men with ID tags walking along. They looked like computer professionals — the guess was accurate and perhaps it would be interesting to see what about them, gave us this idea that they were IT professionals — The ID tags and the image of Bangalore as a software city of Bangalore perhaps helped us identify them. On striking up a conversation I began with the question if they often came to Hebbal Lake? They said that they had come here the first time and they were taking a break from work. The question of where they worked seemed natural and they informed us that they were from a famous software company. They also told us they came to lake for relaxation. We introduced ourselves as students studying the Hebbal Lake and asked them if they knew anything about the water birds. I did not think it right to ask about the management change right away as they would not have a clue about earlier management being first time visitors. They did not know anything about the birds. What was interesting was that one hand they had come there to experience peace and calm and relaxation and the same time they were happy with the idea that there would be a floating restaurant in the middle of the lake. Q: There will be a floating restaurant in the lake. What do you think of it? A: "I think it will be nice". Q: Why? A: "Well, we can go by boat to eat and drink. It will be fun". They were in a hurry and we thought it best to end the interview. 2006, November 24th– Second day Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya (Ethnographic thick description type notes) The study was undertaken at 6.30 a.m. on November 23 rd Thursday 2006. The visit was to basically look at the fishing population around the lake. It was early morning and the there was very less traffic around .The boat was already in water and so we struck up some conversation with locals. The approach of the people is on the rock bank, opposite to the park area. There was a cowherd washing his cattle in the shallow bank. Two washer folk were near the lake: one man and one woman. They were counting the clothes. We asked them if they washed clothes in the lake and they told us that there was a connection from the Kaveri pipeline which was broken. There was a continuously flowing stream of fresh water from the broken pipe into the lake. They used that to wash clothes. Later we noticed the washer people moving to the rocky bank of the lake, where they began washing clothes on the lake shore. The next interview with the local respondent helped us to place the lake in perspectives of its history and the local environments. It was by sheer luck that we ran into this well dressed man in the early hours. We actually went to look for the fishermen and we had an idea that the fishes would be caught early in the morning. We took a muddy path leading along from the side of the road to wards the lake. This was adjacent to the national highway NH 7 As we walked down what seemed to be old road we met a young man in a cap and a nice dress who first said he was a fisher man but later he turned out to be a person who used to fish. We were lucky because he was a resident of Hebbal village and had spent almost his whole life in the park. The interview was in Kannada. We found that he was a resident of Hebbala Village next to the Lake and he was a painter by profession at Kengeri. He was willing to talk and rather boastfully gave us many details .He told us with pride that he fished sometimes in the lake. He informed us that he had grown up on the banks of the lake and was sure that the size of the lake had shrunk since his childhood. He recollected swimming in the lake and drinking the water from the lake. "Now the water is green and filled with Pachi (Algae)" he said with disgust. "Before the mud was red and the water was sweet". He pointed to the road we were standing on and told us that it was the main road. We noticed a shrine close to the place we were standing and asked him what that was? The lake had a temple dedicated to "gangavva" the deity of the lake. Worship at this place took place during the annual village festival (called Jatre).Two caste communities fought over the privilege of carrying a lamp and this quarrel lead to miscreants breaking the structure. We noticed that next to the older stone structure is a newer whitewashed temple with pictures of Gods and Goddesses. The interesting conversation of the temple gave us an idea of the indirect users of the lake. With a very self important tone, the young man volunteered information that one Sadhu used to come there only on new moon and did pooja with pumpkins and all that, but now he does not come. We were curious with this tale and just to let the informer continue with his story we asked him if it was a night Pooja. "Yes! with Tantra and Mantra" he declared dramatically. We moved to the questions about fishing and he gave us vital information. The fishing is a very regulated resource activity with a contract from the fisheries department in Lal Bagh. We also found out that the fishes have been introduced. He told us of the different contractors and also told us that the now the contract is with one Ppa. We found out that Ppa has one fish stall in the highway (pointing Bangalore- Hyderabad Road). It was more of a shack. He also told us that there there were many stalls, 6-7 of them, 6 of them on the other bank. (on the ring road bank) and one on the opposite side of the road. After this we paused. Suddenly he again asked us to look at another lake "You should look at the Yellanamarappa Lake. It is much more beautiful". He again went on to describe the earlier lake managements. We found out that before the fisheries department there used to be a Narayanappa from Kodegehally who engaged a guard to run around the lake. The respondent did not have pleasant memories of the lake from that period. He called them thieves. "They had a guard with a bandook (gun)" he recollected. He told us the names of some fish in the lake which we were not able to understand such as Catla, Rohu… I asked him if fishing would be affected by boating activities. He said that unless the nets were damaged, there would be no problem and also that the oils spills would not matter as the pollution would get diluted. He was very worried about the weeds as they moved. He wanted put some 'chemicals' that would kill the weeds. The boat drew closer to the shore and we asked him how much fish each boat brought in? He told us that there are three boats and each can hold 300kg (sic) .We later found out that this information was not correct. I wondered if birds got stuck in the nets or if people ate eggs of the water birds? He said that if they are stuck in the net the people would keep them. "For eating? " We asked very pleasantly. He repeated "We keep them! We don't take eggs". There was another pause and I clicked some photographs of the boat on the lake. Just wanted to make sure that he had all that he wanted to tell us so I asked him –"What else can you tell us about the lake"? and this conversation is better reported in direct speech. By now we knew our respondent was not only a good informer but also given to dramatizations and exaggerations.(he would be a journalist respondent I think) A-There are dead bodies in the lake. (Dramatically) Q- Dead people? Who puts them there? (We were a bit shocked but we recovered as we realized he was talking about suicides) A-People kill themselves. Once I was fishing and there were strange waves. I saw that there was a person who was going up and down in the waters. I rushed up and pulled them out by the hair and slapped them. They had drunk a lot of water. It was a teacher from Yelahanka whose mind was not ok. Like that people try and kill themselves He posed for this nice photograph and then he left saying he had to go to work. Sreeja's notes Conversation with Kiran, Entrepreneur, farmer, bird watcher concerned citizen Sanjay Nagar. Conversation with Kiran on Hebbal Lake started with his pride in being involved in the study of Bangalore lakes for the past 4 years. On questioned whether he knew about the leasing out of the lake to Oberoi group he very happily agreed that it will be good thing to happen. He said since the Government was not obviously interested in the upkeep and maintenance of the lake, it is just as well that a private corporate like E.I .H chain of hotels has been asked to take care of it. He even brought out a comparison with Nagwara lake saying that the transformation of Nagwara from a muddy dirty pool (he was speaking of the wetlands) to the tidy lake that it is now is a venture that can be replicated for Hebbal also. He also seemed to have concern over the misuse of park premises by youngsters to be 'behind the bush' in early morning hours which he felt would be prevented if the hotel chain takes over . For me, this was a surprising attitude from a person who till then had ensued good ecological and practical sense. The rare combination of an entrepreneur looking at nature more closely. (This came out in his suggestion of devising small tools for sustainable harvesting of Amla in the BR hills rather than spend time creating awareness among tribals). On asked as to what he thought would be the plight of birds and on being described the particular incident of honking cars he was obviously perturbed. It was evident that like many others he had not given much thought to all the underlying implications of a corporate lease. But having slightly tilted his angle of vision it was evident that he was catching on the further implications. He said it is true that the lake should be open to all. The migratory birds did not seem to be that much of a concern though he is a very dedicated bird watcher. Deep ecological sense as to the importance of wetlands, the roosting of migratory birds, the unique characteristics of a natural lake as opposed to an artificial one was absent in Kiran. There was closeness to nature which was insufficient to grasp the larger dangers to a natural lake due to corporate investment in the nature of mindless beautification. Sowjanya's report Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya Respondent 2 : Mukesh, Migrant fisherman from Kuppam, AP The respondent's name was Mukesh aged around 20-25 years. He had been fishing as an wage worker for a contractor named Ppa who owned four boats. He was here along with 6 of his fellow villagers who had all been got here by Ppa exclusively for carrying out this activity. He is not engaged otherwise and the rest of the day goes in mending the fishing gear. They are paid Rs.20 as fixed wage per day and Rs. 4 over and above that for every kg of fish catch. They catch around 20-30 kg of fish per day. Ppa has the fishing contract for Hebbal lake for 5 years from the Fisheries Department. Mukesh and his other fellow villagers go home once a month to meet their families who take care of agricultural land (size - ??). Mukesh has three brothers who take care of the land in the village. The fisherman community generally did not seem anxious about the prospective development of the lake as they felt that their right would be safe guarded and they would still continue fishing in the early morning and late evening hours after the park closed for visitors. They had a small shack on the bank of the lake itself and all six of them lived there with bare necessities. He showed us fish catch and told us that they regularly see the following varieties of fish – catlac, catla, rohu, mrigal, chali, jilabi, bigede, tiger jilabi, glasscar etc. They collect only the larger fishes. and throw back the younger ones. The boats are procured from Mettur. They were more concerned about the water hyacinth infestation in the lake which could get trapped into the fishing net if the breeze carried it towards the net. As we observed the contractor himself came with other helpers to carry and weigh the fish at a nearby small stall made of tin sheets which was the fish outlet for other retailers and hotel businessman to buy from. Ppa seemed reluctant to talk and we could not engage him in a longer conversation. Conversation with Sri. Srinivasan, Thoreau foundation The Thoreau society was involved with the cleaning operation of the lake. It is located in the RT Nagar, Anand Nagar area and is backed by the residents association as the Hebbal Lake is the favorite destination for the residents of these areas for morning strolls and weekend relaxation. Sri. Srinivasan to whom I (along with Meera) talked to has been involved in the affairs of the lake for the past 13 years. He could talk of the times when people including students used to get together to clean the lake manually. This practice had to be stopped because of increased presence of cattle leach in the lake. He was quite sure that the Forest Department was neglecting the maintenance and upkeep of the lake to make the lease arrangement desirable to the general public. (It is working since Kiran was touting this very reason as the advantage of a corporate takeover). The earnings from the lake come to round Rs. 10 lakhs/ year which was more than what was anticipated when the cleaning operation of the lake was first undertaken. According to Srinivasan, the FD can very well undertake the mechanical cleaning up operation of the lake by spending a fraction of the money generated by the park. He is a person who has written a letter to the Chief Secretary six months back asking for a revocation in the decision to lease out the lake. On asking what was the follow up being done he seemed a bit hassled. He said he did not see it as a battle that can be won. A court PIL was not considered as the judges are corrupt. He said the only way to revoke the decision now is to bring in a major pubic unrest. On being asked if he would he would call in the necessary people, maybe get together the voluntary group who cleaned up the lake and lay the base for a public agitation he replied that can be arranged. But there was a certain amount of conviction lacking in his reply. The most evident concern was the loss of public ownership over the land which was interestingly the point raised by Kiran also once his infatuation with corporate efficiency was past. Mr. Srinivasan felt more strongly about the conversion of public premises to the benefit of a single corporate body and was genuine in his desire to do something to prevent it. He had plans of developing the lake and its beautification (electric lighting along the lake bund and convert Hebbal Lake to Bangalore's equivalent of Marine Drive). But a conviction that it is a losing battle is also making him search for ways of compromise. A half formed suggestion that came out was the possibility of the hotel management letting in morning walkers and giving concessions to birdwatchers. Kiran also was found searching for options such as Oberoi letting in birdwatchers. Both of them did not have any marked concern for the fishing community Next post On ecological and other restorations... -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: Whose lake is it anyway visit 1.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 1874833 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/7b16a87e/attachment-0002.pdf From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 12 18:14:18 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:44:18 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] First Posting. Gentrification and Class regulation inthe Mall. Message-ID: <613078.14401.qm@web56803.mail.re3.yahoo.com> Re: Kath's posting, yes, the list is there for posting and comments. I had some comments regarding the Mall string of discussion. Ipsita, I think it would be interesting to supplement some of your observational research with conversations with retailers and employees. I would be interested in knowing what the retailing model is of mall shops at all scales, how much rent they pay, where they procure their products, how much they had to invest to open the shop etc. Also, conversations with the new class of service industry workers in the mall about the work they do, their background, their own perspectives on the mall would be interesting... it seems a bit of a nascent class of workers, one whose story is worth telling in this larger narrative you are producing on malls. (And why not consumers as well?) I give these suggestions so that we may subject the space of the mall to the kind of investigation that is being conducted on the largely unorganized urban commerce taking place outside the mall. Yashdeep's article, as well as a number of recent articles in EPW, seek to make sense of the proliferation of malls. I had one comment, or criticism, regarding the Yashdeep's conclusion and a similar perspective being sketched out in Malcolm Voyce's critique of the mall phenomena in EPW. I think that the mall is an easy target for us to criticize. Most of us who subscribe to the list are (I imagine) not frequent patrons of many of the new malls coming up all around urban India, save seeing a movie. Most of us would readily ascribe to a critical perspective on malls as super-elite, intensely regulated spaces that are taking away business from small time, informal vendors such as hawkers (see Anuradha Kalhan's piece in EPW). Yashdeep wrote in his article that "By enclosing the hitherto public realm like the bazaar into imaginary fortresses of privilege, these structures rob the city of diversity and difference. Instead they paper over difference with a universalised aesthetic imperative for global produce." To say that malls 'paper' over difference and diversity suggests that they produce a cultural veneer over a kernel of truth buried somewhere beneath the stuff of developers' plans, retailers' profits and consumers' pleasures. I would suggest that the malls don't paper over difference, they produce it. The question is then how they produce difference and hierarchy, to which I would refer back to some of the questions I suggested Ipsita pursue. I think we need to get our hands dirty in some of the politics and economic infrastructure of malls and let the object of the mall raise a lot of questions, many of which cannot be anticipated. I imagine some of the more interesting issues raised will be about the control of knowledge, because the mall is a crucial node in the developer's city. Developers have much better access to knowledge about how the city in which they thrive functions... someone recently told me that big developers have their own, privately produced GIS maps that are used to site their projects, such that a new residential project will be sited according to sufficient groundwater resources. Combine this with what I imagine is intensive market research and the developer has ready access to a picture of the city that no public resource can match... I don't think the unorganized sector nor the government can match the deftness and depth of the knowledge being produced by developers on the city... perhaps I am overestimating their resources, but I think it is an issue we should take seriously. If we see this new urbanism as superficial layering, something that we can easily trump and analytically chip away at, I fear we are missing the point, and the challenge posed by highly centralized private development. That said, I enjoyed the postings... looking forward to more discussions on malls. They have an interesting history... from my own experience in American suburbia, I can say that malls, unlike the kind of malls we are talking about, were spaces for the masses. They were also the only place in suburban areas for people to bump into friends and strangers, and, however privatized, were important public spaces... the downtown in the town I grew up in never occupied such an important place in the social imaginary (until recently... large enclosed malls are now out of fashion). Of course, it was controlled and apolitical, but in that sense not too unlike the street in the US! Where else would a teenager spend time idly? The paradigm has shifted a bit, malls have been closing down, aren't as desirable in some places, as more emphasis is placed by developers and planners on open air shopping spaces modeled on the remembered 'downtown'. More recently, I saw a movie in Mumbai, which required me to go through two full security checks... what a fragile and paranoid utopia! Curt ____________________________________________________________________________________ Be a better Heartthrob. Get better relationship answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. http://answers.yahoo.com/dir/?link=list&sid=396545433 From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 12 18:14:45 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2007 05:44:45 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: Inviting your participation in mapping Blr Metro impact on CMH Road Message-ID: <503257.10032.qm@web56815.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: lalitha kamath To: ayisha abraham ; virtuallyme at gmail.com; Zainab Bawa ; vinay3 baindur ; annapurna garimella ; jayashree T ; lawrence3 liang ; Jiti Nichani ; Malini Ranganathan ; prakash belawadi ; shaina anand ; geeta narayanan ; Prem Chandavarkar ; kchamaraj at gmail.com; kirtana kumar ; Kiran Jonnalagadda Cc: RajanValli P ; Curt Gambetta ; lalitha kamath Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 9:45:04 AM Subject: Inviting your participation in mapping Blr Metro impact on CMH Road Dear friends, CASUMM (mostly Rajan) has been working for some time on displacements of livelihoods and local economies in Bangalore due to large infrastructure projects. The Bangalore metro is a particularly good example here: With the coming of the metro 1500 shops will disappear on CMH Road alone although the BMRCL has only identified 48 properties on this road to be compensated. Besides displacement of livelihoods and local economies, this represents the displacement of street life as we know it, of small and unique neighborhood kirana stores, of complex financial, trade and political circuits, of the urban landscape, of the small entrepreneur… What sorts of changes will we see on that road in the years to come? How will a mall at every station change the urban landscape and our interaction with our city? CASUMM and Curt are interested in exploring the changes the metro will have in more detail, making them more visible, and putting them out in the public domain. What we’d like to do together is go to every shop along a stretch of CMH road and ask 5-6 basic questions- we have prepared a checklist. Curt will then help us conceptualize and map this visually. But we really need some help to do this. Would you be able to help us get some volunteers to do this? We would need about 5 volunteers. The project would involve a week of volunteer time starting end of next week (about July 20th-27th). We’d be able to pay a basic allowance per day to cover some expenses. Volunteers would need to ask every trader basic questions that would help understand: § history of the establishment § where they get supplies from and whom they sell to (circuits of trade) § whether they pay VAT and sales tax (ie. how “formalized” they are and whether they can “claim” compensation) § how much they invest and who they get their capital from (circuits of finance) § the political connections they use to get problems solved (circuits of negotiation, resistance) The stretch of CMH road can roughly be divided into 3 parts each with its own history and circuits- BDA developed and more high end shops, CITB developed and more medium end, and the old village part, largely unplanned, smaller shops. To supplement this basic information on every shop, Rajan and others will be getting more detailed, nuanced stories from a selection of traders. This will also be represented visually. We would ideally like to disseminate this publicly (sometime in August) in a way that allows creative and diverse interaction with the material. If you can help in any way, most particularly with volunteers, it would be great. Please get in touch ASAP with Curt (cugambetta at yahoo.com) or Rajan (advtrajan at gmail.com). I will be out the rest of this week and not checking email. Cheers Lalitha - Be a better Globetrotter. Get better travel answers from someone who knows. Yahoo! Answers - Check it out. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Shape Yahoo! in your own image. Join our Network Research Panel today! http://surveylink.yahoo.com/gmrs/yahoo_panel_invite.asp?a=7 DEFANGED.2070> ----- Forwarded Message ---- -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/f8d055fa/attachment-0002.html From akhilkatyal at rediffmail.com Thu Jul 12 19:23:59 2007 From: akhilkatyal at rediffmail.com (akhil katyal) Date: 12 Jul 2007 13:53:59 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Cyber Cultures/Queer Cultures in Delhi Message-ID: <20070712135359.32561.qmail@f5mail10.rediffmail.com> Cyber Cultures/Queer Cultures in Delhi Akhil Katyal ‘Online relationships and groupings provide the most obvious structures of alternative sexuality cyberculture [can be seen] as a revolutionary social experiment with the potential to create new identities, relationships and cultures ’ - Pramod K. Nayar, in the section ‘Cyberfeminism’ in his essay ‘Queering Cultural Studies: Notes Towards a Framework’ [1] ‘I think that the internet has definitely helped in the proliferation of queer cultures. Right now I can think of gaydelhi yahoogroup, lgbtindia yahoogroup, khush yahoogroup, gay bombay, symphony in pink, voicesagainst377, CREA and TARSHI websites Then there’s guys4men and gaydar .coms which boys use It lets people meet each other, have sex, develop bonds of friendship, meet people who can be potential relationship partners, that kind of a thing, and then there are all these forums where people post all sorts of things – like I think that this particular guy is cute or ridiculous things like Hindus are superior in India, all sorts also, the internet has revolutionized cruising – given more control, mobility, steering capacity and wide range of choice to the cruiser.’ - Mario D’ Penha, gay activist, in an interview given to me on 23rd March, 2007 [2] Seen in conjunction, Mario D’ Penha and Pramod K. Nayar’s comments seem to be registering the importance of understanding socio-cultural phenomenon without disregarding the effect of newer technologies. For the section of queer people living in the city who have continuous or intermittent access to internet, the web has revolutionized relations, information resources, identity formations or fantasies and has increased the possibilities of mapping queer people/cultures even as it provides these very same people/cultures a site to inhabit, grow in, exploit or explore, and mark an undeniable presence. E-mails and e-groups on internet have increased possibilities of communication between people and of mobilizing them for different purposes. For queer people, for whom these very possibilities are wrought with complexities of control and invisibility in the non-cyber world, the medium of internet assumes a unique significance and interventionist proportions. Unlike other forms of media, the internet is both strategically and dangerously public and private at the same time, allowing independences impossible to think of vis-à-vis television, cinema, radio etc. Also, in negotiating daily habits like time spent on web, in affecting mindscapes through reading hitherto unreachable social/personal texts (like in blogs) and shaping access to and forms of knowledges, the cyberspace constantly interacts with the so-called non-cyber world. In effect, any such division between the virtual and the real is artificial and misleading. Queer cultures in Delhi contribute to and are shaped by the cyberqueer. Responding to my last posting ‘Queer Cultures and the Delhi Discotheque’, a Delhi-based journalist who would have located the posting through internet search portals, contacted me and indicated her wish to have a dialogue over Delhi’s queer spaces. Even as one writes a Sarai posting on queer cultures in Delhi (with a slightly discomfiting knowledge of its availability on the net, like for instance if my mother reads it there would be quite a scene at home), its relations and interactions in the super-abundant world of the internet make it clear that queerness is a variable which plays out its knotty games on the web, becoming a unique node for queer cultural formations in the city. Websites like manjam, gaydar and guys4men and others provide queer men in the city with opportunities to meet up and engage socially/sexually. Signed up members can put up their profile with descriptions and pictures. One has the option of filling out details about one’s habits and hobbies, likes and dislikes, sexual favourites, waist and penis size, hair colour etc. Description of oneself becomes a way of creating a desirable persona. Putting one’s pictures on the profile is almost indispensable for a fruitful sexual career on guys4men. Several follow the ‘no pic, no reply’ rule. An extreme form and demand of visibility and descriptive excess ensures chats and meet-ups. This sits interestingly with the fact that several of the men registered in guys4men fill out ‘nobody’ in the ‘Out to’ section. Like mentioned in my last posting, being on these hook-up websites or visiting a tacitly understood queer night at a city discotheque does not automatically mean that these men are completely ‘out’ or are interested in being ‘out’ or even consciously identify themselves as queer or gay or the like. Several of these men inhabit the complex recesses where sexual behaviour has no direct or simple correspondences with sexual identities. It is not difficult to guess that several of these men are married or have sustained relationships with women. Manoj Das (profile name changed) says that he is travelling to Delhi with his girlfriend and would like to meet ‘body builders’ and ‘smart guys’ ‘with place’ for sexual enjoyment. Being on guys4men from Delhi is like being super-visible albeit within a localised system which functions on the principles of invisibility. The event of being present on such websites is like loosely networking within, not coming out. Several of the pictures on these websites have either the face smudged, (which reminds one of those news interviews where the face of the person in question is only partially outlined, remaining unidentifiable), or the focus of the photographs is the body – neck and down – specially arms, chest and abs. Sexual desirability takes over facially determined identity. On the other hand full pictures are requested by many as a pre-condition for initiating dialogue. Visibility and invisibility in fact are simultaneous and interacting processes on guys4men. In the interview with Mario D’ Penha, I heard a curious shoe-theory of safety while cruising. D’ Penha had been told by a friend in Mumbai that while cruising one should always be alert to the possibility that the other guy might be a policeman in disguise. It is not an easy process, however, to ascertain this. This friend suggested that observing the other guy’s shoes would give the necessary and all too valuable hint. Most of these policemen under cover change their clothes but obviously do not have enough money to change into another casual-looking pair of shoes. So if the shoes resemble the formal blacks of a policeman, one could do better than approaching this guy for sex. Cruising in physical spaces of the city has always been an affair which dangles on the edge of un-safety. Arrests and blackmail by policemen loaded with the section 377, or extortion for money are often reported within queer circles. The gaybombay website has several articles and personal narratives which function as cruising guidelines and warnings. In this context, internet portals like guys4men provide forums which can be used to manoeuvre cruising in a different manner, possibly much safer than in moonlit Nehru or Central Parks in Delhi or train-station loos in Bombay. The story however, like many stories, is not simple. Recent arrests of gay men in Lucknow were made by the police by tracking their internet profiles. A note near the bottom of the webpage in www.guys4men.com reads ‘INDIAN MEMBERS PLEASE READ: Increasingly, policemen along with gangs of blackmailers work in cohort and use web spaces where gay men meet to entrap them. For more info on what's been happening, please read this’ which hyperlinks to several articles on safety and personal narratives on gaybombay website as mentioned above. The virtual world is unable to eradicate the problems and fixes of the world outside, because physical sexual contact and social relations lie at the end of the process for which internet is only a determined/determining medium. Digital penises or virtual orgasms are undiscovered yet, and should one still think (?), thankfully so. Shuddhabrata Sengupta [3] in his beautiful prose writes in his article ‘Net nomad on a rough route: A Despatch from Cyberspace’ – ‘While it is this open transparent character of online existence that lays the Internet vulnerable to surveillance, it is also its self-inscribing character that makes it the playground of possibilities it is at its best. Cyberspace is habitat, playground, university, boulevard, refuge. In creating for ourselves a medium which brings the world streaming into our minds and out of our fingers, we have inscribed the first coordinates of a new world map.’ The new sexual map laid out by guys4men plays with new possibilities even as it duplicates several categories. One guy wants to have sex with a man from ‘good decent back ground’ which uncannily reads like a request in matrimonial columns. Another describes himself as a ‘pure bottom’, implying he only likes getting inserted. One man only wants friendship, not sex. Another betrays a typical masculinist prejudice asking for versatile or top guys, not feminine or pure bottoms. Guys4men revels in sexual categories, makes new ones or builds on regular sexual clichés. Desire is unabashed, playful, complex here. The website format plays on the client’s desire for a ‘perfect match’. By filling an online form for finding one’s match one can prescribe age, picture availability, penis size, even eye or hair colour of the desired mate. One can fill up as many options for greater precision in the search process. A perfect sexual mate is constructed in this process even if that ideal remains unreachable (or perhaps not!). Levels of specificity and choice reach unbelievable proportions – Rakesh41 (profile name changed) travelling on AP Express on 5th June from Hyderabad to Agra who is a ‘top guy’ wanted to know if any ‘bottom guy’ is travelling on the same day in the same train – ‘we can have some fun in train’ he writes. Internet can be a playground of (im)possibilities like these. People from several classes frequent guys4men duplicating the variety of people who have internet access in the city. One can notice swanky rooms/appliances in the background of some individual profile photographs while in others the dilapidating paint on the walls is visible. Sengupta continues ‘ in the fuzzy world of Cyberspace, parallel lines of data, articulated on different planes, bump into each other all the time, creating constant collisions of meaning and new information events that transform and reconfigure the ways in which we think about being’. ‘guys4men’ is an unstable factor within this multipart process where class, sexual preference, age and looks collide and create newer definitions and desires of being. In the recently concluded Nigah Queer Film and Arts Festival in Delhi, the performance night saw the gay activist and author Gautam Bhan doing a stand up comedy act to a jam-packed ‘Attic’ with around 150 people above ‘People Tree’ in CP. During much of the later part of his act he culled out humour by dissecting the idiosyncrasies of guys4men – the way the X-rated pictures are made to work, how Bengali profiles are invariably longer by four paragraphs than any other (he claimed he wasn’t joking), and he ended by marking out a few unlikely members of guys4men like ex-prime ministers, presidents, and police officers. The humour worked because these utterances about web hook-up joints like guys4men functioned in a grid of recognizable references. Urban queer cultures are not made by big monolithic changes or acquisitions but by a gradual sense of ownership over a cultural artefact, a television character, a cinematic moment or an internet event. Guys4men provided this space which could be both used for social/sexual affairs and could be talked about in get-togethers– in short it made itself available for cultural processes to act within it and around it. William Gibson [4] muses about cyberspace in his 1984 ‘Neuromancer’ – ‘ A consensual hallucination experienced daily by billions of legitimate operators, in every nation A graphical representation of data abstracted from the banks of every computer in the human system. Unthinkable complexity. Lines of light ranged in the non-space of the mind, clusters and constellations of data. Like city lights, receding ’ Urban sexualities and their correspondent cultures operate in these lights which make things only curiously and complicatedly visible. Notes and References [1] Pramod K. Nayar, in the section ‘Cyberfeminism’ in his essay ‘Queering Cultural Studies: Notes Towards a Framework’, published in Brinda Bose and Subhabrata Bhattacharya ed. ‘The Phobic and the Erotic’, in 2007 by Seagull Publications. [2] I conducted this interview with Mario D’ Penha, gay activist and scholar, on 23rd March, 2007. [3] Shuddhabrata Sengupta, in his article ‘Net nomad on a rough route: A Despatch from Cyberspace’ published in ‘Biblio: A Review of Books’, in 2000. [4] William Gibson’s ‘Neuromancer’, published in 1984 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070712/6f0b5775/attachment-0002.html From mansilight at gmail.com Fri Jul 13 11:31:23 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:31:23 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] third posting Message-ID: <998c34570707122301x4430adaetcc73180eceaebcde@mail.gmail.com> Dear all , Here is section 1 of our third posting. Shared experiences for the community- public 1 While the notion of public is being restricted to the idea of the visiting public with aesthetic or entertainment in mind, there is also the other public that have access and use the lake perhaps without the sanction of the lake managers. Our study confirms apart from the constructed visual and recreational experience of a public park, a lake is also a resource with multiple levels of usership. In that way a lake is a shared experience for the users not only as an urban landscape but as a resource of livelihoods and water. The lake is then revealed as a shared presence in the lives of these multiple users with varied experiential meanings. There are direct users such as washer folk, fishing people, cattle owners some of them having legal withdrawal and access rights while others do not have legal permission either for access or for resource use. The legal entry to the lake is through the park gates whereas the illegal entry takes place through the unfenced eastern banks close to the highway. For the villager of Hebbal, the lake is imbued with sacred meaning and also sacred conflicts. The lake for the villagers is 'Gangavva': The sacred mother in whose name periodic fights happen resulting in breaking of and reconstructing of the Goddess. The washer folk vehemently assured us that they did not use the Hebbal Lake water for washing clothes as the water is not clean. They used water off a miniature pool formed in the eastern bank of the lake where the Cauvery pipeline passes by because that water is supposed to be clean and fresh. The dhobi defended himself by also saying that the leak in the pipe is a natural one. For those who collect weeds off the lake, the lake is a sources for cattle feed. These are again squatters or illegal entrants to the lake. For them the weeds are not a threat to the lake life nor an unwelcome invasion that mar the beauty of the lake. The fishing contract is another multiple resource use scenario with the ownership of the fishes in the lake vested with the Fisheries Department who gives off 5-year lease contracts for their harvest. The local fishing contractor now is hiring migrant labour from Kuppam in Andhra Pradesh to fish for him. The field notes reflect these users, the public. Just before the public- private partnership Nov 2006 Meet the lake Interviewers- Meera, Sreeja and Sowjanya On the first day, we decided to walk along the lake perimeter and see for ourselves a bit of the local geography. One could say we wanted to experience the tangible reality of the lake we were about to engage with. All three of us were committed to some sort of eco-friendliness and Indira, one more of our colleagues joined us for the walk as she had previous acquaintance with the lake as a visitor. We paid the entrance fee of RS. 5 and went in. The side service road was full of small vendors in push carts selling roasted corn on cob, ice cream, chats and other local fast food items. There was not much litter around. The lake entrance was a large archway and the ticket booth was to the right. I managed to hunt for change in my hand bag and briefly ask the booth attendant who was in the management of the lake. He hurried us on and said that the Oberoi hotel was the management. As the visitors were trickling in, he was reluctant to chat with us so we moved inside. We also did not have anything concrete to ask him so early in our project. When we entered the park we found notices of the forest department still in place asking us not to litter etc and the department name had been struck out. There were lots of visitors walking, children playing. All the snack stalls were outside the lake gate. Cartoon figure dustbins were placed around the people area of the park. As soon as we walked in, we saw two young men fishing with lines close to the boat jetty. The pedal boats were lying disused and the water weeds surrounded the jetty. The young man ( A ) was flinging a plastic twine into the water and pulling out small wriggling fish and dropping them it an orange plastic pot. Very politely we asked him what he was doing. He told us that he was fishing and that he did not sell the fish. He was a resident of Bhoopasandra, an area that would have been on the southern bank of the lake but has been since separated by the ring road. We were curious about the fish and asked him if perhaps he actually ate them or did he sell them? He replied that he gave them to watchman in return to do "Time Pass" fishing. We peered into the fish pot and found small aquarium size fishes wriggling and wondered if there were fish in the lake worth calling the fishing activity or fish would even classify as resource? Any way since this fisherman was friendly we asked him if there were other people who fish in the lake. He said that maybe there were boats in the morning. He seemed ready to answer more questions and I asked him a direct question. I asked him if he could continue to fish if the management changed to the hotel chain. Very nonchalantly he said that the Nagavara tank that had been developed was charging 20 rupees for the entry and it was quite likely that Oberoi management would do the same. He also had told us that he actually got in free in return for the fish that he gave the watchman so it was actually a question of whether this practice would continue after the change in the management. Respondent 2: From Bidar and Karwar As we were walking along we noticed two well dressed young men with ID tags walking along. They looked like computer professionals — the guess was accurate and perhaps it would be interesting to see what about them, gave us this idea that they were IT professionals — The ID tags and the image of Bangalore as a software city of Bangalore perhaps helped us identify them. On striking up a conversation I began with the question if they often came to Hebbal Lake? They said that they had come here the first time and they were taking a break from work. The question of where they worked seemed natural and they informed us that they were from a famous software company. They also told us they came to lake for relaxation. We introduced ourselves as students studying the Hebbal Lake and asked them if they knew anything about the water birds. I did not think it right to ask about the management change right away as they would not have a clue about earlier management being first time visitors. They did not know anything about the birds. What was interesting was that one hand they had come there to experience peace and calm and relaxation and the same time they were happy with the idea that there would be a floating restaurant in the middle of the lake. Q: There will be a floating restaurant in the lake. What do you think of it? A: "I think it will be nice". Q: Why? A: "Well, we can go by boat to eat and drink. It will be fun". They were in a hurry and we thought it best to end the interview. Cntd in the next mail From mansilight at gmail.com Fri Jul 13 11:42:33 2007 From: mansilight at gmail.com (Meera (Mansi) Baindur) Date: Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:42:33 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] third posting- part 2 Message-ID: <998c34570707122312o2f99530ha2fcf6ce567915be@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, Here is the second part of our third posting. 2006, November 24th– Second day Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya. questions were asked in Kannada, the local language. (Ethnographic thick description type notes) The study was undertaken at 6.30 a.m. on November 23 rd Thursday 2006. The visit was to basically look at the fishing population around the lake. It was early morning and the there was very less traffic around .The boat was already in water and so we struck up some conversation with locals. The approach of the people is on the rock bank, opposite to the park area. There was a cowherd washing his cattle in the shallow bank. Two washer folk were near the lake: one man and one woman. They were counting the clothes. We asked them if they washed clothes in the lake and they told us that there was a connection from the Kaveri pipeline which was broken. There was a continuously flowing stream of fresh water from the broken pipe into the lake. They used that to wash clothes. Later we noticed the washer people moving to the rocky bank of the lake, where they began washing clothes on the lake shore. The next interview with the local respondent helped us to place the lake in perspectives of its history and the local environments. It was by sheer luck that we ran into this well dressed man in the early hours. We actually went to look for the fishermen and we had an idea that the fishes would be caught early in the morning. We took a muddy path leading along from the side of the road to wards the lake. This was adjacent to the national highway NH 7 As we walked down what seemed to be old road we met a young man in a cap and a nice dress who first said he was a fisher man but later he turned out to be a person who used to fish. We were lucky because he was a resident of Hebbal village and had spent almost his whole life in the park. The interview was in Kannada. We found that he was a resident of Hebbala Village next to the Lake and he was a painter by profession at Kengeri. He was willing to talk and rather boastfully gave us many details .He told us with pride that he fished sometimes in the lake. He informed us that he had grown up on the banks of the lake and was sure that the size of the lake had shrunk since his childhood. He recollected swimming in the lake and drinking the water from the lake. "Now the water is green and filled with Pachi (Algae)" he said with disgust. "Before the mud was red and the water was sweet". He pointed to the road we were standing on and told us that it was the main road. We noticed a shrine close to the place we were standing and asked him what that was? The lake had a temple dedicated to "gangavva" the deity of the lake. Worship at this place took place during the annual village festival (called Jatre).Two caste communities fought over the privilege of carrying a lamp and this quarrel lead to miscreants breaking the structure. We noticed that next to the older stone structure is a newer whitewashed temple with pictures of Gods and Goddesses. The interesting conversation of the temple gave us an idea of the indirect users of the lake. With a very self important tone, the young man volunteered information that one Sadhu used to come there only on new moon and did pooja with pumpkins and all that, but now he does not come. We were curious with this tale and just to let the informer continue with his story we asked him if it was a night Pooja. "Yes! with Tantra and Mantra" he declared dramatically. We moved to the questions about fishing and he gave us vital information. The fishing is a very regulated resource activity with a contract from the fisheries department in Lal Bagh. We also found out that the fishes have been introduced. He told us of the different contractors and also told us that the now the contract is with one Ppa. We found out that Ppa has one fish stall in the highway (pointing Bangalore- Hyderabad Road). It was more of a shack. He also told us that there there were many stalls, 6-7 of them, 6 of them on the other bank. (on the ring road bank) and one on the opposite side of the road. After this we paused. Suddenly he again asked us to look at another lake "You should look at the Yellanamarappa Lake. It is much more beautiful". He again went on to describe the earlier lake managements. We found out that before the fisheries department there used to be a Narayanappa from Kodegehally who engaged a guard to run around the lake. The respondent did not have pleasant memories of the lake from that period. He called them thieves. "They had a guard with a bandook (gun)" he recollected. He told us the names of some fish in the lake which we were not able to understand such as Catla, Rohu… I asked him if fishing would be affected by boating activities. He said that unless the nets were damaged, there would be no problem and also that the oils spills would not matter as the pollution would get diluted. He was very worried about the weeds as they moved. He wanted put some 'chemicals' that would kill the weeds. The boat drew closer to the shore and we asked him how much fish each boat brought in? He told us that there are three boats and each can hold 300kg (sic) .We later found out that this information was not correct. I wondered if birds got stuck in the nets or if people ate eggs of the water birds? He said that if they are stuck in the net the people would keep them. "For eating? " We asked very pleasantly. He repeated "We keep them! We don't take eggs". There was another pause and I clicked some photographs of the boat on the lake. Just wanted to make sure that he had all that he wanted to tell us so I asked him –"What else can you tell us about the lake"? and this conversation is better reported in direct speech. By now we knew our respondent was not only a good informer but also given to dramatizations and exaggerations.(he would be a journalist respondent I think) A-There are dead bodies in the lake. (Dramatically) Q- Dead people? Who puts them there? (We were a bit shocked but we recovered as we realized he was talking about suicides) A-People kill themselves. Once I was fishing and there were strange waves. I saw that there was a person who was going up and down in the waters. I rushed up and pulled them out by the hair and slapped them. They had drunk a lot of water. It was a teacher from Yelahanka whose mind was not ok. Like that people try and kill themselves He posed for this nice photograph and then he left saying he had to go to work. Sowjanya's report Interviewers- Meera , Sreeja and Sowjanya Respondent 2 : Mukesh, Migrant fisherman from Kuppam, AP The respondent's name was Mukesh aged around 20-25 years. He had been fishing as an wage worker for a contractor named Ppa who owned four boats. He was here along with 6 of his fellow villagers who had all been got here by Ppa exclusively for carrying out this activity. He is not engaged otherwise and the rest of the day goes in mending the fishing gear. They are paid Rs.20 as fixed wage per day and Rs. 4 over and above that for every kg of fish catch. They catch around 20-30 kg of fish per day. Ppa has the fishing contract for Hebbal lake for 5 years from the Fisheries Department. Mukesh and his other fellow villagers go home once a month to meet their families who take care of agricultural land (size - ??). Mukesh has three brothers who take care of the land in the village. The fisherman community generally did not seem anxious about the prospective development of the lake as they felt that their right would be safe guarded and they would still continue fishing in the early morning and late evening hours after the park closed for visitors. They had a small shack on the bank of the lake itself and all six of them lived there with bare necessities. He showed us fish catch and told us that they regularly see the following varieties of fish – catlac, catla, rohu, mrigal, chali, jilabi, bigede, tiger jilabi, glasscar etc. They collect only the larger fishes and throw back the younger ones. The boats are procured from Mettur. They were more concerned about the water hyacinth infestation in the lake which could get trapped into the fishing net if the breeze carried it towards the net. As we observed the contractor himself came with other helpers to carry and weigh the fish at a nearby small stall made of tin sheets which was the fish outlet for other retailers and hotel businessman to buy from. Ppa seemed reluctant to talk and we could not engage him in a longer conversation. Conversation with Sri. Srinivasan, Thoreau foundation report by Sowjanya The Thoreau society was involved with the cleaning operation of the lake. It is located in the RT Nagar, Anand Nagar area and is backed by the residents association as the Hebbal Lake is the favorite destination for the residents of these areas for morning strolls and weekend relaxation. Sri. Srinivasan to whom I (along with Meera) talked to has been involved in the affairs of the lake for the past 13 years. He could talk of the times when people including students used to get together to clean the lake manually. This practice had to be stopped because of increased presence of cattle leach in the lake. He was quite sure that the Forest Department was neglecting the maintenance and upkeep of the lake to make the lease arrangement desirable to the general public. (It is working since Kiran was touting this very reason as the advantage of a corporate takeover). The earnings from the lake come to round Rs. 10 lakhs/ year which was more than what was anticipated when the cleaning operation of the lake was first undertaken. According to Srinivasan, the FD can very well undertake the mechanical cleaning up operation of the lake by spending a fraction of the money generated by the park. He is a person who has written a letter to the Chief Secretary six months back asking for a revocation in the decision to lease out the lake. On asking what was the follow up being done he seemed a bit hassled. He said he did not see it as a battle that can be won. A court PIL was not considered as the judges are corrupt. He said the only way to revoke the decision now is to bring in a major pubic unrest. On being asked if he would he would call in the necessary people, maybe get together the voluntary group who cleaned up the lake and lay the base for a public agitation he replied that can be arranged. But there was a certain amount of conviction lacking in his reply. The most evident concern was the loss of public ownership over the land which was interestingly the point raised by Kiran also once his infatuation with corporate efficiency was past. Mr. Srinivasan felt more strongly about the conversion of public premises to the benefit of a single corporate body and was genuine in his desire to do something to prevent it. He had plans of developing the lake and its beautification (electric lighting along the lake bund and convert Hebbal Lake to Bangalore's equivalent of Marine Drive). But a conviction that it is a losing battle is also making him search for ways of compromise. A half formed suggestion that came out was the possibility of the hotel management letting in morning walkers and giving concessions to birdwatchers. Kiran also was found searching for options such as Oberoi letting in birdwatchers. Both of them did not have any marked concern for the fishing community From prashantiyengar at gmail.com Sun Jul 15 15:37:23 2007 From: prashantiyengar at gmail.com (Prashant Iyengar) Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 15:37:23 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [Fwd: Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad.] In-Reply-To: <4694B19E.7080105@altlawforum.org> References: <4694B19E.7080105@altlawforum.org> Message-ID: <908adbd0707150307i13903a28j35288e568d0b59ce@mail.gmail.com> Hi, As a resident of Secunderabad for the past 25 years, and as one who owes his reading habits entirely to pavement book shops (pirated or seconds) in the twin-cities I'm very very interested in this research. I've witnessed first-hand the "dismantling" of the second hand book shop tradition in hyderabad - acutely visible in the gradual shrinkage of the Abids Sunday book market, both in terms of territory and variety. While traffic and town planning may have played a pivotal role in this shrinkage, I suspect also the weakening of the "book-reading culture" in the city to be implicated. (About 5 years ago Gangarams - arguably the best stocked bookstore at the time - shut their enormous shop in Secunderabad because they weren't selling enough. I remember their wonderfully knowledgeable manager telling me that there wasn't enough interest in books in the city to sustain the shop. So even without town planning, the options of the book-consuming public have been declining.) Best Books continues to provide solace to low-budget book-readers and in the past few years has begun to organise periodic mega sales at YMCA Secunderabad which throw up some unexpected gems sometimes - other times you're content with getting cheap copies of books you want for your collection. Lately, I've been getting a lot of good books online (from "pirate" websites). It doesn't rival the feeling of being able to thumb through a physical copy, but at this stage I'm grateful just to have access. Look forward to reading more posts in this series. Prashant Ps. Even though this is out of the scope of this research, I will assert that I experience a similar romance with pirated books, even sans the inscriptions and the yellowing pages, it is a special feeling, having just put down a wonderful book, to reflect on the fact that you paid just Rs. 60 for it. Inexplicably for me it tends to increase the value of what I have just "consumed". I have also evolved to a point where I am no longer irked by the poor quality of the pages or misprints - instead these become sources of enchantment to be savoured for themselves. On 7/11/07, Lawrence Liang wrote: > > > > > ---------- Forwarded message ---------- > From: "alice samson" > To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net > Date: Wed, 11 Jul 2007 12:38:21 +0530 > Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 1/ The Second-hand book Shops of Hyderabad. > > > > > > > > > > > > > > Post 1/ The Inspirations behind this project and the Objects of > study. > > > A Second-hand Bookshop > > > The sunlight filters through the panes > Of book-shop windows, pockmarked grey > By years of grimy city rains, > And falls in mild, dust-laden ray > Across the stock, in shelf and stack, > Of this old bookshop-man who brought, > To a shabby shop in a cul-de-sac. > Three hundred years of print and thought. > > > Like a cloak hangs the bookshop smell, > Soothing, unique and reminding: > The book-collector knows its spell, > Subtle hints of books and binding- > In the fine, black bookshop dust > Paper, printer's ink and leather, > Binder's glue and paper-rust > And time, all mixed together. > > > Blake's Poems, Sir-ah, yes, I know, > Bohn did it in the old black binding, > In '83.' Then shuffles slow > To scan his shelves, intent on finding > This book of songs he has not heard, > With that deaf searcher's hopeful frown > Who knows the nightingale, a bird > With feathers grey and reddish brown. > > > John Arlott > > > This poem captures quite beautifully the experience many booklovers have > > while at that delightful place that is the second hand bookshop. For some > > like me it is an experience so innocent, so joyful that I cannot express > it in > > its entirety. > > > I have lived and travelled through many cities of this huge country that > is > > India and found that most cities in India, and I understand the world over > > > have, if not a full fledged seconds market in books, at least some variant > of > > it. However for us the second hand book markets of Delhi, Hyderabad, > > Bombay, Calcutta etc are legendary and most booklovers take time to visit > > these enroute to other places. > I came to Hyderabad in August 2005 for a Masters in English and after I > > settled into the place I started my search for good book markets to > > service my personal reading habit and for my master's requirement. I soon > > learnt that Hyderabad had a wonderful tradition of used book markets all > > over the city and these cut across budgets, tastes and locations in the > city. > > There was the Sunday book market at Abids, the rare and antique book > > stores near Charminar, the decades old bookshops of Koti and quite a > > different world altogether was the Second-hand bookshops like M.R Book > > centre and Best Book store; these I suspect might come close to Arlott's > > bookstore, but our experience at these shops definitely has a uniqueness > and is different in many ways from Arlott's description of the bookshop in > Britain. > > I also learnt that soon after I had come to Hyderabad a significant part > of > > this tradition of used-book shops had been dismantled, leaving many book > > lovers disappointed and booksellers miserable. The city municipal and > police > > departments had forcibly dismantled some hundred odd bookshops outside > > Koti Women's college. These shops, which specialised in school and college > > > textbooks, had for decades serviced the countless students, teachers and > > learners of all types in the city. > I felt the deep sense of injustice that my friends felt, that the sellers > and > > buyers of these used-books felt. I felt the rage that old booklovers felt, > at > > the insensitivity of the planning departments who seemed to plan only for > > World games, IT conferences, visits by foreign prime ministers and more > > importantly planned for an unattainable dream city that looked like > > Shanghai or Tokyo or London. I felt the yearning for a space for reading > in > > the city, and I felt the sense of injustice that this sort of antiseptic > planning > > evoked in all people removed from it. > > There is something in a second-hand book that never fails to fascinate. I > > like the idea that a book I'm holding has been read, loved or hated by > > someone before me. I like to think that fingers over the grainy pages and > > tucked old bills or pressed flowers as bookmarks. I like to think that > > someone else was amazed by the writer's lyrical prose, incensed by a > > character's actions or horrified at the sudden turn of events on page 234. > > There is some joy in opening a copy of Doctor Zhivago and finding these > > scribbled under the title. > > To Mummy, > > Hope you enjoy it! > > Love Andrew, Anne, Olivier > > And wandering away wondering if Mummny enjoyed it. It connects us > > irrevocably to the rest of humanity and we read to discover that we are > > not alone. > > My fascination for these book and bookshops drove me to undertake this > > research project on the 'Second Hand Bookstalls of Hyderabad'. My aim > > during this study is to, the extent feasible, research and document all > that > > goes into this experience of the Second-Hand Book Shops of Hyderabad. I > > will also attempt to trace the relationship of these books, shops and > > owners with the history of Hyderabad. Over the next few weeks I will post > > here my experiences, findings etc while on this project. Since I do not > have > > a predetermined structure to my exploration I will not be able to post my > > research in an organised manner and will most often than not post these in > > > the form of notes, scattered writings etc. > > > ps. Please write to me about your experiences with Second hand books in > your own cities and in Hyderbad if you have been here. If you have worked on > a similar project before I would love to learn from your experience with > customers, bussinessmen, with people in authority etc. > > Alice Samson > > Ciefl, Hyderabad > > alicesamson at gmail,com > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070715/a587eac9/attachment-0002.html From ehijam at yahoo.com Mon Jul 16 11:50:06 2007 From: ehijam at yahoo.com (eskoni hijam) Date: Sun, 15 Jul 2007 23:20:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Traditional Market and Urban Planning: Case of Khwairamband Keithel, Imphal (third posting) Message-ID: <508704.2770.qm@web31507.mail.mud.yahoo.com> At first I was hesitating about how to start the conversation and was not sure what their response would be. Actually I was discouraged by many people to approach the vendors as there was a big fight with the vendors and the government on the issue of the project on the redevelopment of the Keithel. I was worried that they might think of me as a government official and might not be ready to share their experiences. I decided to approach the secretary of the organization before talking to the other vendors. The present organizational structure is of recent origin. Though the vendors were united as one but there was no system of a head nor there was an organizational structure. It was only in 1986 that the secretary was selected when the need arose to represent the Keithel for the meeting with the Prime Minister in New Delhi and the name was given as Manipur Keithel Nupi Marup. At that time, the nomination of the president was done and after returning from Delhi one secretary from each of the Keithel was nominated to this newly formed body. This is how the organization came into being. In 2003 the organization had split into three groups. The three groups, i.e. Manipur Keithel Nupi Marup (MKNM) and other two groups merged into one as Khwairamband Nupi Keithel Sinpham Amadi Saktam Kanba Lup (KhNKSASKL). INTERACTION: The secretary of the KhNKSASKL vendors came at around eleven in the morning. She sells fish in the Ema Keithel. Since the redevelopment project is on the way, the vendors have been shifted to a temporary shed just adjacent to the original location. Due to this shift the sales have gone down drastically. Due to this reason at present many of the vendors are not actively involved in the trade. Some of the vendors have changed their trade from selling vegetables and fruits to the eatery spaces as it is more profitable. Many of them are engaged in other activity as well, like Sensaanbi (money lending) or Marup (similar to chit fund). This Marup is normally done in a large scale but in the market it is done on a small scale (Rs. 20 per day). When I first approached her and explained about my work, she was more than happy to help me. She narrated the history of the market and how they faced the government authority, “we stayed in the market for months so that our demands are fulfilled”. She also showed me some of the documents regarding the redevelopment project which I will describe in detail in my later posting. It was about one and she ordered tea and bora (local food) and we had it. After that I left for the day as I had to go to the municipality office to collect data on license fees. I reached the municipality office at around 2:30 pm. There I waited for a long time for the revenue officer as she was out on some work. The employers were on strike as they have not received their salary for some two to three months. This is the situation in Manipur in most of the government offices and schools. I waited but it was of no use as she did not turn up that day. I came the next day and got the data and then proceeded to the market where I noticed a very peculiar thing. A young lady, in her 20s was collecting money. She was one of the Sensaanbi (moneylender). I tried to talk to her but she was in a hurry. She was a bit hesitant to talk to me. She comes everyday in the morning to collect money and she has been in this business for the past six months. Some of the vendors were shy or feeling scared of what I may ask that they were pushing on each other. However, when the conversation started it went on pretty well and they all helped me in clearing the doubts. It was not always that the vendors were accommodating. Some simply refused to talk. Maybe they were afraid that I am conducting the survey for the authority and I am a part of the team working on the redevelopment project. Many are against the project as their demands are not fulfilled. Regarding the formation of the new organization, many have varied opinion. About 90% support the new organization while some feels that the formation of the new organization is the result of the new generation wanting to gain power. The selection of the head is through consensual nomination. The main function of the elected members are forwarding the demand of the vendors to the higher authority, conducting meetings and making decisions. The main decision is made by meeting of the elected members of the organization. Other than the secretary of the organization as a whole, there are secretaries from each of the three Keithel which are elected from among the executive members. Bandh and strikes affects the vendors as many of the vendors have to manage the family from the income from the Keithel. When I asked whether the organization provide any help during emergency, the vendors replied that “the organization does not have any fund and, during emergencies, we depend on the Marup (a type of micro credit program, it a form of traditional saving in Manipur)”.The role of Sensaanbi (moneylender) is very integral to the market system. But it also happens that the vendors are cheated. I recently came across a news article in the local paper “The Sangai Express” (July 11 2007, http://www.thesangaiexpress.com/news_pages/local_page-09.htm ) where the volunteers of Manipur Forward Youth Front (MAFYF) have pulled up a 30 year old women who allegedly collected money from innocent women vendors form the Khwairamband Keithel on false promise of providing them with loans. Many such cases also happen with the moneylenders when the vendors take the money and do not return. They cannot do anything as there is no legal document as proof and is totally dependent on a verbal agreement. Looking into the circumstances which compelled the women to go for this trade, there were a variety of reasons. N. B. Devi, aged 38 years, has a stall where she sells bananas. She just entered the business eight months back after the death of her mother-in-law who used to do the business before. She has one son and three daughters. “It was becoming difficult to run the family on my husband’s income alone as his income is not steady. Previously when he was working in the government office, his income was steady and sufficient to run the family but now the situation is not the same. The income from the mason’s work, which he is currently engaged, varies seasonally. Hence the shop is the main means of support for the family”. She added “I have to start early in the morning so that I can buy the bananas from the tribal people from the hill areas at a cheaper rate” T. M. Devi, aged 50 years, who sells fish, said that “Our work is fully dependent on luck. On a good day we earn Rs 3000 and sometimes we don’t get a single paisa even to recover the travel cost”. She is a widow with six children out of which five are unemployed and one is a driver. The income from the market is a main source of sustenance for the family. At present she is not sitting in her place as it is inside and very less buyers come there. She sits in the front with a friend and has lease out her space to a eatery hotel at Rs 50 per month. “It is a past-time for me as I don’t need to go to the market but due to habit I am here” said T. S. Devi, aged 70 years who sells vegetables. Her husband is a retired Sanskrit teacher and her three sons are government employees. She became a part of the market at the age of 32. The case of Nazima who sells eggs, is a clear indication of economic compulsion. She is 35 years of age and has four children. Her husband does not have a steady income. She started the business three years back when she got the license from her mother. She had borrowed money from the moneylenders to start the business. She mentioned that it is very difficult to carry on during the summer when the sale is very low. Without stopping as she was attending to a customer, Kh. R. Devi (aged 43 years) said she started a bit late in the morning from her home as the sales have been very low since shifting to the temporary site. She sells fish in the market. Very few bring home made food for themselves. She said “there is no time to cook, my daughter looks after the cooking and most of the household things. I try to help sometimes but it is very difficult”. The market is the only source of her economic support. In addition to selling fish she is engaged in lending money, from which she earns some from the interest. She was separated from her husband and now she has to support her four children. Her mother used to sit in the market and now she has taken her place. The case of Th. G. Devi on the other hand “I fells so bored at home. This is the best way of passing time and it’s a way of exercise to keep me fit in this age”. She is 65 years of age. She sells mosquito nets in the market. While I was passing by the mekhala (traditional dress) shop, I found a very interesting thing. The weavers bring the clothes in a bulk. Even if a particular vendor has the monetary capacity to buy the whole lot she does not do that. There is a peculiar bond, she buys only a few and let the others also buy so that they all can make a living together. An outsider will be amazed at how the whole thing is coordinated. It is a beautiful sight. It is not just a place of business; people share a good joke and also talk about what is happening at home. After talking to the vendors I feel that the market is beyond what is visible on the surface. Most of the vendors agreed that the market is a very important part of their life. Some see it as a way of living and others as a past-time. The women are very much attached to each other. They become very good friends and share their everyday life. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Park yourself in front of a world of choices in alternative vehicles. Visit the Yahoo! Auto Green Center. http://autos.yahoo.com/green_center/ From sumalathabs at gmail.com Mon Jul 16 22:44:01 2007 From: sumalathabs at gmail.com (sumalatha b.s) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 22:44:01 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting Message-ID: <798e17240707161014s7d5e3cf6jc2eb573aaffa194@mail.gmail.com> Dear All, This is my second posting on my project for the Sarai Studentship on cities titled "Space for Brokering Branches in Kerala Townships: A Casual link with Urbanization". In my first posting, I have recounted a day's life in this urban space. This in fact grew out of a field visit done at one of the branches of a stock brokering firm in my city. Presently, the interactions among the constituents of this space have led to this scribbling, i.e. how the various stakeholders breathe the space within a brokering firm. While the direct contributors of this space vary form investors/speculators to employees of the firm, one can include as many indirect, casual links to this relatively new phenomenon in Kerala's urban development. The positives are that this endeavor includes views from across Kerala. Here I will depict the hierarchical arrangement in a branch and views form each of the strata before going to the investor class. The employees seem to be the major occupants of the space generated by this new phenomenon. Since the job demonstrates similar characteristics, these stakeholders also seem to be similar across places. This urban institution also has got a hierarchical face. The Manager will be the boss in any branch. The traders (employees who execute the buying and selling for the clients), the assistants (employees who manages the front office and back office jobs) seems to hold similar statues quo in the office. But, interactions within employees have revealed that traders are paid more than the assistants. However, the interesting and amazing point is that the remuneration is comparatively lower in this field. Bijoy (name changed) is a manager of a branch of the stock brokering firm that I usually visited in my city. To me, as a sample he ideally represented majority of the branch managers in this field. At first he seems secretive and doubtful of the purpose and once revelations are made, become helpful and talkative about the nuances of the daily life in a stock brokering branch. In fact interactions with him have re-modeled my perception from an urban phenomenon towards a combination of technology- information- urbanization paradigm. He says "This stock market, or brokers or investors all have been there earlier also. But economic liberalisation (of the country) has provided more freedom to these kinds of activities. Now residents can engage in more forms of financial activities". I then had to interrupt him "But these types of financial activities are speculative, isn't it? But his reply was in supportive of financial liberalisation and newer ways of profit maximisation "Look, one cannot consider this as a speculative. These are newer avenues through which the investors can maximize the income form the investments which also incurs elements of risk. So one has to use all kinds of available methods permitted by the system for guarding against risk and then to garner the most of the profits. May be then, these kinds of activities involves some bit of speculation. But all investment activities are having some bit of speculative tinge, isn't it? ". In essence he seems to point towards the hypothesis of an urban space created by modern technology (information) with an orientation towards augmenting (?) the urban capital through mild modes of speculation. However, one gets a feeling of exploitation while interacting with the lower strata of employees. Their reward is low comparing with the human capital them posses. In that branch in my city, most of the traders are post graduates, while the lower sections are mostly graduates. The traders felt similar to what I had felt with regard to speculation. Jay, one of the traders I have interacted told "There can be both forms of investing, while the investments of short-term nature can be speculative in nature; investments covering long periods of time will not be as speculative as in the case of a short-term investment. The long-term investor waits for a substantial point of time for reaping the fuller margins of profit. But, the short-term investor are usually aggressive investors will sell of in sight of a mere profit or loss. They are called also as speculators". Jay was also was elaborative of problems while dealing with a majority of speculators. "They will always keep us on tender hooks and will be always mongering for short-term profits. In fact it is high tension to deal with speculators. One small mistake in typing or lack of concentration may erode profits and results in losses. This can incur the wrath of these people. In short, we will always have to service these sections happy". Enquiring about the work conditions made me more realize the true nature of an informational urban space utilizing the local human capital for augmenting the local capital through new methods of speculative financial trading. The office begins life by 9 in the morning and continues till 5 in the morning everyday with Sunday the exception. Half of the Saturdays are to be spent for back office jobs. In this posting I have tried to analyse the perceptions of the employees of the brokering firm's branches, out of my interactions with these occupants of the urban space. This has in fact pointed towards something like an informational city utilizing local skill for enhancing financial capital. And the way through which this is done is through these kinds of financial activities. In the next and final posting I will try to highlight the perceptions of the other important constituent of this city space; the investors. From sumalathabs at gmail.com Mon Jul 16 23:01:19 2007 From: sumalathabs at gmail.com (sumalatha b.s) Date: Mon, 16 Jul 2007 23:01:19 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting Message-ID: <798e17240707161031j5c57172cke8afd37946d63b0e@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, This is my second posting on my project for the Sarai Studentship on cities titled "Space for Brokering Branches in Kerala Townships: A Casual link with Urbanization". In my first posting, I have recounted a day's life in this urban space. This in fact grew out of a field visit done at one of the branches of a stock brokering firm in my city. Presently, the interactions among the constituents of this space have led to this scribbling, i.e. how the various stakeholders breathe the space within a brokering firm. While the direct contributors of this space vary form investors/speculators to employees of the firm, one can include as many indirect, casual links to this relatively new phenomenon in Kerala's urban development. The positives are that this endeavor includes views from across Kerala. Here I will depict the hierarchical arrangement in a branch and views form each of the strata before going to the investor class. The employees seem to be the major occupants of the space generated by this new phenomenon. Since the job demonstrates similar characteristics, these stakeholders also seem to be similar across places. This urban institution also has got a hierarchical face. The Manager will be the boss in any branch. The traders (employees who execute the buying and selling for the clients), the assistants (employees who manages the front office and back office jobs) seems to hold similar statues quo in the office. But, interactions within employees have revealed that traders are paid more than the assistants. However, the interesting and amazing point is that the remuneration is comparatively lower in this field. Bijoy (name changed) is a manager of a branch of the stock brokering firm that I usually visited in my city. To me, as a sample he ideally represented majority of the branch managers in this field. At first he seems secretive and doubtful of the purpose and once revelations are made, become helpful and talkative about the nuances of the daily life in a stock brokering branch. In fact interactions with him have re-modeled my perception from an urban phenomenon towards a combination of technology- information- urbanization paradigm. He says "This stock market, or brokers or investors all have been there earlier also. But economic liberalisation (of the country) has provided more freedom to these kinds of activities. Now residents can engage in more forms of financial activities". I then had to interrupt him "But these types of financial activities are speculative, isn't it? But his reply was in supportive of financial liberalisation and newer ways of profit maximisation "Look, one cannot consider this as a speculative. These are newer avenues through which the investors can maximize the income form the investments which also incurs elements of risk. So one has to use all kinds of available methods permitted by the system for guarding against risk and then to garner the most of the profits. May be then, these kinds of activities involves some bit of speculation. But all investment activities are having some bit of speculative tinge, isn't it? ". In essence he seems to point towards the hypothesis of an urban space created by modern technology (information) with an orientation towards augmenting (?) the urban capital through mild modes of speculation. However, one gets a feeling of exploitation while interacting with the lower strata of employees. Their reward is low comparing with the human capital them posses. In that branch in my city, most of the traders are post graduates, while the lower sections are mostly graduates. The traders felt similar to what I had felt with regard to speculation. Jay, one of the traders I have interacted told "There can be both forms of investing, while the investments of short-term nature can be speculative in nature; investments covering long periods of time will not be as speculative as in the case of a short-term investment. The long-term investor waits for a substantial point of time for reaping the fuller margins of profit. But, the short-term investor are usually aggressive investors will sell of in sight of a mere profit or loss. They are called also as speculators". Jay was also was elaborative of problems while dealing with a majority of speculators. "They will always keep us on tender hooks and will be always mongering for short-term profits. In fact it is high tension to deal with speculators. One small mistake in typing or lack of concentration may erode profits and results in losses. This can incur the wrath of these people. In short, we will always have to service these sections happy". Enquiring about the work conditions made me more realize the true nature of an informational urban space utilizing the local human capital for augmenting the local capital through new methods of speculative financial trading. The office begins life by 9 in the morning and continues till 5 in the morning everyday with Sunday the exception. Half of the Saturdays are to be spent for back office jobs. In this posting I have tried to analyse the perceptions of the employees of the brokering firm's branches, out of my interactions with these occupants of the urban space. This has in fact pointed towards something like an informational city utilizing local skill for enhancing financial capital. And the way through which this is done is through these kinds of financial activities. In the next and final posting I will try to highlight the perceptions of the other important constituent of this city space; the investors. From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Tue Jul 17 12:05:38 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 12:05:38 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second posting.Student Stipendship 2007. Architectonics of the Mall. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707162335u763ee17ei668ee349fb0d73c5@mail.gmail.com> Architectonics of the Mall. Hello All, In this posting I am going to analyze the social, cultural and psychological impact of architectural design. Key words and concepts that I will be dealing with are commodity fetishism, advertising, electrical stimulation, hyper stimulus, and distraction. An important aspect of my account is the way in which the mall functions as a 'strategic' space and my two pronged approach looks into both the conception and structuring of the mall space by the producers/architects/developers in a way to maximize profit and its reception by consumers as a place of distraction and nervous stimulation and an urban labyrinth where the consumer can 'lose' oneself both spatially as well as psychologically. The façade or outer front display of the mall building is a crucial architectural feature as it functions as an effective 'media of mass communication', for attracting consumers from the surrounding region towards the mall premise. Although apprehended in an offhand and passive manner, these surfaces are rendered more effective precisely due to their inert reception, to maneuver the movement of crowd towards the mall, by using their hidden persuasive powers of aesheticisation. The sheer monumentality of the mall buildings together with the eye-catching façades makes them conspicuous in the daytime and as night follows the illumination emitted from these structures through the electric advertisements, spilling out interior lighting and brightly lit outwardly visible window displays, attracts consumers like light magnetizes gnats, and imbues the structure with an effulgence which enhances its distinctiveness as a 'fantasy' space. Amongst the Ghaziabad malls, EDM, Ansal Plaza and Pacific mall are prototypic examples of such post-modernist 'functionalist facades', constructed with glass and steel material, and embellished with electric advertising boards. (I borrow the term 'functionalist façade' from its usage by Janet Ward in her book titled 'Weimer Surfaces' to describe building facades of Weimer Germany during the 1920s.The term 'functionalist' was used to emphasize upon the strategic aspect of facade decorations to serve as surfaces for advertising. The appropriateness of using this term for the Ghaziabad mall lies in its articulation of the façade as purposeful -in terms of its use for advertising and not merely decorative.). In contrast to these malls, the façade of Shipra Mall is archaic in style, although grand and ostentatious. This impressive building which spreads horizontally over an area of 4.5 lakh sq ft. is built on the lines of Classical Romanesque architecture and is claimed to be the largest and widest mall of Ghaziabad. A porch heralds the gateway to the mall where cars pause for the passengers to get off and be welcomed in a rather dramatic fashion by uniformed valets and one or two other mall officials dressed in formal suits. As one enters the interior space of this mall, the architectural décor appears in sharp contrast to the exterior, for the interior is furnished in modern style using the combination of glass, steel and light for its primary aestheticisation. The interior design is reminiscent of a galleria with retail shops of three floors surrounding a vast elongated empty space in the center, like in the Pacific and East Delhi Mall. The roof of the building is made of transparent glass, a unique feature of the mall as it gives the consumer an idea of the time, in outright retaliation of a general principle of malls to efface time and duration. Jon Goss in his essay 'Magic of the mall' also interestingly points out a matter of great surprise, that one hardly ever sees a clock in the malls, something that appears even more curious by the fact that consumers spend so much time inside malls. The Shipra Mall provides for 'in-house vegetation', which may perhaps be seen as an attempt to perhaps bring some vestiges of the outside landscape into the interior as also to create an artificial 'naturalness' in these built spaces. Also in combination with the glass roof, allowing penetration of natural light, the interspersing of Palm trees and shrubs within these interior spaces, creates an illusion of 'open space' and 'pseudo- streetscape'. Scholars have variously described the mall's spatial/experiential character as 'hyperreal' or liminally as 'virtual reality' referring perhaps to the hypersensuality and phantasmagoria of these spaces. As pointed out by Jon Goss in his essay, 'The Magic of the Mall', malls are as such abstract 'nowhere-spaces', consumption utopias, idealized and hence estranged from reality. Jon Goss's description may be compared to Foucaults 'hetrotopias', or the 'deviant' 'virtually real' spaces, which function in transit as it were between real space and utopia. The mall's 'hetrotopic' nature is most strongly exemplified in its reference to global and universal spaces and experiences of consumer capitalism, and its apparent severance from the immediate local environment. As stated by Malcolm Voyce in his essay, 'Shopping Malls in India', these spaces 'do not reflect the local history but instead inculcate the tastes and identities of global consumer culture.' Also these spaces are amalgamation of past and existing real formats, such as the airport, hotel resort, amusement park and street shopping center of the downtown. The mall in this sense appears 'odd' and 'confused' and this nature is hightened by the fact it also operates a variety of activities- entertainment, shopping, recreational activities, eating etc. all at one place. Also once a person enters these spaces, he could be just anywhere in the world as they all look the same. In all these ways the Mall resembles a 'hetropia'. There is an element of 'excess' and 'hyper' attached to the mall's sanctum, as for eg, the spotlessly clean and shiny surfaces, the excessively sanitized condition, perfectly clean and fresh atmosphere, rightly regulated temperature, brightly lit showrooms, beautiful mannequins and elaborate window displays, music to lift up one's spirits, all add up to create a hypersensorium of visual and aural stimuli. (It is not an accidental feature that one sees from time to time employees cleaning different parts of the mall floors, for these activities are strategically performed in order to bring to the notice and thus assure the consumer of the perfect sanitary conditions in the mall. Research in the Pacific and Shipra mall has revealed that the malls on an average employ eighty to hundred cleaning employees to look after sanitation within the mall premises. These workers, around twenty five at each sitting, periodically clean assigned portions of the mall in shifts of eight hours, after which the work is carried over by the next set of workers. The toilets, and each mall usually maintains two sets of washrooms- one on either ends of each floor, are routinely cleaned by staffs who wait in turns on each of the users and check and restore hygiene in the washrooms after every use. Moreover, as revealed by one of the staff member of the Shipra Mall, in the residual spaces of the mall i.e. excluding the retail showrooms, the exposed walls are painted every alternate week to keep the mall interior looking new and scrupulously clean all the time.). The mall may be seen as a highly technologised space by its use of air conditioners, programmed music, lighting, computerized camera surveillance, flat T.V screens hanging in food courts and other places for casual watching and electric advertising. The flood of visual and aural stimuli emanating from these sources creates physical and perceptual shock for the consumer which produces the famously theorized neurological state-the 'distracted' mind. (See Anthony Vilder's 'Walter Benjamin and the Space of Distraction' in his book Warped Space. Also see 'Modernity, Hyperstimulus, and the Rise of Popular Sensationalism' by Ben Singer.) Here I use the term in the sense in which Kraucer refers to it, i.e. as a subconscious state of mind which is so saturated with rapidly moving fleeting images that it temporarily i.e. for as long as the state lasts, suspends any conscious thought, passively receiving impressions as though in a state of shock. This state of distraction is different and antithetical to Walter Benjamin's use of the term to connote dispersion and scattering resulting in disinterest and absentmindedness' or what is better known as the blasé attitude of the urban dweller. On the other hand the distraction experienced within the mall environment is addictive and it is lack of 'entertainment' or 'distraction' that causes jadedness and boredom. The hyperstimulating environment soothes the overexcited nerves of the consumer and provides sensory relaxation. One need not strain ones mind anymore with thoughts, but simply allow seeing, hearing and feeling without thinking. Of all the sources of stimulus, electric advertising causes the most sensational impact on the consumer. Janet Ward in her book 'Weimer Surfaces' defines advertising as 'the discourse of visually harnessed or applied power'. The main purpose of these visual signifiers is thus to use shock techniques such as colorful lights and rapidly moving signs, images or words to jolt the spectator from his/her reverie and take notice of the surrounding. The textual message of advertising placards is not as important as its visual effect, and customers are expected to have acquired enough cultural knowledge to be able to decipher subtle rhetoric and seemingly incompatible associations often made in advertisements. Jon Goss also points out the hidden aim of advertisement, which is to 'mask the materiality', of the commodity and shift its identity from a material object to a cultural artifact. This creates commodity fetishism in the Marxist sense i.e. severing the commodity from its origins of production and the labor process involved in producing it, and entrusting it with desirable socio-cultural symbolism. This aspect of commodity displacement is also reflected in the manner in which transactions take place in retail showrooms of the Mall, where there is no interface between the actual producer and consumer. A certain level of impersonality is maintained and also the scope of negotiating prices is thwarted in such transactions. Commodities are as such divested of their economic properties, and replaced with a cultural context. It is for this reason that a lot of care and emphasis is given to the exhibition of these commodities in window displays. The mall is a strategic or 'premeditated place'. Its interior design, comprising of the general layout, placement of showrooms, escalators, lifts, pathways, cooperative aestheticisation together serves to manipulate consumer movement within the interior space in a way that ensures maximum consumption. For instance, the layout of retail showrooms is such that even when a consumer has to go to a specific shop, 'on the way' to his goal, he is invariably exposed to a string of shop fronts which make him pause and dally and deflect him from his normal course to the initial desired destination. And often these unplanned visits end up in huge purchases. Even the escalators are strategically placed on opposite ends of the mall so as to subject shoppers to optimal exposure of the shop fronts while they half circumambulate along showrooms to reach the escalators. Jon Goss in 'Magic of the Mall' provides a rather convincing account of how cafeterias, restrooms and food courts play a role in sustaining and thus prolonging long walks across retail showrooms by shopper-pedestrians. The basic idea in all this is to keep the shopper for as long as possible inside the mall. Promotional activities also serve the same purpose of prolonging consumers' stay by providing recreation while simultaneously promoting consumption. It is interesting to note how music, light and window displays also play an important role in monitoring pedestrian movement inside the mall. While the mall adopts a uniform and cooperated mode of aestheticisation and publicity, however each retail showroom tries to lure customers particularly towards it by emphasizing its presence through the regulation of light, music and shop front display, within a limited sphere which does not disturb the overall décor of the mall. Music forms an integral part of the mall sensorium as it pervades every part of the mall-the entrance space, hallways, showrooms and even the toilets. Music territorializes space and distinguishes different spatial experiences. Music adds and contributes to the aesthetic identity of the Mall and consumers' like and preference for particular malls is considerably dependent on the kind of music it plays. (In one of the online portals on Ghaziabad Malls, a teenager reasoned out his preference for Shipra Mall over Pacific Mall and EDM due to its 'tastefully' programmed music-which usually played English numbers or tuned into world space. On the other hand the Pacific Mall and EDM played Punjabi pops and popular Hindi songs according to the general taste of the class of consumers it attracted-music considered tacky by elite standards.) Sometimes promotional activities are conducted which foreground and sensationalize music –such as in EDM, when radio jockeys from the 'Radio Fever' channel hosted game shows, dance competitions, and DJ shows. As for attracting customers into the showrooms, the store managers play loud music in comparison to the soft background music dispersed all around in the mall, in sync with the general theme of the store based on the kind and type of commodities it keeps. This music drowns over the background music of the hallways and directs the consumer's movement into the showrooms and also keeps them consumers shopping for longer. In a similar fashion light also directs consumer movement as the hallways are dimly lit in comparison to the showrooms. Also shop fronts use bright colorful lights to attract customers. From sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in Tue Jul 17 16:02:41 2007 From: sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in (sutapa at hss.iitb.ac.in) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 16:02:41 +0530 (IST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting..Modernist Planning and SEZs Message-ID: <4366.10.108.140.12.1184668361.squirrel@pali.hss.iitb.ac.in> Global Capital is reshaping our cities. It is being reshaped and reorganized with the surplus capital of industrialization. As a result what is taking place is a marginalisation of people who were once part of development. Urban mega projects are restructuring cities today. These projects are ultimately leading to socio-spatial segregation and privatization of public space. SEZs are building exclusionary private landscape. The state is absolved of its role of looking after the well-being of the people, rather the state now are geared towards profiteering and serving the interests of the business class. (Harvey, 2006) I want to get to the point where theory can help me understand the modernist planning process in the era of liberalisation. SEZs as an example of the way global capital is reshaping cities today and hence an example of the modernist planning and development process. While looking at SEZs, I would here like to draw attention to two of the most crucial social and governance issues which are implicit in the planning of SEZs in the country. The question of casualisation of labour ignoring all norms of social justice, spatial concentrations of these foreign territories or strategic places, the question of employment and land acquisition. I shall deal with the first two issues here and subsequently in my third posting the question employment generation and land acquisition . SEZs are ‘deemed foreign territories’- this phrase evokes the binary opposition between ‘International’ as opposed to ‘Domestic’ - what is meant by this is that SEZs are to be treated as separate enclaves from the rest of the country for the purpose of investment, trade, administration. In other words it is a new ideology of development in a post scarcity society (Cullenberg S, 2004) in Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism) - more competitive, more exploitative, and more fragmentative. These corporate enclaves will be ‘international’ and will be supported by the national government with sops and various incentives at the cost of the rest of the country, which is considered ‘domestic’. Hence exports from SEZs to other parts of the country will not attract any duties and taxes but imports from the rest of the country to these enclaves would, as also imports to other parts of the country considered as ‘domestic tariff area (DTA) ’ from SEZs. Hence the question of political sovereignty defined in terms of territoriality of nation states becomes seriously contested here. SEZs will play all the functions of a municipality. Not only will these zones be economically fragmented it will also be socially segmented. Lefebvre argues that the colonization of space by capital can proceed only by fragmenting and decentralizining the population. The center attracts those elements which constitute it (commodities, capital, information etc.) but which soon saturate it. It excludes those elements which it dominates (the governed, subjects and objects) but which threaten it. This creates a political problem in so far as the city has traditionally been the cultural center of the society- the principal source and location of the reproduction of social relations. If the city is fragmented and dispersed leaving only the economic and political offices of administration at the center then while political power becomes centralized cultural hegemony will necessarily become weakened. SEZs will increasingly look similar to what Douglas (1996) writes, ‘there is now an unprecendented spatial concentration of wealth and poverty in distinctive spaces. This trend is observed between countries within regions and within metropolitan areas. The spatial segregation proceeds along the lines of income and ethnicity.’ The new trend is that the upper and middle income groups have separated themselves from the city and built increasingly distinct communities. The extreme manifestation of this trend is the construction boom in gated communities. This has lead to the rise of “Fortress America” as Blackey and Snyder have documented. (Douglas,M 1996). Modernism has ruined our cities by its inhuman belief in rational planning and its relentless monolithism of formal design. (Harvey,D. 2000) There is now an increasing competition between different states to make investments attractive by approving policies in order to create a favourable investment climate. States which have already passed the Draft SEZ Bill are Haryana (Chandigarh, November 23, 2005, (), Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The Maharashtra government industrial development department clearly states that the Special Economic Zones are expected to play a stellar role in the growth of exports from the country. Maharashtra with its locational advantage contributes 45% of the total exports from the country. The State has promptly responded to the initiative of the Central Government to promote the setting up of Special Economic Zones as engines of growth by passing the SEZ Bill. The provisions in the Bill are aimed at providing an enabling environment and assuring the State’s commitment for promoting SEZs. The State has been receiving steady flow of proposals from private developers to set up SEZs. The MIDC will also set up Multi Product and Product Specific SEZs. The State will also encourage setting up of SEZs in Public - Private Partnership. The State will also notify certain MIDC areas as Designated Areas, which will be eligible to get all the benefits of SEZs except the fiscal benefits. It will enable MIDC to set up empowered Township Authorities fully equipped to provide world class infrastructure through Public Private Partnership. (http://www.sicomindia.com/site/Policy/policy01.htm) Let us now move to the question of labour regulations in these newly conceived zones of development. The nation state remains the fundamental regulator of labour. Aradhana Agarwal in her article on SEZs contends that the relaxation in labour laws may go a long way to make the zones attractive investment locations. (Agarwal, A. 2004). The Maharashtra SEZ Bill 2002, which has recently been passed declares SEZs as a Public Utility Services” which states that the Contract labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 shall not apply to the enterprises of this zone. This will be done through the delegation of powers of the labour commissioner to the Development Commissioner of these zones. The Industrial Disputes Act and the Factory Act will also remain diluted in these zones. (Agarwal, A. 2004) Domestic regulations applicable to the rest of the country are sought to be eliminated in the SEZs for creating a hassle-free environment. The labour regulations also clearly states that prior permission of the Development Commissioner needs to be sought for conducting inspections within SEZs. According to Sarma, this goes to prove the government’s lack of conviction in its commitment to social justice. The state believes therefore that social justice is an impediment to economic development. The promoters of SEZs are not willing to assume any kind of social responsibility. For e.g. they donot have any intention to reserve jobs for the backward classes or SC/STs. (Sarma, E.A.S. 2007) Harvey also contends that the legal system and policy making of the government itself sustains the very basis of capitalism and the government interventionist policy is embedded in the very foundations of capitalism- there is nothing called perfect competition. (Harvey, 2000). In line with the change in economic policy in the post-liberalisation era, the National Labour Commission has also sought to dilute and change the labour laws with an objective to make investments attractive. NCL accepts that one important element in the current phase of globalisation is the casualisation of labour. The NCL’s understanding of the economy is embedded within the logic of (global) capital functioning on the principle of competitive capitalism, and the linkage of labour with casualisation which is deemed a necessary for the growth of the Indian economy. The ongoing process of casualisation has produced powerful players like labour contractors. Working under a cost-cutting competitive setting, the enterprises in the organized sector have formed important linkages with the labour contractors for the following reasons: (a) the presence of labour contractors reduced the search cost for finding casual labourers: (b) the role of labour contractors helped the capitalists to circumvent the legal barriers pertaining to employing permanent workers thereby enabling a reduction in some forms of surplus distribution (like medical benefits, cheap canteens, gratuity, provident funds etc.) that it had to otherwise provide to the permanent workers in addition to the wage rate. (c) The labour contractors role in activating casualisation keeps the wage rate, including those of permanent workers (who are threatened with substitution by the casual workers), in restraint. (d) Finally the role of labour contractors was to reduce the power of the trade unions, thereby enabling other social actors like the capitalist appropriators and top management to acquire a decisive hold over the decision-making process within the enterprise. The presence of labour contractors is critical in enabling the enterprises to reap all the above mentioned ‘advantages’ that will allow the capitalists and the management to exercise control over labour and thereby a control over the cost-cutting procedure and possibilities of outsourcing. In-so far as dismantling the labour rights within an enterprise helps un-bundle the permanent workforce into a casual workforce, the enterprise in the organized sector now mimics the so-called “right-less environment within the unorganized sector. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta, 2007) In India, it will not surprising to find this process of casualisation in the SEZs which treat the dilution in labour laws as a necessary node in attracting investment in these zones. Chankrabarti and Dasgupta also notes that sometimes there are also instances of trade unions playing the role of labour contractors through their control of labour supply in some SEZs. Considering the wages, the workers are super exploited as the contractors would keep a part of the wage for themselves. So the workers surplus value is appropriated by both capitalists as well as the contractors and hence they receive a value which is not even equivalent to the socially necessary amount of the basket of goods and services they require to reproduce their labour power. Chankrabarti and Dasgupta contend that given the nature of competitive capitalism and the logic of global capital it is not surprising that aspects of security of workers against the powerful nexus of capitalists and labour contractors is totally ignored in the recommendations of NCL report which was submitted in September 2002. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta 2007) The second question which one needs to probe is the uneven geographical and spatio-temporal development. As the capitalist industry became more reorganized and the political economy of urbanization became more manageable through reorganizations in urban governance, bourgeoisie reformism in the city became integrated into hegemonic strategies for capitalist development. Deindustrialisation have largely moved the corporate enemy out of towns, and corporations do not need to be needing cities or particular communities any more. The upshot is to leave the cities almost entirely at the mercy of real estate developers and speculators, office builders and finance capital. (Harvey- Megacities Lecture 4). This is why we see most of the SEZs, being located outside the megacities in satellite towns and other Class III and IV cities (smaller towns). Lefebvre in his book production of space argues that space has become a -even the key commodity by means of which capitalist production has been extended into new areas and the production of space thus reflects and sustains the process of surplus value creation. The concept of ‘urban revolution’ expresses this argument that the capitalist colonization of space in increasingly becoming the dominant sphere of capital accumulation. Navi Mumbai a satellite town of Mumbai, provided an ideal site for the location of an SEZ with its nearness to a seaport and future airport. CIDCO is to develop the landuse plan for the Navi Mumbai SEZ (NMSEZ). The Central SEZ Authority will create the freight stations and BPCL will provide infrastructure like water. The Master Planning of the Special Economic Zones have been assigned to global consultant firms like Mc.Clier. CIDCO has appointed consultants for the feasibility study, business plan, as master planning for the Navi Mumbai SEZ project. Tata Economic Consultancy Services ("TECS") was appointed during 2001-02 to evaluate the feasibility of the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone. CIDCO appointed a consortium comprising Ernst & Young (formerly Arthur Andersen), CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory Services and Chesterton Meghraj to prepare the business plan for the Special Purpose Vehicle which comprises of joint private partners. In the Navi Mumbai SEZ the SPV is SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited), Reliance and Hiranandani Developers. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). McClier are the master planners for the SEZ project and has developed the Dronagiri Infrastructure Plan. The Chinese model of SEZ is being adopted for the Navi Mumbai SEZ and this would be done by CIDCO in conjunction with three more private players as mentioned above. CIDCO plans to develop 4 different pockets of land - Ulwe, Kolambili, Dronagiri. A dedicated transport plan is being envisaged for the entire area. It will be a low density development. However, Ulwe will be developed into an RPZ- which will be a Regional Park Zone- a green belt with no industrial activity. This zone could be utilised for recreational activities and proposed infrastructure in the zone includes entertainment and recreational facilities like a club house, golf course and other recreational facilities amenities. The New Bombay Development Plan will be in consonance and will be integrated with the SEZ plan. The SEZ plan will maintain the essential character of the area - and will take into consideration the low density development for this area - being already a thickly forested area. Since building construction has to be limited in this area a theme park or water park is envisaged in the area. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). CIDCO mooted the SEZ proposal received an in principal approval of the GOI, in 2001 and the final nod on the 23rd June 2007. For investors in this zone returns will accrue by way of sale of land, lease of land, management fees for client, property taxes, advertising rights and toll revenues. The NMSEZ is in close proximity to The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Nheva Sheva, a proposed Rs. 3000 crore international airport project in Navi Mumbai and a Rs. 6000 crore Sewri Nhava Sea-link project too. (www.navimumbaisez.com ) This new model of development has been aptly described by Solomon Benjamin in his paper titled ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000). He says, that ‘1991 was a key turning point, because it ushered in the liberalization of the Indian economy and with this new political processes opened up. This situation has had a direct impact on the urban management especially with regard to the demands for large-scale infrastructure development and promotion of a corporate led economy. A significant development was the emergence of large financing institutions and bilateral and multilateral agencies. At the national level financing institutions moved away from their traditional role of funding projects to funding large-scale infrastructure programmes as financial intermediaries. Access to relatively cheap and state government secured funds has generated new demand. The State governments focus is now on instituting dedicated investments for mega projects. (Benjamin, S. 2000). This is routed through HUDCO or HDFC Banks which will fund infrastructure development in SEZs. References: 1. Cullenberg, S.: Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism, Sanhati, 2004 2. Harvey, David: Paper presented in International Conference on ’Accumulation and Dispossession, Claims and Counterclaims: Transformative Cities in the New Global Order, 12th Oct, 2006. 3. Massey Douglas: ‘The Culture of Cities’, (1996) in Castells Reader on Cities and Social Theory, ed. Ide Sassure, Blackwell Publishers, 2002 4. Agarwal, Aradhana: Working Paper No. 148, Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance, CRIER: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Nov, 2004. 5. Sarma, E.A.S. : ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007 6. Harvey, D :Megacities Lecture 4, Colofon, Twynstra Gudde Management Consultanats, Amersfoort, The Netherlands 7. Harvey, David: Reinventing Geography, Interview, New Left Review 4, 2000. 8. Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta: Disinterring the Report of National Commission on Labour, A Marxist Perspective, EPW, May 26, 2007) 9. Benjamin S.: ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000. 2nd Posting on Modernist Planning and SEZs Sutapa Ghosh PhD. Research Scholar IIT Bombay From zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl Tue Jul 17 21:54:54 2007 From: zainab at mail.xtdnet.nl (zainab) Date: Tue, 17 Jul 2007 18:24:54 +0200 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Of technology and identification Message-ID: <211f1a3e3201f7020431b8c57d531ac9@mail.xtdnet.nl> 16/07/07 Bas, mundi replace kar do, aur kya hai? Hmmm … replace the head, what else is there? What else is there to your identity, to my identity? My face, is it the marker of my identity in the domain of technology and governance? Is it? Let us begin from the beginning. The journey begins at Infant Jesus Church in Viveknagar. I am headed to Jayanagar. Mukhtar is the man in charge, literally. He is driving the auto. He tells me that he will take me to Jayanagar via the shortest route to which I agreed immediately because right now, I am in this delirium where I am getting drunk on my own experiences and words as I am discovering Bangalore for myself, exactly a year from the time I first came here and began to live here. At some point, I ask my usual question to Mukhtar, “How long has it been since you started driving this auto?” “20 years.” “Wow! 20 years?” “Yes, I was driving from the time when there was no requirement of displaying your DL in the auto.” [DL means Driving License. As I have explained in my previous posts, autorickshaw drivers in Bangalore must display their driving licenses in the autorickkshaw. It is compulsory, but there are auto drivers who do not display their DLs in the autos. The DLs are issued by a technology firm authorized by the Government of Karnataka. DLs are issued after the drivers have passed their driving exams. However, to get a DL, you must possess other documents such as ration cards, election identity cards, etc. because the DL is not simply a license. It is a kind of state record of the auto driver’s details. I can only tell more about the DL as I discover later, from other auto drivers, in other journeys.] “But, I have seen drivers who do not display their DLs in the auto?!?” “Yes, that’s true. Some don’t do it. Then they are fined for 500 rupees, 800 rupees, upto 1,500 rupees. But then, they also have connections and networks and they can make their way around without displaying their DLs. It is about connections madam.” “Barabar hai. But then, I have also seen DLs displayed in the auto, but the driver is someone else, different from the person in the photo. What about this?” “Haan haan. Woh bhi hota hai. Now you see, it is a matter of just chopping the head off the photo of the driver whose DL it actually is and then putting your head instead. Bas, mundi replace kar do, aur kya hai? Now what do you think. There are several people migrating to this city. They learn how to drive autos. They pass their exams. They get their licenses. But where are the other documents necessary for making the DL? Do they have ration cards, election id cards, etc.? Where will they get these from when they have just come into the city? So what you do is simply replace the head on the photo and get your DL. Bas, mundi replace do, aur kya hai?” “Barabar hai.” “It is a matter of rozi, earnings, employment. What else is there to this city?” “Barabar hai.” So what is it about identity, identification and technology? I don’t know. Just when we have crossed Lal Bagh, Mukhtar stops to answer the call on his cell phone: “Haan, bol. Kya? Kya? Haan, haan bol. Sale ko bol sidha rehne ko, nahi to gaand pe laath maar doonga. Mera DL hai woh. Abbe, mera DL hai!! Kal ko lafda ho gaya to mera DL jayega. Seedha rehne ko bol usko. Haan, haan, haan. Abhi main line mein hoon. Baad mein phone karta hoon.” I asked Mukhtar if there was a problem. “I recently got a cell phone connection for my nephew. To get a connection, I have to give some documentary evidence. So I gave my DL. Now apparently, my nephew got involved in some trouble. Tomorrow, if he gets into a petty fight, or teases a girl, or does something and the police catches him, then my DL is the documentary evidence and I will get caught instead of him. He does something, and I will have to suffer. So I have to go and set him straight now.” I am in Bangalore, the hi-tech city. Identities are marked not just in everyday practices of religion, but there is also the element and the domain of governance, which attempts to deploy technology to, can I say control? To map? To record? And there are everyday practices of peoples to make their ways through these technologies of governance. I am interested in finding out more about these relationships and dynamics. I am interested to find out more … From agnivghosh at gmail.com Wed Jul 18 19:22:56 2007 From: agnivghosh at gmail.com (agniv ghosh) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 19:22:56 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] NAKSHA: AN URBAN LITERARY GENRE Message-ID: <8951bdf0707180652w5c493be6gf5ab77dc87e02512@mail.gmail.com> Agniv Ghosh, 1st posting, 'NAKSHA' : AN URBAN LITERARY GENRE INTRODUCTION The present work examines the origin and growth of an urban literary genre, in Bengali, called 'NAKSHA', which developed in the newly growing Calcutta city, in its formation period, in early nineteenth century. It was the time when Bengali prose was also in its developing phase. Before entering into the domain of 'NAKSHA', therefore we need a prior knowledge about the early history of the Bengali prose and the Calcutta city as well. EARLY BENGALI PROSE 1 If someone wants to write something in any language, he/she has only two forms left for him/her: prose and verse. But where lays the difference between this two? Aren't both of them nothing but meaningful word arrangement? Apart from this fact, there is a major difference between this two. In prose, one should be careful about the meaning and the general rule of word arrangement of the language concerned; on the other hand, in verse, one should be careful about the measurement of sound (meter, mora, syllable etc.)also. Without the sense of 'meter' verse is simply impossible. The latter is a much more complicated form. That is why, when we learnt to talk, we learnt it in prose. So it is evident that prose came earlier then verse. In the dawn of civilization, when human beings were trying to express themselves, to communicate with each other, only then the prose got developed. Like any language speakers, Bengali speakers also learnt to talk earlier, then to compose verse.1 But unfortunately we have no early oral documents in our hands. We have only written documents, and according to the written documents, language historians wrote: Bengali verse form developed earlier than Bengali prose.2 Here an obvious question will come to our mind. Is there any difference between the prose we talk and the prose we write? When we talk, we talk spontaneously, but when we write, we consciously build our sentences. We become aware about nouns and verbs and adjectives, about subjects and objects and predicates. In short, we become aware of grammar. Like verse we consciously create the prose we write. In Bengali language, we have the proof of this process of creation from seventeenth century and onwards. 2 In 1815 Raja Rammohan Roy (1774-1833) wrote in the preface of his first Bengali book that there are two styles in Bengali prose: one he called 'SADHU VASHA', and the other he named 'ALAPER VASHA' (the language of conversation).3 Two years after this incident Mrityunjay Bidyalankar (1762-1819), an early nineteenth century prose writer and a teacher of Bengali in Fort William College, made us aware about the two existing styles of Bengali prose. According to him it was 'SADHU VASHA' and 'LOUKIK VASHA'.4 Basically there was no difference between Rammohan's 'ALAPER VASHA' and Mrityunjay's 'LOUKIK VASHA'. This is a nineteenth century consciousness. But, it doesn't mean, before nineteenth century Bengali writer was totally ignorant about the prose form. Historians have found four seventeenth century manuscripts of Bengali prose. All of them are basically 'VAISNAVA KARCHA' (direction for performing rituals). Apart from this 'KARCHA' there are several personal letters, court documents also. By their help, we can imagine how seventeenth century Bengali people used to talk. In the court documents, we can easily trace out the extreme usage of Arabic-Persian word; on the contrary, the 'VAISNAVA KARCHA's are the example of the maximum utilization of Sanskrit vocabulary. In the personal letters which is the junction of these two extremes, shows the language of everyday people. These letters, where a father is showing affection to a daughter, where a friend is sending good wishes, where a concubine is lamenting for the absence of her master5, the documents of are people's feelings. There we can see the balance between Arabic-Persian and Sanskrit words. They were ignorant about disciplines. They chose words according to their feelings and comfort. In the beginning of 18th century, we can see the European existence in the Gangetic delta. They were trader by nature. British were the most prominent among them. In 1778 N. B. Halhed (1751-1830), a British East India Company employee wrote the first Bengali grammar. It was a Company project. Company was terribly in need of acquiring the knowledge of the language used by the people of lower Gangetic plain for the betterment of their trade. It was in the year of 1784 the first Bengali book was published. It was basically a translated law book, again published by the British East India Company for their administrative purpose. The translator Mr. Jonathan Duncan (1751-1811), one of the Company staff, had no other way but to adopt prose as his medium of translation. From 1784 to 1800 Company published 19 law books translated by various hands. In 1799, an English man named Henry Peter Froster published the first English-Bengali &Bengali-English dictionary. The project was sponsored by the Company. In its preface Mr. Froster echoed the opinion of Mr. Halhed expressed in the preface of his grammar book. Like Halhed he discriminated the 'pure' Bengali language from the 'impure' one. For him, the Arabic and the Persian influences in the language of were impure and Sanskrit influences were the sign of purity. These comments of Halhed and Froster were the cause of the dichotomy prominent in the early 19th century prose writer like Rammohan and Mrityunjoy. In the beginning of nineteenth century, by Lord Wellesley's endeavor Fort William College was established. Mrityunjoy joined the Bengali department of this college under William carry's headship in 1807 .Mrityunjoy and other Bengali teachers of the department of the major prose writer of the first two decades of the century. Basically all of their works were text books written for the European civilians. Apart from them was Raja Rammohan Roy. He was crystal clear about his intention of writing .The basic purpose of his writings was to make space for a reformation movement in the Hindu Bramhinical Society. His prose was constructed according to his purpose, but it has an inclination towards Halhed's 'pure' language, the Sanskritic Bengali. Rammohan called it "SADHU VASHA" but at the same time he was aware of the other Variant which he called "ALAPER VASHA". Rammohan's "ALAPER VASHA" was nothing but the influence of Arabic-Persian language as well as Sanskrit language, the mingling of Arabic-Persian word as well as Sanskrit. Rammohan's "ALAPER VASHA" or 'language of conversation' was the descendant of the language of those 15th century letter writers, who used to write letters to their daughters, sons, friends; to the 'kajis' and to the 'munsef' of the 'jila adalat'. They had no reservation about Arabic-Persian and Sanskrit words. Surely he had used "ALAPER VASHA" in his daily life, but when he wrote prose he preferred to choose words from Sanskrit vocabulary than the Arabic and Parisian. This question of choice is a nineteenth century phenomenon for Bengali authors. The seventeenth centaury KARCHA writers or the document writer of the Islamic court or the individual letter writers had not this question in front of them. From nineteenth century, we can feel the existence of this question. When a question of choice arises, a phase of transition starts. The first half of the nineteenth centaury was a transitional phase for Bengali prose. The factor, which resolves the transitional phase of Bengali prose, was the publication of Bengali magazines and news papers. In 1818 the first Bengali news paper was publication. The publication of news papers and magazines gradually shaped the modern Bengali prose. These news papers /magazines went through various experiment of the prose form and made it a strong from of expression. Our 'NAKSHAS' was the result of those early nineteenth century magazines. They were the early efforts of telling narrative in prose. They had no specific beginning, middle or the end. They were basically sketches with a seed of story inside it. As they were written in a transitional phase of Bengali prose, we would see the intervention of verse form inside it. In the 'NAKSHAS' written by Bhabanicharan Bandyopadhyay, the earliest NAKSHA writer, we can see this usage of verse form. 1 Sisirkumar Das, Gadya O Padyer Dwandwa, Calcutta, 1984 2 Sukumar Sen, Bangla Gadyer Itibritto, Calcutta, 1956 3 Rammohan Roy, Vedanta Grantha, Calcutta, 1815 4 Mrityunjay Vidyalankar, Vedanta Chandrika, Calcutta, 1817 5 Anisujjaman, Purono Bangla Gadya, Dhaka, 1984 -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070718/b647edc4/attachment-0002.html From suto8ph at yahoo.com Wed Jul 18 19:55:44 2007 From: suto8ph at yahoo.com (Sutapa Ghosh) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:25:44 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third Posting on Modernist Planning and SEZs Message-ID: <87456.54663.qm@web36909.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear all, This is my third posting on my project for the Sarai Studentship titled "Modernist Planning and SEZs". Here I look into the issues of employment generation, spatial concentration and land acquisition in SEZs. The neo-liberal policy regime is now imposed upon the country and on all states. The only industrialization that is possible within a neo-liberal policy regime is corporate industrialization and the type of corporate industrialization that can occur within such a regime is essentially anti-people. Neo-liberalism justifies itself by invoking the values of ‘free market’ which it imposes through co-ercion for the interests of the monopolists and multinationals. (Patnaik, P, 2007) The question we ask here is whether today’s neo-liberal policy and post-industrial development play a positive role in promoting overall growth, reducing poverty, reducing the number of unemployed and the working poor? Let us examine this with reference to the employment and the contentious issue land acquisition and dispossession in SEZs. The employment logic of SEZs doesnot hold good. According to Patnaik, P (2007), it creates very little direct employment. He supports this statement by bare facts: In India between 1991 and now, the number of persons employed in the organized manufacturing has remained constant in absolute terms, but inspite of this there has been a nearly 8% annual growth rate in manufacturing output. He says that it is an awareness of this fact that makes peasant reluctant to part with their lands for industrial purpose as they know that inspite of the meager compensation they would get their prospects of future employment remains bleak. He also opines that there is also a considerable downstream employment generation meaning that more than direct employment there is a considerable amount of indirect employment. Further there is also a massive destruction of employment. The argument that rapid industrialization will be able to generate huge employment and lift people from poverty doesnot hold good for this country because an agricultural country like ours cannot shift substantial numbers of people from agriculture to grande industry as it will result in severe displacement and uproot of people from their livelihood sources. The only case where it was possible was in Soviet Union and other socialist countries because they controlled the rate of technological-cum-structural changes through planned industrialization and not through a market-driven approach. However. This doesnot mean that industrialization should not be promoted but there needs to be sufficient amount of caution with regard to the promotion of only the corporate type of industrialization which leads to the dispossession of the peasantry. This will not be possible if the state embarks on this ideology of development where states are pitted against each other instead of industries as under perfect competition, (like Tatas threatening to go to Uttaranchal if they donot get land in Singur) in order to promote corporate industrialization which huge amounts of displacement and relaxation of labour laws and there is no incentive to desist such industrialisation. The alternate to corporate industrialization is therefore co-operatives or public sector development where displacement would be minimized. (Patnaik, P. 2007) Benjamin, S (2000) in his paper ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ contend that the local economies, small scale home-based enterprises are the generators of employment. He cites an example from the Viswas Nager slum area in East Delhi where domestic grade cables and conductors are manufactured. Here 200 units mostly home-based had created about 25000 direct jobs in 1991 and supported a further 35000 indirect ones. He gives another example of the Ramanagaram town located in the outskirts of Bangalore. This town is India’s silk reeling center and houses Asia’s largest cacoon market. Here the silk industry directly supports 25000 people and another 30000 via indirect linkages. Here too employment comes from the wide variety of enterprises which provide support services. (Benjamin, 2000) In contrast to this, the EPZs which have now mostly been converted to SEZs had a share of near 1% in organized employment and till now all eight functional SEZs has created 1 lac employment and it is being expected that in the next 5 years it will cross the figure of 5 lac. The table below will show the amount of employment generated so far. (Agarwal, 2004) Table 1: Zone wise employment and Investment upto 31.03.2005 Zone No of units Employment as on 31.03.2005 KSEZ 123 9821 SEEPZ 176 42150 NSEZ 151 19857 MSEZ 105 16107 CSEZ 74 4712 FSEZ 83 2753 VSEZ 28 2500 Surat 62 2250 Manikanchan5 300 Jaipur 2 50 Indore 2 150 Source: Export Promotion Council, Ministry of Commerce & Industry. Government of India in Agarwal Aradhna, 2004, Working Paper No. 148 ‘Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance’ Table 2: Employment growth in the Indian Export Processing Zones Year Total employment (nos.) 1966 70 1970 450 1975 1450 1980 6000 1985 16200 1990 35205 1995 61431 2000 81371 2002 88977 Source: Ministry of Commerce in Agarwal Aradhna, 2004, Working Paper No. 148 ‘Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance’ Sarma, E.A.S. (2007) in his paper titled ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ reveals, that the employment opportunities that the SEZs would create are limited compared to the number of poor farmers uprooted. The promise of jobs for the displaced is a hollow one as none of the displaced families would be able to find even one of its members having the right kind of skills and quantification required for such jobs. Even if SEZs create 5 lac job opportunites in the next 5 years the benefit would be offset by the number of rural families permanently deprived of their livelihoods. (Sarma, E.A.S. 2007: ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007) Let us now examine the spatial spread of SEZs in India. The SEZ notification list put up on the GOI website on SEZs as on 1.5.2007 lists clearly indicate the concentration in certain developed and industrialized states. The list of first stage approvals is as follows In-Principle Approvals Granted by the Board after coming into force the SEZ Rules States Land Acquisitions (ha) Percentage Share Andhra Pradesh 3768.39 2.54 Chattisgarh 2029 1.37 Dadra Nagar Haveli 80 0.05 Gujarat 5439 3.68 Haryana 43002.48 29.09 Himachal Pradesh 5030 3.40 Karnataka 4720.962 3.19 Kerela 414 0.28 Madhya Pradesh. 9309.25 6.30 Maharahtra 33041.09 22.36 Orissa. 4262.3 2.89 Punjab. 1571 1.06 Rajasthan 12251.32 8.29 Tamil Nadu 5078.02 3.43 Uttaranchal 14 0.01 Uttar Pradesh 5954.25 4.03 West Bengal 11827.14 8.00 Total 147792.2 100 Source: www.seznic.in Aradhana Agarwal in her article in EPW ‘Special Economic Zones: Revisiting the Policy Debate’ (Nov, 4th, 2006) argues that there is a strong possibility that SEZs will be set up in states where there is already a strong tradition of manufacturing and exports. Hence creating regional disparities. As Agarwal (2006) has observed and also from the table above it is clear that the share of the 5 most industrialized states (Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat T.N., and Karnataka, and) in total approvals is 61.75 %. Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh account for another 21.16 % of the total approvals. Thus these 9 states account for 83% of approvals. As Agarwal (2006) has opined and what is also clear from the table above the industrially backward states of Bihar, North East and J&K donot have a single approval. Further she writes that the incentives dished out to SEZs will create a titled playing field between SEZ and non-SEZ investors. The series of SEZs sanctioned tend to favour those states which are already way ahead in trade and commerce and already have a comparitive advantage in contrast to those states which donot have any comparitive advantage- hence it will result in strategic places. As Douglas (1996) writes, ‘there is now an unprecendented spatial concentration of wealth and poverty in distinctive spaces. This trend is observed between countries within regions and within metropolitan areas. With regard to land acquisition let us first take a look at how development took place in Navi Mumbai and the state government’s role in land acquisition for the sake of the multinationals and monopolists. In Bombay there has been a decline of the old traditional mill lands and a parallel government directed incentive for dispersal of processing and non-processing activities which included biotech, pharmaceuticals, gems and jewellery, IT and related services, BPOs, electronics, garments, leather, agro-processing, financial services etc which now constitute the processing industries of SEZs. The development of the international airport at Navi Mumai and its nearness to the Jawarharlal Nehru Port Trust besides it’s nearness to other industrial areas provided the much needed incentive to set up a SEZ at Navi Mumbai through public-private patnership- CIDCO having the minority stakes and the three private players- Reliance, Hiranandani Developers and SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited) having majority stakes. CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Authority) and the authority incharge for SEZ development in Navi Mumbai was established on17th March 1971 when it was first appointed as a New Town Development Authority. CIDCO acquired the entire marshy strip of land lying between Dighe in Thane district and Kalundre village in Raigad district. This area consisted of 95 villages - where the villagers lived a peaceful life unaware of the pace of the city life when CIDCO in order to develop a new township across the Thane creek as a satellite township of Bombay acquired Airoli, Ghansoli, Kopar Khairane, Vashi, Sanpada, Nerul, CBD Belapur, Kharghar, Kalamboli, Jui Kamothe, New Panvel, Ulwe, Pushpak and Dronagiri. CIDCO acquired 19,394 Ha.land of which 14,105 Ha. was private land, including about 2,292 Ha. salt-pan land and 5,289 Ha. government land by paying a compensation of Rs. 26.00 crore and a further 79.27 crores which was paid by the State Government. The land was used to produce paddy during rainy season. Some mango and coconut orchards and limited vegetable cultivation was also practised by locals. Those with well-irrigation facility used to go for legumes like 'tur' and 'beans'. With master planning and urbanisation, however, all agriculture activities in Navi Mumbai have almost ceased to exist, except in easternmost part. Fish, crabs and prawns were common products from the creek, though the quantities of each were not significant. Surplus used to from domestic consumption was sold in Thane and Belapur markets. With advent of industries in the region, and with consequent deterioration of water quality, these markets were lost. (www.cidcoindia.com ). This was the initial phase of state colonization which took place by uprooting people from their livelihoods. After liberalization, another round of colonization is taking place with the approvals of SEZs- which Patnaik (2007) in his article ‘The Aftermath of Nandigram’ refers to as ‘accumulation through encroachment.’ The development authority can acquire lands under at below market prices and develop it with publicly subsidized off-site infrastructure. (Benjamin, 2000). The developed land is then allocated to groups that conform to its criteria. Richer groups with their high level of bureaucratic and political connections can easily influence the development policy. It is hardly surprising that standard forms of planning and bureaucratic allocation criteria used by the master planning process reflect the interests of the high-income groups. The lack of local level representation ensures little opposition by poorer groups to this takeover. (Benjamin, 2000) In SEZs the government has resorts to land acquisition under ‘eminent domain’ by invoking the archaic Land Acquisition Act 1894. Under eminent domain the state takes over the land and hands it over to the new owner for the socially beneficial activity. Further as Morris S. and A. Pandey in their article ‘Towards Reform of Land Acquisition Framework in India’ (EPW, June 2nd, 2007) has shown that inherent in the state mediated transfer of land are distortions arising as a result of landuse conversion regulations which require an agricultural land to obtain the Non-Agricultural Clearance (NAC) from the state for conversion to industrial uses or for infrastructure development. Since a farmer wishing to sell his land cannot obtain the NAC he will not be able to cash in on the larger value arising due to conversion to non-agricultural use. This results in state mediated transfer of land to the buyer from what was legitimately the farmers even when no taking is involved. This depresses the price of the agricultural land from true values and creates a vast difference between post and pre-change over prices. This they refer to as ‘regulatory arbitrage’. In case of SEZ investments, this arbitrage on account of prior regulation on land and its use is one of the important reasons for entrepreneurial interest in SEZs. Therefore these projects based on compulsory land acquisition acquire excess lands that had remained unutilized for years. The intentions are very clear given the fact that there is a vast differential between pre and post acquisition. (Morris S. and A. Pandey, 2007) Further Morris and Pandey also point out that in case of India since the government believes in compulsory acquisition under the ‘eminent domain’ the state itself judges the ‘fair value’ of the land and there exists no independent licensed valuers as in other countries. This leads to excessive under valuation of land since the regulatory overload on land market is large. The market aspect of valuation is very underdeveloped in India. (Morris and A. Pandey, 2007) The second aspect of land acquisition is the question of natural resource endowment. Morris and Pandey contend that the natural resource endowment is not calculated while valuing land and those lands which are endowed with natural resources like good ground water availability should actually be able to get a substantial solarium above the base price. Other intangible assets like nearness to a highway etc. are not considered during valuation on price of base land. Moreover during the pre-independence period the government’s function was limited to administration, town planning and governance. In the post-independence period since the government function expanded to other areas including commercial activities like manufacturing the scope of compulsory acquisitions increased greatly. Infact now the working framework is such that all large investors bank on the government for acquiring land for them. They also contend that if public purpose is defined by law it would restrict the abuse of public purpose considerably. States are now competing intensely to attract investment by providing land for SEZ projects. (Morris and A. Pandey, 2007) However there is yet another fair way to go about land acquisitions. The Town Planning Scheme of the Ahmedabad Urban Development Authority is a planned way to go about infrastructure development and expansion without vast land acquisitions and this reduces transaction cost. Here the acquisition is net rather than gross. If the government wants to improve infrastructure or acquire land for public utilities it does so through public land transfer to the government without displacing anyone. The government does this through earmarking the sites for infrastructure development and shrinks the owner’s land by 30% to make way for such development. The value creation then becomes implicit with infrastructure development and road networks which, are developed. (Morris and A. Pandey, 2007) In my future research I would like to gather some field level information through interactions with activist groups and people who now live under the threat corporate and state encroachments. References 1. Patnaik, P, ‘In the Aftermath of Nandigram’ EPW Online, May 26th 2007 2. Morris S. & A. Pandey: Towards Reform of Land Acquisition Framework in India’ EPW Online, June 2nd, 2007 3. Agarwal Aradhana: ‘Special Economic Zones: Revisiting the Policy Debate’ EPW Online Nov, 4th, 2006 4. Sarma, E.A.S. : ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007 5. Benjamin S.: ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000. 6. Agarwal, Aradhana: Working Paper No. 148, Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance, CRIER: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Nov, 2004. 7. Morris S and A. Pandey: ‘Towards Reform of Land Acquisition Framework in India’, EPW Online, June 2nd 2007 Sutapa Ghosh Research Scholar IIT Bombay __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/ From suto8ph at yahoo.com Wed Jul 18 20:19:47 2007 From: suto8ph at yahoo.com (Sutapa Ghosh) Date: Wed, 18 Jul 2007 15:49:47 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second Posting (Modernist Planning and SEZs) Message-ID: <173113.64769.qm@web36912.mail.mud.yahoo.com> Dear All, This is my second posting on my project titled ‘Modernist Planning and SEZs’. This posting was done on 17 JUly 2007, but due to some server problems it was not sent. If some of you have already received it, I apologise for resending it. This posting is based on the interview with the General Manager, SEZ at the City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) which is the nodal authority incharge of developing the Navi Mumbai SEZ. This SEZ will be set up by Reliance, Hiranandani Builders and SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited) with the help of the government development authority CIDCO through private-public partnership. A fruitful discussion with the General Manager, CIDCO Mr. Kulkarni helped me understand many of the issues in the setting up of SEZs. This posting will be based on the understanding of issues most crucial of which are the questions of casualisation of labour, spatial concentrations of these foreign territories and the question of employment and land acquisition. Global Capital is reshaping our cities. It is being reshaped and reorganized with the surplus capital of industrialization. As a result what is taking place is a marginalisation of people who were once part of development. Urban mega projects are restructuring cities today. These projects are ultimately leading to socio-spatial segregation and privatization of public space. SEZs are building exclusionary private landscape. The state is absolved of its role of looking after the well-being of the people, rather the state now are geared towards profiteering and serving the interests of the business class. (Harvey, 2006) I want to get to the point where theory can help me understand the modernist planning process in the era of liberalisation. SEZs as an example of the way global capital is reshaping cities today and hence an example of the modernist planning and development process. While looking at SEZs, I would here like to draw attention to two of the most crucial social and governance issues which are implicit in the planning of SEZs in the country. The question of casualisation of labour ignoring all norms of social justice, spatial concentrations of these foreign territories or strategic places, the question of employment and land acquisition. I shall deal with the first two issues here and subsequently in my third posting the question employment generation and land acquisition. SEZs are ‘deemed foreign territories’- this phrase evokes the binary opposition between ‘International’ as opposed to ‘Domestic’ – what is meant by this is that SEZs are to be treated as separate enclaves from the rest of the country for the purpose of investment, trade, administration. In other words it is a new ideology of development in a post scarcity society (Cullenberg S, 2004) in Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism) - more competitive, more exploitative, and more fragmentative. These corporate enclaves will be ‘international’ and will be supported by the national government with sops and various incentives at the cost of the rest of the country, which is considered ‘domestic’. Hence exports from SEZs to other parts of the country will not attract any duties and taxes but imports from the rest of the country to these enclaves would, as also imports to other parts of the country considered as ‘domestic tariff area (DTA) ’ from SEZs. Hence the question of political sovereignty defined in terms of territoriality of nation states becomes seriously contested here. SEZs will play all the functions of a municipality. Not only will these zones be economically fragmented it will also be socially segmented. Lefebvre argues that the colonization of space by capital can proceed only by fragmenting and decentralizining the population. The center attracts those elements which constitute it (commodities, capital, information etc.) but which soon saturate it. It excludes those elements which it dominates (the governed, subjects and objects) but which threaten it. This creates a political problem in so far as the city has traditionally been the cultural center of the society- the principal source and location of the reproduction of social relations. If the city is fragmented and dispersed leaving only the economic and political offices of administration at the center then while political power becomes centralized cultural hegemony will necessarily become weakened. SEZs will increasingly look similar to what Douglas (1996) writes, ‘there is now an unprecendented spatial concentration of wealth and poverty in distinctive spaces. This trend is observed between countries within regions and within metropolitan areas. The spatial segregation proceeds along the lines of income and ethnicity.’ The new trend is that the upper and middle income groups have separated themselves from the city and built increasingly distinct communities. The extreme manifestation of this trend is the construction boom in gated communities. This has lead to the rise of “Fortress America” as Blackey and Snyder have documented. (Douglas,M 1996). Modernism has ruined our cities by its inhuman belief in rational planning and its relentless monolithism of formal design. (Harvey,D. 2000) There is now an increasing competition between different states to make investments attractive by approving policies in order to create a favourable investment climate. States which have already passed the Draft SEZ Bill are Haryana (Chandigarh, November 23, 2005, (http://www.tribuneindia.com/2005/20051124/haryana.htm), Maharashtra and Andhra Pradesh. The Maharashtra government industrial development department clearly states that the Special Economic Zones are expected to play a stellar role in the growth of exports from the country. Maharashtra with its locational advantage contributes 45% of the total exports from the country. The State has promptly responded to the initiative of the Central Government to promote the setting up of Special Economic Zones as engines of growth by passing the SEZ Bill. The provisions in the Bill are aimed at providing an enabling environment and assuring the State’s commitment for promoting SEZs. The State has been receiving steady flow of proposals from private developers to set up SEZs. The MIDC will also set up Multi Product and Product Specific SEZs. The State will also encourage setting up of SEZs in Public - Private Partnership. The State will also notify certain MIDC areas as Designated Areas, which will be eligible to get all the benefits of SEZs except the fiscal benefits. It will enable MIDC to set up empowered Township Authorities fully equipped to provide world class infrastructure through Public Private Partnership. (http://www.sicomindia.com/site/Policy/policy01.htm) Let us now move to the question of labour regulations in these newly conceived zones of development. The nation state remains the fundamental regulator of labour. Aradhana Agarwal in her article on SEZs contends that the relaxation in labour laws may go a long way to make the zones attractive investment locations. (Agarwal, A. 2004). The Maharashtra SEZ Bill 2002, which has recently been passed declares SEZs as a Public Utility Services” which states that the Contract labour (Regulation and Abolition) Act, 1970 shall not apply to the enterprises of this zone. This will be done through the delegation of powers of the labour commissioner to the Development Commissioner of these zones. The Industrial Disputes Act and the Factory Act will also remain diluted in these zones. (Agarwal, A. 2004) Domestic regulations applicable to the rest of the country are sought to be eliminated in the SEZs for creating a hassle-free environment. The labour regulations also clearly states that prior permission of the Development Commissioner needs to be sought for conducting inspections within SEZs. According to Sarma, this goes to prove the government’s lack of conviction in its commitment to social justice. The state believes therefore that social justice is an impediment to economic development. The promoters of SEZs are not willing to assume any kind of social responsibility. For e.g. they donot have any intention to reserve jobs for the backward classes or SC/STs. (Sarma, E.A.S. 2007) Harvey also contends that the legal system and policy making of the government itself sustains the very basis of capitalism and the government interventionist policy is embedded in the very foundations of capitalism- there is nothing called perfect competition. (Harvey, 2000). In line with the change in economic policy in the post-liberalisation era, the National Labour Commission has also sought to dilute and change the labour laws with an objective to make investments attractive. NCL accepts that one important element in the current phase of globalisation is the casualisation of labour. The NCL’s understanding of the economy is embedded within the logic of (global) capital functioning on the principle of competitive capitalism, and the linkage of labour with casualisation which is deemed a necessary for the growth of the Indian economy. The ongoing process of casualisation has produced powerful players like labour contractors. Working under a cost-cutting competitive setting, the enterprises in the organized sector have formed important linkages with the labour contractors for the following reasons: (a) the presence of labour contractors reduced the search cost for finding casual labourers: (b) the role of labour contractors helped the capitalists to circumvent the legal barriers pertaining to employing permanent workers thereby enabling a reduction in some forms of surplus distribution (like medical benefits, cheap canteens, gratuity, provident funds etc.) that it had to otherwise provide to the permanent workers in addition to the wage rate. (c) The labour contractors role in activating casualisation keeps the wage rate, including those of permanent workers (who are threatened with substitution by the casual workers), in restraint. (d) Finally the role of labour contractors was to reduce the power of the trade unions, thereby enabling other social actors like the capitalist appropriators and top management to acquire a decisive hold over the decision-making process within the enterprise. The presence of labour contractors is critical in enabling the enterprises to reap all the above mentioned ‘advantages’ that will allow the capitalists and the management to exercise control over labour and thereby a control over the cost-cutting procedure and possibilities of outsourcing. In-so far as dismantling the labour rights within an enterprise helps un-bundle the permanent workforce into a casual workforce, the enterprise in the organized sector now mimics the so-called “right-less environment within the unorganized sector. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta, 2007) In India, it will not surprising to find this process of casualisation in the SEZs which treat the dilution in labour laws as a necessary node in attracting investment in these zones. Chankrabarti and Dasgupta also notes that sometimes there are also instances of trade unions playing the role of labour contractors through their control of labour supply in some SEZs. Considering the wages, the workers are super exploited as the contractors would keep a part of the wage for themselves. So the workers surplus value is appropriated by both capitalists as well as the contractors and hence they receive a value which is not even equivalent to the socially necessary amount of the basket of goods and services they require to reproduce their labour power. Chakrabarti and Dasgupta contend that given the nature of competitive capitalism and the logic of global capital it is not surprising that aspects of security of workers against the powerful nexus of capitalists and labour contractors is totally ignored in the recommendations of NCL report which was submitted in September 2002. (Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta 2007) The second question which one needs to probe is the uneven geographical and spatio-temporal development. As the capitalist industry became more reorganized and the political economy of urbanization became more manageable through reorganizations in urban governance, bourgeoisie reformism in the city became integrated into hegemonic strategies for capitalist development. Deindustrialisation have largely moved the corporate enemy out of towns, and corporations do not need to be needing cities or particular communities any more. The upshot is to leave the cities almost entirely at the mercy of real estate developers and speculators, office builders and finance capital. (Harvey- Megacities Lecture 4). This is why we see most of the SEZs, being located outside the megacities in satellite towns and other Class III and IV cities (smaller towns). Lefebvre in his book production of space argues that space has become a –even the key commodity by means of which capitalist production has been extended into new areas and the production of space thus reflects and sustains the process of surplus value creation. The concept of ‘urban revolution’ expresses this argument that the capitalist colonization of space in increasingly becoming the dominant sphere of capital accumulation. Navi Mumbai a satellite town of Mumbai, provided an ideal site for the location of an SEZ with its nearness to a seaport and future airport. CIDCO (City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd). is to develop the landuse plan for the Navi Mumbai SEZ (NMSEZ). The Central SEZ Authority will create the freight stations and BPCL will provide infrastructure like water. The Master Planning of the Special Economic Zones have been assigned to global consultant firms like Mc.Clier. CIDCO has appointed consultants for the feasibility study, business plan, as master planning for the Navi Mumbai SEZ project. Tata Economic Consultancy Services ("TECS") was appointed during 2001-02 to evaluate the feasibility of the Navi Mumbai Special Economic Zone. CIDCO appointed a consortium comprising Ernst & Young (formerly Arthur Andersen), CRISIL Infrastructure Advisory Services and Chesterton Meghraj to prepare the business plan for the Special Purpose Vehicle which comprises of joint private partners. In the Navi Mumbai SEZ the SPV is SKIL (Seeking Infrastructure Limited), Reliance and Hiranandani Developers. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). McClier are the master planners for the SEZ project and has developed the Dronagiri Infrastructure Plan. The Chinese model of SEZ is being adopted for the Navi Mumbai SEZ and this would be done by CIDCO in conjunction with three more private players as mentioned above. CIDCO plans to develop 4 different pockets of land – Ulwe, Kolambili, Dronagiri. A dedicated transport plan is being envisaged for the entire area. It will be a low density development. However, Ulwe will be developed into an RPZ- which will be a Regional Park Zone- a green belt with no industrial activity. This zone could be utilised for recreational activities and proposed infrastructure in the zone includes entertainment and recreational facilities like a club house, golf course and other recreational facilities amenities. The New Bombay Development Plan will be in consonance and will be integrated with the SEZ plan. The SEZ plan will maintain the essential character of the area – and will take into consideration the low density development for this area – being already a thickly forested area. Since building construction has to be limited in this area a theme park or water park is envisaged in the area. (Interview conducted with GM SEZ- CIDCO (Mr. Kulkarni) 22nd. June 2007). CIDCO mooted the SEZ proposal received an in principal approval of the GOI, in 2001 and the final nod on 23rd June 2007. For investors in this zone returns will accrue by way of sale of land, lease of land, management fees for client, property taxes, advertising rights and toll revenues. The NMSEZ is in close proximity to The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust in Nheva Sheva, a proposed Rs. 3000 crore international airport project in Navi Mumbai and a Rs. 6000 crore Sewri Nhava Sea-link project too. (www.navimumbaisez.com) This new model of development has been aptly described by Solomon Benjamin in his paper titled ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000). He says, that ‘1991 was a key turning point, because it ushered in the liberalization of the Indian economy and with this new political processes opened up. This situation has had a direct impact on the urban management especially with regard to the demands for large-scale infrastructure development and promotion of a corporate led economy. A significant development was the emergence of large financing institutions and bilateral and multilateral agencies. At the national level financing institutions moved away from their traditional role of funding projects to funding large-scale infrastructure programmes as financial intermediaries. Access to relatively cheap and state government secured funds has generated new demand. The State governments focus is now on instituting dedicated investments for mega projects. (Benjamin, S. 2000). This is routed through HUDCO or HDFC Banks which will fund infrastructure development in SEZs. References: 1. Cullenberg, S.: Socialism’s Burden: Towards a “Thin” Definition of Socialism, Sanhati, 2004 2. Harvey, David: Paper presented in International Conference on ’Accumulation and Dispossession, Claims and Counterclaims: Transformative Cities in the New Global Order, 12th Oct, 2006. 3. Massey Douglas: ‘The Culture of Cities’, (1996) in Castells Reader on Cities and Social Theory, ed. Ide Sassure, Blackwell Publishers, 2002 4. Agarwal, Aradhana: Working Paper No. 148, Export Processing Zones in India: Analysis of the Export Performance, CRIER: Indian Council for Research on International Economic Relations, Nov, 2004. 5. Sarma, E.A.S. : ‘Help the Rich Hurt the Poor’ Case of Special Economic Zones, EPW, May 26th 2007 6. Harvey, D :Megacities Lecture 4, Colofon, Twynstra Gudde Management Consultanats, Amersfoort, The Netherlands 7. Harvey, David: Reinventing Geography, Interview, New Left Review 4, 2000. 8. Chakrabarti, A, and Byasdeb Dasgupta: Disinterring the Report of National Commission on Labour, A Marxist Perspective, EPW, May 26, 2007) 9. Benjamin S.: ‘Governance, Economic Settings and Poverty in Bangalore’ (Environment and Urbanisation, Vol 12, No. 1, April 2000. __________________________________________________________ Yahoo! India Answers: Share what you know. Learn something new http://in.answers.yahoo.com/ From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 18:22:05 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:22:05 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707190552u6434a545o9a111443e3d8046b@mail.gmail.com> In reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian. Thank you all for your responses. The comments and suggestions have been very interesting and I'll keep them in mind as I carry on with my research. I apologize for my late reply but I had not been online for a while since my first posting, and so had not seen your mails. Yashdeep, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. Thanks for sending it. In the light of what Curt Gambetta had to say about your concluding remarks about malls 'robbing the city of diversity and difference' and 'papering over differences', I would agree with you in that these fortified premises are built for the elite classes and as such do not cater to poorer classes and therefore are indifferent towards the diversity in society. But as you said these are also 'divisive' in nature and by 'concentrating' the elite consumer classes in special niche zones, such as the malls, the multiplexes-and one specially takes notice of their political incorrectness for these are 'public spaces', they sharpen already existing differences by forming homogeneous units for different classes through the dual process of 'concentration and segregation'. In this sense then they do not iron out differences but etch it out and make it more 'visible' in the urbanscape through its built environment. In the suburbia, real estates perform a similar function as they build mini townships, (Aquapolis, Sun City in Ghaziabad in the pipeline) which are like 'concentration camps' for the super elites. These fortified enclaves are self-suffient, very exclusive and autonomous units- with their own malls, golf courses, sports complexes, luxurious apartments etc. A little less magnificent are the neighborhoods with cheaper apartments and meant for the middle class. Hence 'clannish' settlements are created which are distinct and distinguished through the lifestyles of its inhabitants. The poor in this process are relegated to the peripheries and alienated spatially, economically and psychologically. In all these ways, suburbanisation in terms of its built environment leads to social stratification. In reply to Sebastian's queries, about malls devouring small businesses/markets, it is true that this problem is also seen in the Ghaziabad area, mall development has definitely affected the local traders- the vendors, grocers, fruit sellers etc and also small departmental stores. The hypermarkets in malls like the Big Bazaar and Spencer offer a variety of items ranging from clothes, accessories, food items, vegetables, fruits, cold meat, dairy products, and at rates cheaper than the markets outside. Consumers definitely prefer to buy it all from one place at cheaper prices and in a comfortable environment. As for small businesses/ markets, in a situation where there is a lot of competition and supply has far exceeded demand, these large multi-formats seem to be gobbling up fast the smaller centres. For instance mini malls and shopping complexes are not surviving. Similarly the mall and multiplex combo has become so popular and convenient that a format that lacks this combo does not survive. From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 18:48:42 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 18:48:42 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Second posting. Student Stipendship. Architectonics of the Mall. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707190618u27255051jd11ae19d3c92c95e@mail.gmail.com> Hello All, In this posting I am going to analyze the architectural design of the Mall in terms of its social, and psychological impact on consumers. Key words and concepts that I will be dealing with are commodity fetishism, advertising, electrical stimulation, hyper stimulus, and distraction. An important aspect of my account is about the way in which the mall functions as a 'strategic' space and my two pronged approach looks into both the conception and structuring of the mall space by the producers/architects/developers in a way to maximize profit and its reception by consumers as a place of distraction and nervous stimulation and an urban labyrinth where the consumer can 'lose' oneself both spatially as well as psychologically. The façade or outer front display of the mall building is a crucial architectural feature as it functions as an effective 'media of mass communication', for attracting consumers from the surrounding region towards the mall premise. Although apprehended in an offhand and passive manner, these surfaces are rendered more effective precisely due to their inert reception, to maneuver the movement of crowd towards the mall, by using their hidden persuasive powers of aesheticisation. The sheer monumentality of the mall buildings together with the eye-catching façades makes them conspicuous in the daytime and as night follows the illumination emitted from these structures through the electric advertisements, spilling out interior lighting and brightly lit outwardly visible window displays, attracts consumers like light magnetizes gnats, and imbues the structure with an effulgence which enhances its distinctiveness as a 'fantasy' space. Amongst the Ghaziabad malls, EDM, Ansal Plaza and Pacific mall are prototypic examples of such post-modernist 'functionalist facades', constructed with glass and steel material, and embellished with electric advertising boards. (I borrow the term 'functionalist façade' from its usage by Janet Ward in her book titled 'Weimer Surfaces' to describe building facades of Weimer Germany during the 1920s.The term 'functionalist' was used to emphasize upon the strategic aspect of facade decorations to serve as surfaces for advertising. The appropriateness of using this term for the Ghaziabad mall lies in its articulation of the façade as purposeful -in terms of its use for advertising and not merely decorative.). In contrast to these malls, the façade of Shipra Mall is archaic in style, although grand and ostentatious. This impressive building which spreads over an area of 4.5 lakh sq ft. is built on the lines of Classical Romanesque architecture and is claimed to be the largest and widest mall of Ghaziabad. A porch heralds the gateway to the mall where cars pause for the passengers to get off and be welcomed in a rather dramatic fashion by uniformed valets and one or two other mall officials dressed in formal suits. As one enters the interior space of this mall, the architectural décor appears in sharp contrast to the exterior, for the interior is furnished in modern style using the combination of glass, steel and light for its primary aestheticisation. The interior design is reminiscent of a galleria with retail shops of three floors surrounding a vast elongated empty space in the center, like in the Pacific and East Delhi Mall. The roof of the building is made of transparent glass, a unique feature of the mall as it gives the consumer an idea of the time, in outright retaliation of a general principle of malls to efface time and duration. Jon Goss in his essay 'Magic of the mall' also interestingly points out a matter of great surprise, that one hardly ever sees a clock in the malls, something that appears even more curious by the fact that consumers spend so much time inside malls. The Shipra Mall provides for 'in-house vegetation', which may perhaps be seen as an attempt to perhaps bring some vestiges of the outside landscape into the interior as also to create an artificial 'naturalness' in these built spaces. Also in combination with the glass roof, allowing penetration of natural light, the interspersing of Palm trees and shrubs within these interior spaces, creates an illusion of 'open space' and 'pseudo- streetscape'. Scholars have variously described the mall's spatial/experiential character as 'hyperreal' or liminally as 'virtual reality' referring perhaps to the hypersensuality and phantasmagoria of these spaces. As pointed out by Jon Goss in his essay, 'The Magic of the Mall', malls are as such abstract 'nowhere-spaces', consumption utopias, idealized and hence estranged from reality. Jon Goss's description may be compared to Foucaults 'hetrotopias', or the 'deviant' 'virtually real' spaces, which function in transit as it were between real space and utopia. The mall's 'hetrotopic' nature is most strongly exemplified in its reference to global and universal spaces and experiences of consumer capitalism, and its apparent severance from the immediate local environment. As stated by Malcolm Voyce in his essay, 'Shopping Malls in India', these spaces 'do not reflect the local history but instead inculcate the tastes and identities of global consumer culture.' Also these spaces are amalgamation of past and existing real formats, such as the airport, hotel resort, amusement park and street shopping center of the downtown. The mall in this sense appears 'odd' and 'confused' and this nature is hightened by the fact it also operates a variety of activities- entertainment, shopping, recreational activities, eating etc. all at one place. Also once a person enters these spaces, he could be just anywhere in the world as they all look the same. In all these ways the Mall resembles a 'hetropia'. There is an element of 'excess' and 'hyper' attached to the mall's sanctum, as for eg, the spotlessly clean and shiny surfaces, the excessively sanitized condition, perfectly clean and fresh atmosphere, rightly regulated temperature, brightly lit showrooms, beautiful mannequins and elaborate window displays, music to lift up one's spirits, all add up to create a hypersensorium of visual and aural stimuli. (It is not an accidental feature that one sees from time to time employees cleaning different parts of the mall floors, for these activities are strategically performed in order to bring to the notice and thus assure the consumer of the perfect sanitary conditions in the mall. Research in the Pacific and Shipra mall has revealed that the malls on an average employ eighty to hundred cleaning employees to look after sanitation within the mall premises. These workers, around twenty five at each sitting, periodically clean assigned portions of the mall in shifts of eight hours, after which the work is carried over by the next set of workers. The toilets, and each mall usually maintains two sets of washrooms- one on either ends of each floor, are routinely cleaned by staffs who wait in turns on each of the users and check and restore hygiene in the washrooms after every use. Moreover, as revealed by one of the staff member of the Shipra Mall, in the residual spaces of the mall i.e. excluding the retail showrooms, the exposed walls are painted every alternate week to keep the mall interior looking new and scrupulously clean all the time.). The mall may be seen as a highly technologised space by its use of air conditioners, programmed music, lighting, computerized camera surveillance, flat T.V screens hanging in food courts and other places for casual watching and electric advertising. The flood of visual and aural stimuli emanating from these sources creates physical and perceptual shock for the consumer which produces the famously theorized neurological state-the 'distracted' mind. (See Anthony Vilder's 'Walter Benjamin and the Space of Distraction' in his book Warped Space. Also see 'Modernity, Hyperstimulus, and the Rise of Popular Sensationalism' by Ben Singer.) Here I use the term in the sense in which Kraucer refers to it, i.e. as a subconscious state of mind which is so saturated with rapidly moving fleeting images that it temporarily i.e. for as long as the state lasts, suspends any conscious thought, passively receiving impressions as though in a state of shock. This state of distraction is different and antithetical to Walter Benjamin's use of the term to connote dispersion and scattering resulting in disinterest and absentmindedness' or what is better known as the blasé attitude of the urban dweller. On the other hand the distraction experienced within the mall environment is addictive and it is lack of 'entertainment' or 'distraction' that causes jadedness and boredom. The hyperstimulating environment soothes the overexcited nerves of the consumer and provides sensory relaxation. One need not strain ones mind anymore with thoughts, but simply allow seeing, hearing and feeling without thinking. Of all the sources of stimulus, electric advertising causes the most sensational impact on the consumer. Janet Ward in her book 'Weimer Surfaces' defines advertising as 'the discourse of visually harnessed or applied power'. The main purpose of these visual signifiers is thus to use shock techniques such as colorful lights and rapidly moving signs, images or words to jolt the spectator from his/her reverie and take notice of the surrounding. The textual message of advertising placards is not as important as its visual effect, and customers are expected to have acquired enough cultural knowledge to be able to decipher subtle rhetoric and seemingly incompatible associations often made in advertisements. Jon Goss also points out the hidden aim of advertisement, which is to 'mask the materiality', of the commodity and shift its identity from a material object to a cultural artifact. This creates commodity fetishism in the Marxist sense i.e. severing the commodity from its origins of production and the labor process involved in producing it, and entrusting it with desirable socio-cultural symbolism. This aspect of commodity displacement is also reflected in the manner in which transactions take place in retail showrooms of the Mall, where there is no interface between the actual producer and consumer. A certain level of impersonality is maintained and also the scope of negotiating prices is thwarted in such transactions. Commodities are as such divested of their economic properties, and replaced with a cultural context. It is for this reason that a lot of care and emphasis is given to the exhibition of these commodities in window displays. The mall is a strategic or 'premeditated place'. Its interior design, comprising of the general layout, placement of showrooms, escalators, lifts, pathways, cooperative aestheticisation together serves to manipulate consumer movement within the interior space in a way that ensures maximum consumption. For instance, the layout of retail showrooms is such that even when a consumer has to go to a specific shop, 'on the way' to his goal, he is invariably exposed to a string of shop fronts which make him pause and dally and deflect him from his normal course to the initial desired destination. And often these unplanned visits end up in huge purchases. Even the escalators are strategically placed on opposite ends of the mall so as to subject shoppers to optimal exposure of the shop fronts while they half circumambulate along showrooms to reach the escalators. Jon Goss in 'Magic of the Mall' provides a rather convincing account of how cafeterias, restrooms and food courts play a role in sustaining and thus prolonging long walks across retail showrooms by shopper-pedestrians. The basic idea in all this is to keep the shopper for as long as possible inside the mall. Promotional activities also serve the same purpose of prolonging consumers' stay by providing recreation while simultaneously promoting consumption. It is interesting to note how music, light and window displays also play an important role in monitoring pedestrian movement inside the mall. While the mall adopts a uniform and cooperated mode of aestheticisation and publicity, however each retail showroom tries to lure customers particularly towards it by emphasizing its presence through the regulation of light, music and shop front display, within a limited sphere which does not disturb the overall décor of the mall. Music forms an integral part of the mall sensorium as it pervades every part of the mall-the entrance space, hallways, showrooms and even the toilets. Music territorializes space and distinguishes different spatial experiences. Music adds and contributes to the aesthetic identity of the Mall and consumers' like and preference for particular malls is considerably dependent on the kind of music it plays. (In one of the online portals on Ghaziabad Malls, a teenager reasoned out his preference for Shipra Mall over Pacific Mall and EDM due to its 'tastefully' programmed music-which usually played English numbers or tuned into world space. On the other hand the Pacific Mall and EDM played Punjabi pops and popular Hindi songs according to the general taste of the class of consumers it attracted-music considered tacky by elite standards.) Sometimes promotional activities are conducted which foreground and sensationalize music –such as in EDM, when radio jockeys from the 'Radio Fever' channel hosted game shows, dance competitions, and DJ shows. As for attracting customers into the showrooms, the store managers play loud music in comparison to the soft background music dispersed all around in the mall, in sync with the general theme of the store based on the kind and type of commodities it keeps. This music drowns over the background music of the hallways and directs the consumer's movement into the showrooms and also keeps them shopping for longer. In a similar fashion light also directs consumer movement as the hallways are dimly lit in comparison to the showrooms. Also shop fronts use bright colorful lights to attract customers. Window displays also play an important role in attracting customers to retail showrooms. I will carry on this discussion in my next posting where I'll also be looking at the place of the Multiplex inside the mall and in the larger built environment. From alicesamson at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 20:15:01 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:15:01 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Message-ID: <6b037a040707190745p2e35dc0cja55cd7bfca298e5f@mail.gmail.com> Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Hello everyone. In this post I will brief you on some of my experiences, in the past 2-3 months, while on this project Over the past few weeks I have travelled to some of the places where secondhand bookshops/stalls are located and met up with a few old time passionate buyers and also some older residents of the city to get a sense of their experiences of these shops. During the time that I started out I came to know of a second-hand book exhibition at a book store called OM book store . I promptly journeyed to the bookstore located at what felt like the farthest end of the city at a place called Jeedimetla. To my surprise I found an exhibition of Christian devotional books, laid out quite in the jumble sale fashion, under a tent outside the bookstore, and quite a number of people browsing through the wares accompanied by soft lilting devotional music and a well dressed smiling girl moving around offering customers cups of orange drinks. A little doubt crept up my mind, do religious book seconds count as second hand books? But the journey had been too long to turn back without taking a good look around. As a Christian myself I felt that if not for the sake of the project at least for my personal satisfaction I would find some thing useful. I found a wide variety of books not just hymn books, prayer books and metal jacket dented bibles but also a whole range of lifestyle books; on depression, teenage, coping with terrorism, on pregnancy and other 'trying periods' of human life, of course the common denominator here was that all books had a religious bent to their solutions for these day to day problems. There were other books on crafts, children's story books, activities for Easter Christmas etc. Some of the books clearly were used books , others were difficult to classify as they were in quite a good condition. I decided to have a chat with the bookshop owner but was told that he was away so I wandered around into a large go down like area behind the store and was taken aback by the complete contrast to the scene of the exhibition outside, before me was the scene of a number of helper boys engaged in unpacking huge cartons of books, packing other cartons and the whole place had the urgency, and organised atmosphere of a general production environment. As I walked into the go down the heads belonging to the constantly moving hands turned around, eyebrows were raised quizzing, a courteous helper however did direct me to a glass cabin amidst the piles of cartons; I am not sure I would not have spotted it otherwise. The name plate announced The stores manager and I was ushered into the presence of Mr Kunju, who insisted on being called 'kunju uncle' as he explained everyone called him there. He turned out to be willing to help in more than one way. and started out in the direction I most dreaded- a thanksgiving ode to God for all that he and his family had received , however I did manage to get some crucial insights into the business. Amidst his rhetoric on the wonderful ways of God he managed to share his knowledge about the working of the shop and what I later discovered is the larger chain of shops and the ongoing exhibition. It turned out that most of the books in the exhibition had arrived from foreign countries like the US where people sponsored the printing and export of these books to countries like India, Africa etc for the benefit of Christians here who could not afford to buy these at their original prices. And what do they do with these books once the exhibition wound up? He explained that these books also constantly travelled across the country to different exhibitions etc till they were totally exhausted (in response to my query he added that it was rare that a book would not be sold at least one of their centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Goa etc). I found this method of dealing with excesses interesting. It also, as I will explain in my later posts, offers an insight to how the overflow of print material is tackled by some businesses dealing with these. Interestingly I found that they had also tried to send their wares to the pavement booksellers at Koti, Abids etc( we will explore these in detail later) but found that they did not sell very well there. Why? Because these kinds of books, devotional, with a religiously bent etc, attracted customers through word of mouth publicity. These two insights into import of the books and the differential selling methods of different categories of books turned out to be very useful in my actual interest in the second hand book trade. I had been right about my hunch on the usefulness on this shop. The book trade after all has to have some similarities as it deals with the same goods. As I later found out many of the Second-hand bookshops like Bestbooks etc operated in quite a similar fashion. The cycle of; Imports of rejected books from US etc- sifting at warehouses-setting up of exhibitions etc were replicated sans the religious colour in other seconds book businesses also. We will explore some of these businesses individually later. My next post follows this. [Visit to the exhibition at OM books( now rechristened STL(Send The Light Books)and Interview with 'Kunju Uncle' conducted on April 15th,2007] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/c358651b/attachment-0002.html From alicesamson at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 20:22:49 2007 From: alicesamson at gmail.com (alice samson) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 20:22:49 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. Message-ID: <6b037a040707190752r11727350w3388214afe7e8bab@mail.gmail.com> Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad Buyers. While on the one hand I have spent a considerable amount of time hunting out various kinds of Second-hand book markets and shops in Hyderabad I have also simultaneously interviewed a number of buyers/collectors/aficionados (can someone supply me with a word for a passionate second-hand book buyer!!). My conversations with some old time residents of Hyderabad like, prof.Javeed Alam, revealed that in his time inspite of being a student in the city his modest inheritance had ensured that he never went to the pavement sellers of second- hand books nor had he shopped for textbooks etc at the Koti seconds shops. Instead he would frequent the rare, antique bookstores in the area close to the bangles bazaar at Charminar where he picked up expensive, rare books for his collection. As Mr Prashant Iyengar in responding to my first post pointed out and Javeed's account confirms,the profile of the second hand book book buyer seems to include a crucial class factor. There are others like Ms Chitra (name changed) who works for an NGO in the city that provides educational services for children and has been a frequent visitor of the bookshops like Bestbook store at Tilak road, Abids; which stocks a phenomenal number of Second-hand books stacked all around the floor of the shop with just enough space to squeeze past. Chitra has a special interest in children's books both for her NGO and her personal interest and frequently requests the shop owner to get her larger quantities of these. Her requests are always met with the same answer that it is impossible to ask for specific books to be brought in. The modus operandi of these shops is not conducive to large quantities of specific requests. We will dwell a little more on the exact modes of operation of the second hand book trade, however Chitra's experience hints at the fact that the element of chance plays a very big role in not only purchase but also procurement for the sellers. . Chitra has been in the city since childhood and remembers some markets like the Koti second hand text book market as being there for over two decades. Chitra sifts through the secondhand book shops on the lookout for childrens books and teaching materials. A frequent visitor of Best Books at Tilak Road, Lakdikapul and the quite frequent Best Books exhibition stall at Y.M.C.A, she finds a lot of books utterly useless to her amongst these are; hoards of Novels, Health books; largely on how to handle pregnancies etc, cookery books; Chitra finds them ridiculous because most of them deal with baking and preparation of non-vegetarian dishes, mostly using ingredients hard to come by here sometimes she also spots a couple of books suitable to Indian styles of cooking, books on crafts activities; again useless as materials are hard to procure in India, outdated computer books, books on Science and accounting, however amidst these she says she always manages to find something of interest to her at a fabulous bargain price; Disney books that cost Rs 450 at the retail shop 3 kms from Best; Himalaya Book Stores, can be picked up for as low as 90-100 at the Best books Shop. Moreover Chitra, adds gleefully, many a time she manages to convince the seller to settle for an even lower price. Chitra rates the price as usually being about 1/4th of the original cost. She has even managed to convince the Best Books seller to buy back his own books at ½ the price he sells it to her but he won't accept books from other seconds sellers. There is also a method behind the seeming madness in the variety of books and a very important change in the working of this business from the traditional methods of functioning of the second hand book trade. In subsequent posts I will give you a detailed account of the interesting way in which this trade now operates Chitra also filled me in on another very different experience of shopping for second hand books at the pavements of Abids and Koti in Hyderabad. Today a drive past Koti inevitably draws our attention to an absence ,even to a newcomer in the city, the graffiti on the walls outside Koti women's college announce such things Prakash books Shifted to Shop number 516 Gokul Arcade And a hundred other such pointers to the new addresses of the displaced old shops. As Chitra and others told me the pavement that is now barren, with only the graffiti pointing to, what had become something the city had grown around. It was hardly the shops that were the cause of congestion or nuisance that were the reasons cited behind their removal. They were small shops, remembers Chitra, maybe slightly bigger than a pan shop, propped against the compound wall of the women's college, stacked with text books reference materials etc from floor to ceiling and more books fighting for space on the counter. Hundreds of students came to these shops from the Women's college and the nearby Arts College as well as the schools located nearby and at other places in the city. Seema recalls her school days in Hyderabad when these shops were the succour for many poor students, children from families with many children for whom books were unaffordable, people who wanted to read to make a better lives for themselves etc. Though the shops have been provided an alternative location, many feel that they are not what they used to be. People like Chitra feel there has not been any significant reduction in congestion as the area itself is like that with schools, colleges, cart sellers etc all-jostling for space. The need for a space that makes books easily available and affordable is clearly felt. Chitra feels that this is also an excellent way to promote the reading habit. Until the next post… [ Interview were conducted with Ms Chitra on 10th July, 2007 and prof Javeed on multiple occassions in June] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ps. Thank you Mr Prashant Iyengar and Basscom Guffin for sharing your experiences at these book shops and in Hyderabad. It would be extremely useful if others also can share their experiences at these shops in other cities and in Hyderabad. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/2cd4a885/attachment-0002.html From popli.saurabh at gmail.com Fri Jul 20 09:38:32 2007 From: popli.saurabh at gmail.com (saurabh popli) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 12:08:32 +0800 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Commonwealth Games site. Message-ID: <945ebfad0707192108r2092117du5cc9fed3379f23a5@mail.gmail.com> dear Everyone! Thoroughly enjoyed the previous posts. i thought I would post if anyone knows about the sudden blockade that has been caused at the commonwealth games site across the Vikas Marg from Akshardham. It seems that 5 - 6 dumpers of rubble has been dumped (late last night) strategically at the 2 existing entries to the area that is now home to umpteen small nurseries, and agriculturists. it is a beautiful part of Delhi and I have a grave sense of foreboding about what i suppose is about to happen. Is this known to anyone? Can someone enlighten us? -- Warm Regards, Saurabh 98 681 25159 'There is not enough time to do all the nothing that we want to do!' Bill Watterson -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-31 Size: 988 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070720/fd0dd6eb/attachment-0002.bin From jeebesh at sarai.net Fri Jul 20 09:41:25 2007 From: jeebesh at sarai.net (Jeebesh Bagchi) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 09:41:25 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Commonwealth Games site. In-Reply-To: <945ebfad0707192108r2092117du5cc9fed3379f23a5@mail.gmail.com> References: <945ebfad0707192108r2092117du5cc9fed3379f23a5@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: <395567C1-ED1E-4E0F-9026-B6D8F1EBD449@sarai.net> dear saurabh, Please do not send attachments. Send in plain text. attachment archives very badly and maybe in an unreadable form. Plain text archives well. Lists are also archives for others to access materials if they need to consult it later. best j On 20-Jul-07, at 9:38 AM, saurabh popli wrote: > > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup From yashdeeps at hotmail.com Fri Jul 20 10:37:18 2007 From: yashdeeps at hotmail.com (Yashdeep Srivastava) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 15:07:18 +1000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian References: <7fe7fedf0707190552u6434a545o9a111443e3d8046b@mail.gmail.com> Message-ID: Thank you Curt and Ipsita for reading and commenting on my article. I do hope I get as many considered and valuable opinions once it is published. In response to both your comments, firstly I agree, that the phrases you have both picked to comment on - 'robbing the city of diversity and difference' and 'papering over differences' were misleading if not altogether clumsy. I describe them as such because I do not think they conveyed my thinking. I hope to express it more clearly in this email. First Ipsita, your observation that malls and multiplexes "...sharpen already existing differences by forming homogeneous units for different classes through the dual process of 'concentration and segregation'". I generally agree with, however my reference to difference is not strictly to economic class distinctions that are embodied in and inhabit the architectural object. I think that is rather obvious. Having said that, I do believe that malls have the potential to 'iron' out those differences in the same way that a commuter train in Mumbai does by throwing people of all classes into the one space, united, as it were, by purpose. This is why I cite Dipesh Chakraborty, who refers to the bazaar as a space of suspended difference which malls, I believe, are not. As you have pointed out eloquently in your second post ("The mall's 'heterotopic nature is most strongly exemplified in its reference to global and universal spaces and experiences of consumer capitalism, and its apparent severance from the immediate local environment."), it is the architectural expression and spatial difference that I think is being smothered by the universalised hyperspace of the mall. The spontaneous theatre of the street is superscribed by the privately regulated environment of the mall. I liked Curt's suggestions to you regarding the possibility of understanding the nature of change in retail trade in Delhi and how difference is thus produced, through your fieldwork. I think he raises a very important issue about accepting malls for what they are. One cannot simply wish away malls and one must embrace differences that arise as a consequence. The normative tenor of my article notwithstanding, I would offer that the difference so generated is driven by an elite demand to distinguish itself from the 'other'. To cite John Harriss in a recent EPW, who quotes Sankaran Krishna - “one of the existential realities of being a middle class Indian is an inescapable desire to escape the rest of India”. The process of 'othering', I suggest, results in the papering over of difference amongst the elite, closing ranks and united, as it were, by the purpose to 'other'. Harriss's own argument that middle class domination of 'civil society' is a projection of middle class values on lower class problems seems to support the view that difference is suppressed in the face of dominance. As a practicing architect, I am often concerned at the lack of sensitivity displayed by many in the profession to the political consequences of our professional actions in the wider social realm. The article is my attempt to draw it to the attention of others of my ilk.As Lefebvre has said elswhere, architects are obsessed with the visual. Best wishes and many thanks again for a very invigorating discussion, Yash Srivastava ----- Original Message ----- From: "ipsita sahu" To: Sent: Thursday, July 19, 2007 10:52 PM Subject: [Urbanstudy] Reply to Curt Gambetta,Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian > In reply to Curt Gambetta, Yashdeep Shrivasta and Sebastian. > > Thank you all for your responses. The comments and suggestions have > been very interesting and I'll keep them in mind as I carry on with my > research. I apologize for my late reply but I had not been online for > a while since my first posting, and so had not seen your mails. > > Yashdeep, I thoroughly enjoyed reading your article. Thanks for > sending it. In the light of what Curt Gambetta had to say about your > concluding remarks about malls 'robbing the city of diversity and > difference' and 'papering over differences', I would agree with you in > that these fortified premises are built for the elite classes and as > such do not cater to poorer classes and therefore are indifferent > towards the diversity in society. But as you said these are also > 'divisive' in nature and by 'concentrating' the elite consumer classes > in special niche zones, such as the malls, the multiplexes-and one > specially takes notice of their political incorrectness for these are > 'public spaces', they sharpen already existing differences by forming > homogeneous units for different classes through the dual process of > 'concentration and segregation'. In this sense then they do not iron > out differences but etch it out and make it more 'visible' in the > urbanscape through its built environment. In the suburbia, real > estates perform a similar function as they build mini townships, > (Aquapolis, Sun City in Ghaziabad in the pipeline) which are like > 'concentration camps' for the super elites. These fortified enclaves > are self-suffient, very exclusive and autonomous units- with their own > malls, golf courses, sports complexes, luxurious apartments etc. A > little less magnificent are the neighborhoods with cheaper apartments > and meant for the middle class. Hence 'clannish' settlements are > created which are distinct and distinguished through the lifestyles of > its inhabitants. The poor in this process are relegated to the > peripheries and alienated spatially, economically and psychologically. > In all these ways, suburbanisation in terms of its built environment > leads to social stratification. > > In reply to Sebastian's queries, about malls devouring small > businesses/markets, it is true that this problem is also seen in the > Ghaziabad area, mall development has definitely affected the local > traders- the vendors, grocers, fruit sellers etc and also small > departmental stores. The hypermarkets in malls like the Big Bazaar and > Spencer offer a variety of items ranging from clothes, accessories, > food items, vegetables, fruits, cold meat, dairy products, and at > rates cheaper than the markets outside. Consumers definitely prefer to > buy it all from one place at cheaper prices and in a comfortable > environment. As for small businesses/ markets, in a situation where > there is a lot of competition and supply has far exceeded demand, > these large multi-formats seem to be gobbling up fast the smaller > centres. For instance mini malls and shopping complexes are not > surviving. Similarly the mall and multiplex combo has become so > popular and convenient that a format that lacks this combo does not > survive. > _______________________________________________ > Urbanstudygroup mailing list > Urban Study Group: Reading the South Asian City > > To subscribe or browse the Urban Study Group archives, please visit > https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/urbanstudygroup > From karthik.guevara at gmail.com Fri Jul 20 14:11:26 2007 From: karthik.guevara at gmail.com (karthik guevara) Date: Fri, 20 Jul 2007 14:11:26 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] GAANA SONGS MUSIC FROM THE MARGINS Message-ID: <2fd660060707200141x3434d123ve0ae3471ba001d8d@mail.gmail.com> Hai I am D.Karthikeyan currently a student stipendiary at CSDS sarai. this is my second posting for the research project. "Music from the Margins: Gaana Songs as a Subaltern Phenomenon". here i will discuss on how Gaana music as a form can be called as an sub culture by tracing the genealogy of Gaana songs and how it came into existence and to look into the cultural aspects of Gaana songs, its lyrics and find out how it helps in the identity formation. *TRACING THE GENEALOGY* Gaana songs erupted among the working class youth, particularly Dalit and Fishermen communities of shantytown areas of Chennai city simply from the need of the oppressed youth as a form of earning a living through an income by singing in funerals. They are songs that move people, songs that speak of the ephemeral nature of life. But in the process Gaana music was used in 'bits and pieces' for the conscious investigation of the expression of grim realities hidden in the urban social order and for the diffusion of the Dalit consciousness. Unlike Black music Gaana cannot be immediately seen as functioning to liberate oppression but it's a long way to go since its gaining prominence recently, but undoubtedly it has given a cultural identity to Subaltern masses in the fringes of the urban spaces. The cultural identity till now has been non-functionalist and was intangible to the wider audience. Since it does not belong the traditional genre of music it has to fight its way out. Any form of music, which doesn't come under the purview of the puritanical tradition or the "Carnatic" tradition in this case, becomes victim of deeper prejudices. Its been dismissed by the practitioners and custodians of the classical form. Even the traditional music like folk songs has long been viewed by high-caste elites as a degenerate culture born of an essentially 'impure people'. The question of "purity" and pollution remains a very concrete reality in the performative traditions. The presence of lower caste musicians and their cultural practices are viewed as polluting by people of high status. For example the genre of music called Oppari (literally means Weeping) done during funerals and ceremonies relating to death, has been done by people belonging to the Dalit caste no matter which caste the dead belongs to. Professional musicians from non-Dalit castes typically refuse to perform oppari. All music not made by people of high caste is totally dismissed by the experts. During the annual music festival held in Chennai (formerly Madras), cultural capital of the refined classical music of the Brahmins known as Carnatic, an expert says: 'There is folk music and classical music. Carnatic music is scientifically organized, folk music is not so ... people who are not properly trained just sing out of emotion, enthusiasm. Any child can sing folk music. But to sing carnatic music you need talent." Despite the prejudice of people of high caste, those at the margins of the Hindu hierarchy are reclaiming their music. It is becoming a source of powerful resistance, the basis of new and revolutionary identities. Gaana song lyrics actually revive and glorify Dalit lower- class themes and motifs that were hitherto disparaged and despised. Gaana in fact has slowly paced itself and got out somewhat forcefully from the slums and burial grounds and has entered the more popular medium of communication in south India i.e. the film industry. The film industry as studies show is a more popular and common mode of expression among the Tamil youth. The tradition of scatting across a simple repetitive backing with impromptu lyrics continues to produce some of the most interesting and exciting Gaana. At first the response from the middle class was one of sneer and snobbery because of its coarse dialect and lyrics but soon penetrated their own privilege ranks and they had to give way to the sheer force of Gaana as a popular form of music that appeals to both poor and middle class youth alike. *GAANA SONGS AND DEATH* Gaana music as repertoire of the slum dwellers of Chennai, the songs sound the loudest in the event of a death and it would go for hours together. In the case of oppari songs Dumont describes a "band of Untouchables (six to eight members)" who played "lively and even tempestuous music" on drums with the purpose to "keep the mind occupied, or distract it" (p. 272). The Gaana songs are commonly addressed towards the dead person, the performance gets due attention with posters appearing on major locations in the city during the event. These performances of gaana songs actually seem to look like small spectacles. People from nearby slums come to watch the event. In any case, the presence of musicians at a Tamil funeral is generally believed to be "indispensable" (Dumont 1986: 272). The Gaana songs performances also give a chance for the singer to subtly send a message across the dominant castes by the way of recounting a myth. This can be found in folk performances by Dalit singers in villages. Michael Moffatt in his ethnographic study cites an account of a funeral near Madras (now Chennai) that the role of Dalit (Paraiyar) musicians is so important that members of other caste communities tolerate the musicians as they recount a Paraiyar origin myth--in which Paraiyars have dominance over other castes--as part of the funeral ritual. It is said that, at the funeral "we must nod our heads to these Harijans" (Moffatt 1979: 195-196). Further, the funeral is a rare opportunity for a Harijan musician to take on the persona of a person--a widow--of a higher status caste community than his own. Moffatt observes in Endavur that funeral musicians perform special rhythms at funerals of higher-caste people, suggesting that the substitution of a professional performer from one caste for a griever of another is reflected in a kind of musical "code-switching" (1979: 200). REFERENCES Dumont, Louis. 1986. A South Indian Subcaste: Social Organization and Religion of the Pramalai Kallar. Transl. M. Moffatt and A. Morton. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Moffatt, Michael. 1979. An Untouchable Community in South India: Structure and Concensus. Princeton: Princeton University Press. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070720/66b703e9/attachment-0002.html From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Wed Jul 25 21:43:22 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 21:43:22 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] student Stpendship 2007third posting. Cinematic landscape of Ghaziabad. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707250913i1fa14ecaje79b4ae9ab3b8eaf@mail.gmail.com> Hello All, My third posting is a comparative analysis of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad. I am mostly looking at the exhibition patterns of these theatres to see how different theatres regulate audience flow, and function as conscious agents of social stratification A mere revamping of exhibition spaces in the form of the multiplexes and cineplexes, has revolutionized the cinematic experience in India. These new forms have not only salvaged the moribund state of Indian theatrical sector and cinema industry from the onslaught of piracy, VCD and cable television, but also imbued cinema viewing with a new legitimacy by making it an exclusively bourgeoisie form of entertainment. Finally the infamy of cinema as an 'uncongenial space' unfit for the upper class and women has been lifted, by cleansing the theatre space of its nuisance creating elements. The very grandioseness of cinema viewing in these luxurious spaces has shifted the emphasis from the film alone to the sensorial experience of the space, In the changed scenario watching a film is subsumed within a larger goal of an 'outing', which includes not only the thrill of entertainment but also the pleasures of experiencing luxury. And in this sense the refurbishment of cinema theatre through gentrification and spectacularisation has successfully revitalized cinema viewing by hoisting it in the public imaginary as a signifier of bourgeoisie lifestyle. As far as the built landscape is concerned like in the case of the mall, even multiplexes, in the social realm, function as divisive structures of class contestation and conscious agents of social stratification. These built forms function as homogeneous units of the rich by enabling the congregation of the gentry and exclusion of the poor. Also within themselves they maintain a hierarchy and divide the affluent class by creating stratification among the high-income group both inside the auditorium through the seating arrangement as well as in the overall targeting of specific audience groups. Like malls, the fortification and security system of the multiplex successfully insulates the premise against contamination by the lower income groups. Also by maintaining high ticket rates in comparison to the traditional single cinema hall, and making them unaffordable for the lower income groups these exhibition centers have succeeded in keeping the unwanted poor out of the glitzy premises, making cinema entertainment the privilege of the affluent consumer class. As for regulating the inflow of those who can afford the high prices, the same strategy is adopted by the multiplexes as malls of choosing their location according to the type of audience they seek to target. Also by dividing seats into different categories, for different classes and fixing different ticket prices for these, according to the affordability of each class, these theatres maintain class hierarchies inside the auditorium. This system was prevalent even in the traditional single screen cinema hall. However, the difference now is that the current system creates divisions even amongst the gentries. The most recent intervention in this regard can be seen in the new kind of hierarchiasing amongst the elites in the multiplexes today with the creation of exclusive lounges for the upper class audience. These lounges have a separate entry and exit enabling absolute seclusion of the patrons of this section from the rest of the audience. The tickets for these seats are exorbitant ranging from five hundred to eight hundred rupees. Hence one sees that as a hind side of the process of maximizing consumption, new trends are emerging to build hierarchies amongst the elite through spatial segregation, also enabling super elites to lead and flaunt extravagant lifestyles. Now in the built landscape of Ghaziabad a definite pattern can be discerned in the spatial layout of the exhibition spaces in the region, which is produced by and hence also reflective of the socio-political dynamics of urban planning. The locational arrangement of these built forms like the malls mirrors the socio-economic condition of the area. Big formats are located in the elite neighborhoods, smaller ones in the fringe areas and near lower middle class neighborhoods and the single screen cinema halls are in the old development area catering to only the lower income groups. I will now delineate a sketchy outline of the exhibition patterns of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad to reveal the underlying logic of exhibition with an aim to illustrate the divisionary role of exhibition centers in the socio-economic realm. In the past four years, Ghaziabad has witnessed a rapid proliferation of exhibition spaces, as multiplexes have mushroomed up in the area under the Ghaziabad development scheme of providing adequate commercial recreation to the new population brought to the area by the real estate sector. This explosion has primarily occurred under the new government entertainment policy regime to provide tax exemption for five years to multiplex projects and also due to the cheaper land rates of the region as compared to the downtown and other areas of the NCR. Thus it becomes a viable option for developers to set up projects in the outskirt regions, as land rates in the central city is so high that even reasonable commercial returns never adequately make up for the huge investment costs. At present there are in total fourteen multiplexes in Ghaziabad, and several others in the pipeline, creating a congested scenario with 5 multiplexes, PVR cinemas, Adlab/Imax Pacific Mall, Adlab Ansal Plaza, Wave and Fun Cinema, situated within a 6 km radius , and six more under construction within the same area. In a situation where supply is fast exceeding demand, there is stiff intercentre competition between these multiplexes with only the big format multiplexes flourishing and the smaller ones already making huge losses. The Ghaziabad cinema theatres may be broadly classified into three categories based on location and the class of audience that the theatres target and cater to. The first category includes the high profile multiplexes that largely target the elite population. The Adlab theatre in Ansal Plaza, Adlab with Imax theatre in Pacific Mall, Jam Shipra in Shipra Mall, MMX and PVR Plaza in EDM belong to this category. Situated in the traffic zones of the new development area and close to elite neighborhoods, these four are the most successfully running theatres . Mainly because of the combo format of mall come multiplex, these theatres incur the maximum footfall as compared to solo multiplexes. Since in the combo format the multiplex shares its identity with the mall, by virtue of sharing the same complex, the mall significantly determines the success rates and type of crowd coming to the multiplex. People's preference for a particular multiplex is to a great degree based on their liking for the mall, since in most cases, a visit to the theatre often also entails a tour of the mall . Also since the Shopping mall cinema theatre draws a large part of its clientele from the shopping crowd, so therefore the type of crowd, which the mall attracts, is also the type of crowd that the multiplex must settle for. Hence the success of Jam Shipra and its elite clientele may be seen as caused due the general high consumer traffic of the mall and the mall's capacity to attract the elite population of Indirapuram, Vaishali and Kaushambi. Similarly EDM's general popularity with the lesser elite ensures a good profit for the PVR cinemas as it draws a big crowd by catering to the lesser affluent class of consumers of the new development area of Ghaziabad. However within their own limited capacity, shopping mall cinema theatres try to function more autonomously despite the dependency on the mall, to create their own audience type, in some cases like PVR EDM, even different from the mall's shopping crowd. Ticket range, promotional schemes and advertising strategies are the means by which multiplex theatres tend to attract and regulate audience configuration. For instance the PVR cinemas in EDM claims to target an assorted audience comprising of the lower middle class which comes from the mall crowd, and also the higher class population by advertising its brand value and hiking ticket prices. The youth crowd is generally given a low priority in these theatres which prefer to have more of a family audience, primarily because 'indecent' behavior of young couples spoils the ambiance in these places which also deters other kinds of audience from coming to the theatre due to the 'lewd' environment. Hence special measures are taken to keep the two-audience type separated. Morning shows are reserved specifically for the youth crowd, as the show timings do not suit the working patrons and housewives. The ticket rates for these shows are lower than the other shows so as to induce the youth crowd to come for these shows. By providing them with special incentives, the upper class gentries are targeted for the evening shows. For eg, apart from the usual snack bars, these theatres also have play ground spaces with sitters where parents can leave their kids and enjoy the film in peace. PVR EDM offers special kid care provisions during the Sunday evening shows comprising of dim lighting in the hall so that babies are not scared of the dark and can sleep peacefully, nappy changing facilities, kid playing zone in the cafeteria area. JAM Shipra has a separate U Kids zone, which apart from screening special children movies also has other recreation facilities such as story telling, video games, mazes etc. This provision not only ensures a good family audience but also prevents inconvenience to the audience from children by keeping them out of the auditorium. Platinum and Gold lounges are built in all these theatres to attract the super elites by offering them extravagant treatment for exorbitant prices. These lounges are different from the other auditoriums in offering reclining seats, three-course meal, in house service, and a separate entry and exit. Seemingly modeled on the lines of the ostentatious economy class seats of the flights, following their footsteps, the next thing would probably be to provide massage treatments to the patrons while they are watching the film! PVR Cinemas offer the provision of mobile booking in which case payments have to be made through credit cards. JAM Shipra is also planning to offer provisions for online ticket booking. Hence one sees that the exhibition patterns are taking a direction, which seeks to cater to and suit only the most affluent classes. Gentrification may be said to be taking place on a higher lever as it were. The second category of theatres comprises of smaller format multiplexes-the solo multiplexes, i.e the ones not allied to malls and those with only a few retail showrooms inside the same complex. SM World, Fun Cinemas, Silver City, M4U, Movie Palace, Movie World, Wave, Galaxy, and AEZ fall within this category. Most of these i.e apart from Wave Kaushambi and AEZ, are not located close to the elite neighborhoods, and therefore cater to mostly a lower middle class population. In comparison to the shopping mall multiplexes, which are in proximity to elite neighborhoods and target audiences specifically from within a radius of 5 km, these other multiplexes attempt to obtain a wider catchment area and target all classes and especially the lower middle class since the upper classes are already divided between the big formats. The solo multiplexes are facing stiff competition from the Shopping Mall multiplexes and have lost most of the upper class patrons to them. To keep the lower middle class patrons from getting similarly deflected, these multiplexes have considerably lowered their ticket rates. As a result they are barely able to avail much profit since the little return that they get goes in meeting equipment maintenance, housekeeping and security charges . The multiplexes in the border areas, such as Movie World, and those away from the Shopping mall multiplexes, such as Galaxy, Silver City are in a still better position, while those in the new development area close to the Mall-Multiplexes, like Wave Kaushambi and AEZ are the worst affected. The story of the single screen cinema halls is even more deplorable as slowly these are getting extinct unable to cope with the onslaught of new exhibition forms. All of these are located in the old development area of Ghaziabad as they were the first few entertainment centers in the area. Vasant, Urvashi, Manohar, Apsara, Star, Navrang, Pawan, Choudhary, Manochitralek belong to this category. Urvashi closed down in 2006 and Pawan and Choudhary in 2005. The rest are teetering with losses and in a few years these remaining theatres are expected to close down as well. The government in sharp contrast to its attitude towards the multiplexes is rather hostile and unsympathetic towards the situation of these old theatres. In fact the governmental schemes are favoring and aiding the process of 'cleansing', by giving incentives to old theatres to reconvert into multiplexes. Choudhary for eg, is being broken down and rebuilt into a multiplex. The reason as stated by the Entertainment Officer of the Ghaziabad Entertainment Department, is that the entertainment revenue from the multiplexes is much more as compared to single screen theatres. There is also a non-economic cause for this discrimination. Town Planner of GDA, Mr S.C Gaur, expressed his approval of the changing scenario by stating that cinema exhibition in its traditional form had been more of a problem than a source of revenue for the government. As there were specific non-parrallel show timings in single screen halls, when the show broke, the sudden rampage of audience crowd created traffic problem near the market areas. Since the multiplexes are more 'organized', providing their own parking areas and since security concerns are also taken care of by the multiplex management, so it saves much trouble for the government. Also Mr S.C Gaur commented that 'thanks to the multiplexes, theatres are being cleared of the uncouth miscreants who were responsible for the bad image of cinema theatres'. Hence also for its new 'gentry' look, multiplexes seem to incur state favor. As a result, the old cinema theatres of Ghaziabad are in a state of decay. As they have lost their earlier middle class and lower middle class audience, who are now catered by the solo multiplexes, these theatres now cater to the labour class population. Ticket rates are therefore maintained within a cheap range. Vasant has the highest ticket rates amongst these theatres- 40/-, 25/- and 15/- for balcony, dress circle and front circle respectively. Star, Navrang and Apsara offer the cheapest prices- 8/- and 10/- in Star and Navrang and 6/- and 12/- in Apsara. As the ticket prices are so low, the owners are hardly able to afford distribution and print costs of the A grade films. Vasant is still able to show one or two A grade films a month but largely restricts to B category films. The others can only afford C grade films. Sometimes these theatres also screen Blue films to attract crowd and if caught are debarred of license. Navrang had to close down for a fortnight in the month of June for this reason. In the public realm these theatres are seen as unsafe and 'immoral' spaces much like the theatres of Nigeria spoken of by Brian Larkin. They have an ominous identity in the public imaginary. None of the lower middle class people enter these areas and women keep away from their shadows even. But what is important to understand is that these spaces were not always like this. The labor classes visited these theatres even before, but the standard of films shown were not bad. The gentry shun these spaces due to their present illicit nature, but it must also be acknowledged that it is them who are responsibile in bringing about this state of affairs. From ipssahu18 at gmail.com Wed Jul 25 22:32:38 2007 From: ipssahu18 at gmail.com (ipsita sahu) Date: Wed, 25 Jul 2007 22:32:38 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] student stipendship Third posting The cinematic landscape of Ghaziabad. Message-ID: <7fe7fedf0707251002o5e13f2fdw53640a42c349f027@mail.gmail.com> Hello All, My third posting is a comparative analysis of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad. I am mostly looking at the exhibition patterns of these theatres to see how different theatres regulate audience flow, and function as conscious agents of social stratification A mere revamping of exhibition spaces in the form of the multiplexes and cineplexes, has revolutionized the cinematic experience in India. These new forms have not only salvaged the moribund state of Indian theatrical sector and cinema industry from the onslaught of piracy, VCD and cable television, but also imbued cinema viewing with a new legitimacy by making it an exclusively bourgeoisie form of entertainment. Finally the infamy of cinema as an 'uncongenial space' unfit for the upper class and women has been lifted, by cleansing the theatre space of its 'nuisance creating elements' - the lower inc ome group audience. The very grandioseness of cinema viewing in these luxurious spaces has shifted the emphasis from the film alone to the sensorial experience of the space. In the changed scenario watching a film is subsumed within a larger goal of an 'outing', which includes not only the thrill of entertainment but also the pleasures of experiencing luxury. And in this sense the refurbishment of cinema theatre through gentrification and spectacularisation has successfully revitalized cinema viewing by hoisting it in the public imaginary as a signifier of bourgeoisie lifestyle. As far as the built landscape is concerned like in the case of the mall, even multiplexes, in the social realm, function as divisive structures of class contestation and conscious agents of social stratification. These built forms function as homogeneous units of the rich by enabling the congregation of the gentry and exclusion of the poor. Also within themselves they maintain a hierarchy and divide the affluent class by creating stratification among the high-income group both inside the auditorium through the seating arrangement as well as in the overall targeting of specific audience groups. Like malls, the fortification and security system of the multiplex successfully insulates the premise against contamination by the lower income groups. Also by maintaining high ticket rates in comparison to the traditional single cinema hall, and making them unaffordable for the lower income groups these exhibition centers have succeeded in keeping the unwanted poor out of the glitzy premises, making cinema entertainment the privilege of the affluent consumer class. As for regulating the inflow of those who can afford the high prices, the same strategy is adopted by the multiplexes as malls of choosing their location according to the type of audience they seek to target. Also by dividing seats into different categories, for different classes and fixing different ticket prices for these, according to the affordability of each class, these theatres maintain class hierarchies inside the auditorium. This system was prevalent even in the traditional single screen cinema hall. However, the difference now is that the current system creates divisions even amongst the gentries. The most recent intervention in this regard can be seen in the new kind of hierarchiasing amongst the elites in the multiplexes today with the creation of exclusive lounges for the upper class audience. These lounges have a separate entry and exit enabling absolute seclusion of the patrons of this section from the rest of the audience. The tickets for these seats are exorbitant ranging from five hundred to eight hundred rupees. Hence one sees that as a hind side of the process of maximizing consumption, new trends are emerging to build hierarchies amongst the elite through spatial segregation, also enabling super elites to lead and flaunt extravagant lifestyles. Now in the built landscape of Ghaziabad a definite pattern can be discerned in the spatial layout of the exhibition spaces in the region, which is produced by and hence also reflective of the socio-political dynamics of urban planning. The locational arrangement of these built forms like the malls mirrors the socio-economic condition of the area. Big formats are located in the elite neighborhoods, smaller ones in the fringe areas and near lower middle class neighborhoods and the single screen cinema halls are in the old development area catering to only the lower income groups. I will now delineate a sketchy outline of the exhibition patterns of the cinema theatres in Ghaziabad to reveal the underlying logic of exhibition with an aim to illustrate the divisionary role of exhibition centers in the socio-economic realm. In the past four years, Ghaziabad has witnessed a rapid proliferation of exhibition spaces, as multiplexes have mushroomed up in the area under the Ghaziabad development scheme of providing adequate commercial recreation to the new population brought to the area by the real estate sector. This explosion has primarily occurred under the new government entertainment policy regime to provide tax exemption for five years to multiplex projects and also due to the cheaper land rates of the region as compared to the downtown and other areas of the NCR. Thus it becomes a viable option for developers to set up projects in the outskirt regions, as land rates in the central city is so high that even reasonable commercial returns never adequately make up for the huge investment costs. At present there are in total fourteen multiplexes in Ghaziabad, and several others in the pipeline, creating a congested scenario with 5 multiplexes, PVR cinemas, Adlab/Imax Pacific Mall, Adlab Ansal Plaza, Wave and Fun Cinema, situated within a 6 km radius , and six more under construction within the same area. In a situation where supply is fast exceeding demand, there is stiff intercentre competition between these multiplexes with only the big format multiplexes flourishing and the smaller ones already making huge losses. The Ghaziabad cinema theatres may be broadly classified into three categories based on location and the class of audience that the theatres target and cater to. The first category includes the high profile multiplexes that largely target the elite population. The Adlab theatre in Ansal Plaza, Adlab with Imax theatre in Pacific Mall, Jam Shipra in Shipra Mall, MMX and PVR Plaza in EDM belong to this category. Situated in the traffic zones of the new development area and close to elite neighborhoods, these four are the most successfully running theatres . Mainly because of the combo format of mall come multiplex, these theatres incur the maximum footfall as compared to solo multiplexes. Since in the combo format the multiplex shares its identity with the mall, by virtue of sharing the same complex, the mall significantly determines the success rates and type of crowd coming to the multiplex. People's preference for a particular multiplex is to a great degree based on their liking for the mall, since in most cases, a visit to the theatre often also entails a tour of the mall . Also since the Shopping mall cinema theatre draws a large part of its clientele from the shopping crowd, so therefore the type of crowd, which the mall attracts, is also the type of crowd that the multiplex must settle for. Hence the success of Jam Shipra and its elite clientele may be seen as caused due the general high consumer traffic of the mall and the mall's capacity to attract the elite population of Indirapuram, Vaishali and Kaushambi. Similarly EDM's general popularity with the lesser elite ensures a good profit for the PVR cinemas as it draws a big crowd by catering to the lesser affluent class of consumers of the new development area of Ghaziabad. However within their own limited capacity, shopping mall cinema theatres try to function more autonomously despite the dependency on the mall, to create their own audience type, in some cases like PVR EDM, even different from the mall's shopping crowd. Ticket range, promotional schemes and advertising strategies are the means by which multiplex theatres tend to attract and regulate audience configuration. For instance the PVR cinemas in EDM claims to target an assorted audience comprising of the lower middle class which comes from the mall crowd, and also the higher class population by advertising its brand value and hiking ticket prices. The youth crowd is generally given a low priority in these theatres which prefer to have more of a family audience, primarily because 'indecent' behavior of young couples spoils the ambiance in these places which also deters other kinds of audience from coming to the theatre due to the 'lewd' environment. Hence special measures are taken to keep the two-audience type separated. Morning shows are reserved specifically for the youth crowd, as the show timings do not suit the working patrons and housewives. The ticket rates for these shows are lower than the other shows so as to induce the youth crowd to come for these shows. By providing them with special incentives, the upper class gentries are targeted for the evening shows. For eg, apart from the usual snack bars, these theatres also have play ground spaces with sitters where parents can leave their kids and enjoy the film in peace. PVR EDM offers special kid care provisions during the Sunday evening shows comprising of dim lighting in the hall so that babies are not scared of the dark and can sleep peacefully, nappy changing facilities, kid playing zone in the cafeteria area. JAM Shipra has a separate U Kids zone, which apart from screening special children movies also has other recreation facilities such as story telling, video games, mazes etc. This provision not only ensures a good family audience but also prevents inconvenience to the audience from children by keeping them out of the auditorium. Platinum and Gold lounges are built in all these theatres to attract the super elites by offering them extravagant treatment for exorbitant prices. These lounges are different from the other auditoriums in offering reclining seats, three-course meal, in house service, and a separate entry and exit. Seemingly modeled on the lines of the ostentatious economy class seats of the flights, following their footsteps, the next thing would probably be to provide massage treatments to the patrons while they are watching the film! PVR Cinemas offer the provision of mobile booking in which case payments have to be made through credit cards. JAM Shipra is also planning to offer provisions for online ticket booking. Hence one sees that the exhibition patterns are taking a direction, which seeks to cater to and suit only the most affluent classes. Gentrification may be said to be taking place on a higher lever as it were. The second category of theatres comprises of smaller format multiplexes-the solo multiplexes, i.e the ones not allied to malls and those with only a few retail showrooms inside the same complex. SM World, Fun Cinemas, Silver City, M4U, Movie Palace, Movie World, Wave, Galaxy, and AEZ fall within this category. Most of these i.e apart from Wave Kaushambi and AEZ, are not located close to the elite neighborhoods, and therefore cater to mostly a lower middle class population. In comparison to the shopping mall multiplexes, which are in proximity to elite neighborhoods and target audiences specifically from within a radius of 5 km, these other multiplexes attempt to obtain a wider catchment area and target all classes and especially the lower middle class since the upper classes are already divided between the big formats. The solo multiplexes are facing stiff competition from the Shopping Mall multiplexes and have lost most of the upper class patrons to them. To keep the lower middle class patrons from getting similarly deflected, these multiplexes have considerably lowered their ticket rates. As a result they are barely able to avail much profit since the little return that they get goes in meeting equipment maintenance, housekeeping and security charges . The multiplexes in the border areas, such as Movie World, and those away from the Shopping mall multiplexes, such as Galaxy, Silver City are in a still better position, while those in the new development area close to the Mall-Multiplexes, like Wave Kaushambi and AEZ are the worst affected. The story of the single screen cinema halls is even more deplorable as slowly these are getting extinct unable to cope with the onslaught of new exhibition forms. All of these are located in the old development area of Ghaziabad as they were the first few entertainment centers in the area. Vasant, Urvashi, Manohar, Apsara, Star, Navrang, Pawan, Choudhary, Manochitralek belong to this category. Urvashi closed down in 2006 and Pawan and Choudhary in 2005. The rest are teetering with losses and in a few years these remaining theatres are expected to close down as well. The government in sharp contrast to its attitude towards the multiplexes is rather hostile and unsympathetic towards the situation of these old theatres. In fact the governmental schemes are favoring and aiding the process of 'cleansing', by giving incentives to old theatres to reconvert into multiplexes. Choudhary for eg, is being broken down and rebuilt into a multiplex. The reason as stated by the Entertainment Officer of the Ghaziabad Entertainment Department, is that the entertainment revenue from the multiplexes is much more as compared to single screen theatres. There is also a non-economic cause for this discrimination. Town Planner of GDA, Mr S.C Gaur, expressed his approval of the changing scenario by stating that cinema exhibition in its traditional form had been more of a problem than a source of revenue for the government. As there were specific non-parrallel show timings in single screen halls, when the show broke, the sudden rampage of audience crowd created traffic problem near the market areas. Since the multiplexes are more 'organized', providing their own parking areas and since security concerns are also taken care of by the multiplex management, so it saves much trouble for the government. Also Mr S.C Gaur commented that 'thanks to the multiplexes, theatres are being cleared of the uncouth miscreants who were responsible for the bad image of cinema theatres'. Hence also for its new 'gentry' look, multiplexes seem to incur state favor. As a result, the old cinema theatres of Ghaziabad are in a state of decay. As they have lost their earlier middle class and lower middle class audience, who are now catered by the solo multiplexes, these theatres now cater to the labour class population. Ticket rates are therefore maintained within a cheap range. Vasant has the highest ticket rates amongst these theatres- 40/-, 25/- and 15/- for balcony, dress circle and front circle respectively. Star, Navrang and Apsara offer the cheapest prices- 8/- and 10/- in Star and Navrang and 6/- and 12/- in Apsara. As the ticket prices are so low, the owners are hardly able to afford distribution and print costs of the A grade films. Vasant is still able to show one or two A grade films a month but largely restricts to B category films. The others can only afford C grade films. Sometimes these theatres also screen Blue films to attract crowd and if caught are debarred of license. Navrang had to close down for a fortnight in the month of June for this reason. In the public realm these theatres are seen as unsafe and 'immoral' spaces much like the theatres of Nigeria that Brian Larkin has written on. They have an ominous identity in the public imaginary. The lower middle class people refrain from entering these spaces and women keep away from their shadows even. But what is important to understand is that these spaces were not always like this. The labor classes frequented these theatres even before, but the standard of films shown were not bad. The gentry shun these spaces due to their present 'illicit' nature, but it must also be acknowledged that it is them who are responsibile in for the present degradation of these spaces. From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 26 20:54:38 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:24:38 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: Fwd: Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Message-ID: <157058.94715.qm@web56802.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:15 PM Subject: Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Hello everyone. In this post I will brief you on some of my experiences, in the past 2-3 months, while on this project Over the past few weeks I have travelled to some of the places where secondhand bookshops/stalls are located and met up with a few old time passionate buyers and also some older residents of the city to get a sense of their experiences of these shops. During the time that I started out I came to know of a second-hand book exhibition at a book store called OM book store . I promptly journeyed to the bookstore located at what felt like the farthest end of the city at a place called Jeedimetla. To my surprise I found an exhibition of Christian devotional books, laid out quite in the jumble sale fashion, under a tent outside the bookstore, and quite a number of people browsing through the wares accompanied by soft lilting devotional music and a well dressed smiling girl moving around offering customers cups of orange drinks. A little doubt crept up my mind, do religious book seconds count as second hand books? But the journey had been too long to turn back without taking a good look around. As a Christian myself I felt that if not for the sake of the project at least for my personal satisfaction I would find some thing useful. I found a wide variety of books not just hymn books, prayer books and metal DEFANGED.13757> ---------- Forwarded message ----------jacket dented bibles but also a whole range of lifestyle books; on depression, teenage, coping with terrorism, on pregnancy and other 'trying periods' of human life, of course the common denominator here was that all books had a religious bent to their solutions for these day to day problems. There were other books on crafts, children's story books, activities for Easter Christmas etc. Some of the books clearly were used books , others were difficult to classify as they were in quite a good condition. I decided to have a chat with the bookshop owner but was told that he was away so I wandered around into a large go down like area behind the store and was taken aback by the complete contrast to the scene of the exhibition outside, before me was the scene of a number of helper boys engaged in unpacking huge cartons of books, packing other cartons and the whole place had the urgency, and organised atmosphere of a general production environment. As I walked into the go down the heads belonging to the constantly moving hands turned around, eyebrows were raised quizzing, a courteous helper however did direct me to a glass cabin amidst the piles of cartons; I am not sure I would not have spotted it otherwise. The name plate announced The stores manager and I was ushered into the presence of Mr Kunju, who insisted on being called 'kunju uncle' as he explained everyone called him there. He turned out to be willing to help in more than one way. and started out in the direction I most dreaded- a thanksgiving ode to God for all that he and his family had received , however I did manage to get some crucial insights into the business. Amidst his rhetoric on the wonderful ways of God he managed to share his knowledge about the working of the shop and what I later discovered is the larger chain of shops and the ongoing exhibition. It turned out that most of the books in the exhibition had arrived from foreign countries like the US where people sponsored the printing and export of these books to countries like India, Africa etc for the benefit of Christians here who could not afford to buy these at their original prices. And what do they do with these books once the exhibition wound up? He explained that these books also constantly travelled across the country to different exhibitions etc till they were totally exhausted (in response to my query he added that it was rare that a book would not be sold at least one of their centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Goa etc). I found this method of dealing with excesses interesting. It also, as I will explain in my later posts, offers an insight to how the overflow of print material is tackled by some businesses dealing with these. Interestingly I found that they had also tried to send their wares to the pavement booksellers at Koti, Abids etc( we will explore these in detail later) but found that they did not sell very well there. Why? Because these kinds of books, devotional, with a religiously bent etc, attracted customers through word of mouth publicity. These two insights into import of the books and the differential selling methods of different categories of books turned out to be very useful in my actual interest in the second hand book trade. I had been right about my hunch on the usefulness on this shop. The book trade after all has to have some similarities as it deals with the same goods. As I later found out many of the Second-hand bookshops like Bestbooks etc operated in quite a similar fashion. The cycle of; Imports of rejected books from US etc- sifting at warehouses-setting up of exhibitions etc were replicated sans the religious colour in other seconds book businesses also. We will explore some of these businesses individually later. My next post follows this. [Visit to the exhibition at OM books( now rechristened STL(Send The Light Books)and Interview with 'Kunju Uncle' conducted on April 15th,2007] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ____________________________________________________________________________________ Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/dbf4bf48/attachment-0004.html -------------- next part -------------- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:15 PM Subject: Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 2/ The Second hand Book Stalls of Hyderabad Hello everyone. In this post I will brief you on some of my experiences, in the past 2-3 months, while on this project Over the past few weeks I have travelled to some of the places where secondhand bookshops/stalls are located and met up with a few old time passionate buyers and also some older residents of the city to get a sense of their experiences of these shops. During the time that I started out I came to know of a second-hand book exhibition at a book store called OM book store . I promptly journeyed to the bookstore located at what felt like the farthest end of the city at a place called Jeedimetla. To my surprise I found an exhibition of Christian devotional books, laid out quite in the jumble sale fashion, under a tent outside the bookstore, and quite a number of people browsing through the wares accompanied by soft lilting devotional music and a well dressed smiling girl moving around offering customers cups of orange drinks. A little doubt crept up my mind, do religious book seconds count as second hand books? But the journey had been too long to turn back without taking a good look around. As a Christian myself I felt that if not for the sake of the project at least for my personal satisfaction I would find some thing useful. I found a wide variety of books not just hymn books, prayer books and metal jacket dented bibles but also a whole range of lifestyle books; on depression, teenage, coping with terrorism, on pregnancy and other 'trying periods' of human life, of course the common denominator here was that all books had a religious bent to their solutions for these day to day problems. There were other books on crafts, children's story books, activities for Easter Christmas etc. Some of the books clearly were used books , others were difficult to classify as they were in quite a good condition. I decided to have a chat with the bookshop owner but was told that he was away so I wandered around into a large go down like area behind the store and was taken aback by the complete contrast to the scene of the exhibition outside, before me was the scene of a number of helper boys engaged in unpacking huge cartons of books, packing other cartons and the whole place had the urgency, and organised atmosphere of a general production environment. As I walked into the go down the heads belonging to the constantly moving hands turned around, eyebrows were raised quizzing, a courteous helper however did direct me to a glass cabin amidst the piles of cartons; I am not sure I would not have spotted it otherwise. The name plate announced The stores manager and I was ushered into the presence of Mr Kunju, who insisted on being called 'kunju uncle' as he explained everyone called him there. He turned out to be willing to help in more than one way. and started out in the direction I most dreaded- a thanksgiving ode to God for all that he and his family had received , however I did manage to get some crucial insights into the business. Amidst his rhetoric on the wonderful ways of God he managed to share his knowledge about the working of the shop and what I later discovered is the larger chain of shops and the ongoing exhibition. It turned out that most of the books in the exhibition had arrived from foreign countries like the US where people sponsored the printing and export of these books to countries like India, Africa etc for the benefit of Christians here who could not afford to buy these at their original prices. And what do they do with these books once the exhibition wound up? He explained that these books also constantly travelled across the country to different exhibitions etc till they were totally exhausted (in response to my query he added that it was rare that a book would not be sold at least one of their centres at Delhi, Mumbai, Goa etc). I found this method of dealing with excesses interesting. It also, as I will explain in my later posts, offers an insight to how the overflow of print material is tackled by some businesses dealing with these. Interestingly I found that they had also tried to send their wares to the pavement booksellers at Koti, Abids etc( we will explore these in detail later) but found that they did not sell very well there. Why? Because these kinds of books, devotional, with a religiously bent etc, attracted customers through word of mouth publicity. These two insights into import of the books and the differential selling methods of different categories of books turned out to be very useful in my actual interest in the second hand book trade. I had been right about my hunch on the usefulness on this shop. The book trade after all has to have some similarities as it deals with the same goods. As I later found out many of the Second-hand bookshops like Bestbooks etc operated in quite a similar fashion. The cycle of; Imports of rejected books from US etc- sifting at warehouses-setting up of exhibitions etc were replicated sans the religious colour in other seconds book businesses also. We will explore some of these businesses individually later. My next post follows this. [Visit to the exhibition at OM books( now rechristened STL(Send The Light Books)and Interview with 'Kunju Uncle' conducted on April 15th,2007] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/dbf4bf48/attachment-0005.html From cugambetta at yahoo.com Thu Jul 26 20:54:59 2007 From: cugambetta at yahoo.com (Curt Gambetta) Date: Thu, 26 Jul 2007 08:24:59 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Fw: Fwd: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. Message-ID: <368673.5451.qm@web56801.mail.re3.yahoo.com> From: alice samson To: cugambetta at yahoo.com Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 3:21:52 PM Subject: Fwd: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:22 PM Subject: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad Buyers. While on the one hand I have spent a considerable amount of time hunting out various kinds of Second-hand book markets and shops in Hyderabad I have also simultaneously interviewed a number of buyers/collectors/aficionados (can someone supply me with a word for a passionate second-hand book buyer!!). My conversations with some old time residents of Hyderabad like, prof.Javeed Alam, revealed that in his time inspite of being a student in the city his modest inheritance had ensured that he never went to the pavement sellers of second- hand books nor had he shopped for textbooks etc at the Koti seconds shops. Instead he would frequent the rare, antique bookstores in the area close to the bangles bazaar at Charminar where he picked up expensive, rare books for his collection. As Mr Prashant Iyengar in responding to my first post pointed out and Javeed's account confirms,the profile of the second hand book book buyer seems to include a crucial class factor. There are others like Ms Chitra (name changed) who works for an NGO in the city that provides educational services for children and has been a frequent visitor of the bookshops like Bestbook store at Tilak road, Abids; which stocks a phenomenal number of Second-hand books stacked all around the floor of the shop with just enough space to squeeze past. Chitra has a special interest in children's books both for her NGO and her personal interest and frequently requests the shop owner to get her larger quantities of these. Her requests are always met with the same answer that it is impossible to ask for specific books to be brought in. The modus operandi of these shops is not conducive to large quantities of specific requests. We will dwell a little more on the exact modes of operation of the second hand book trade, however Chitra's experience hints at the fact that the element of chance plays a very big role in not only purchase but also procurement for the DEFANGED.72> ----- Forwarded Message ----sellers. . Chitra has been in the city since childhood and remembers some markets like the Koti second hand text book market as being there for over two decades. Chitra sifts through the secondhand book shops on the lookout for childrens books and teaching materials. A frequent visitor of Best Books at Tilak Road, Lakdikapul and the quite frequent Best Books exhibition stall at Y.M.C.A, she finds a lot of books utterly useless to her amongst these are; hoards of Novels, Health books; largely on how to handle pregnancies etc, cookery books; Chitra finds them ridiculous because most of them deal with baking and preparation of non-vegetarian dishes, mostly using ingredients hard to come by here sometimes she also spots a couple of books suitable to Indian styles of cooking, books on crafts activities; again useless as materials are hard to procure in India, outdated computer books, books on Science and accounting, however amidst these she says she always manages to find something of interest to her at a fabulous bargain price; Disney books that cost Rs 450 at the retail shop 3 kms from Best; Himalaya Book Stores, can be picked up for as low as 90-100 at the Best books Shop. Moreover Chitra, adds gleefully, many a time she manages to convince the seller to settle for an even lower price. Chitra rates the price as usually being about 1/4th of the original cost. She has even managed to convince the Best Books seller to buy back his own books at ½ the price he sells it to her but he won't accept books from other seconds sellers. There is also a method behind the seeming madness in the variety of books and a very important change in the working of this business from the traditional methods of functioning of the second hand book trade. In subsequent posts I will give you a detailed account of the interesting way in which this trade now operates Chitra also filled me in on another very different experience of shopping for second hand books at the pavements of Abids and Koti in Hyderabad. Today a drive past Koti inevitably draws our attention to an absence ,even to a newcomer in the city, the graffiti on the walls outside Koti women's college announce such things Prakash books Shifted to Shop number 516 Gokul Arcade And a hundred other such pointers to the new addresses of the displaced old shops. As Chitra and others told me the pavement that is now barren, with only the graffiti pointing to, what had become something the city had grown around. It was hardly the shops that were the cause of congestion or nuisance that were the reasons cited behind their removal. They were small shops, remembers Chitra, maybe slightly bigger than a pan shop, propped against the compound wall of the women's college, stacked with text books reference materials etc from floor to ceiling and more books fighting for space on the counter. Hundreds of students came to these shops from the Women's college and the nearby Arts College as well as the schools located nearby and at other places in the city. Seema recalls her school days in Hyderabad when these shops were the succour for many poor students, children from families with many children for whom books were unaffordable, people who wanted to read to make a better lives for themselves etc. Though the shops have been provided an alternative location, many feel that they are not what they used to be. People like Chitra feel there has not been any significant reduction in congestion as the area itself is like that with schools, colleges, cart sellers etc all-jostling for space. The need for a space that makes books easily available and affordable is clearly felt. Chitra feels that this is also an excellent way to promote the reading habit. Until the next post… [ Interview were conducted with Ms Chitra on 10th July, 2007 and prof Javeed on multiple occassions in June] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ps. Thank you Mr Prashant Iyengar and Basscom Guffin for sharing your experiences at these book shops and in Hyderabad. It would be extremely useful if others also can share their experiences at these shops in other cities and in Hyderabad. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/036cc10e/attachment-0004.html -------------- next part -------------- ---------- Forwarded message ---------- From: alice samson Date: Jul 19, 2007 8:22 PM Subject: Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad. To: urbanstudygroup at sarai.net Post 3/ The Second Hand book stalls of Hyderabad Buyers. While on the one hand I have spent a considerable amount of time hunting out various kinds of Second-hand book markets and shops in Hyderabad I have also simultaneously interviewed a number of buyers/collectors/aficionados (can someone supply me with a word for a passionate second-hand book buyer!!). My conversations with some old time residents of Hyderabad like, prof.Javeed Alam, revealed that in his time inspite of being a student in the city his modest inheritance had ensured that he never went to the pavement sellers of second- hand books nor had he shopped for textbooks etc at the Koti seconds shops. Instead he would frequent the rare, antique bookstores in the area close to the bangles bazaar at Charminar where he picked up expensive, rare books for his collection. As Mr Prashant Iyengar in responding to my first post pointed out and Javeed's account confirms,the profile of the second hand book book buyer seems to include a crucial class factor. There are others like Ms Chitra (name changed) who works for an NGO in the city that provides educational services for children and has been a frequent visitor of the bookshops like Bestbook store at Tilak road, Abids; which stocks a phenomenal number of Second-hand books stacked all around the floor of the shop with just enough space to squeeze past. Chitra has a special interest in children's books both for her NGO and her personal interest and frequently requests the shop owner to get her larger quantities of these. Her requests are always met with the same answer that it is impossible to ask for specific books to be brought in. The modus operandi of these shops is not conducive to large quantities of specific requests. We will dwell a little more on the exact modes of operation of the second hand book trade, however Chitra's experience hints at the fact that the element of chance plays a very big role in not only purchase but also procurement for the sellers. . Chitra has been in the city since childhood and remembers some markets like the Koti second hand text book market as being there for over two decades. Chitra sifts through the secondhand book shops on the lookout for childrens books and teaching materials. A frequent visitor of Best Books at Tilak Road, Lakdikapul and the quite frequent Best Books exhibition stall at Y.M.C.A, she finds a lot of books utterly useless to her amongst these are; hoards of Novels, Health books; largely on how to handle pregnancies etc, cookery books; Chitra finds them ridiculous because most of them deal with baking and preparation of non-vegetarian dishes, mostly using ingredients hard to come by here sometimes she also spots a couple of books suitable to Indian styles of cooking, books on crafts activities; again useless as materials are hard to procure in India, outdated computer books, books on Science and accounting, however amidst these she says she always manages to find something of interest to her at a fabulous bargain price; Disney books that cost Rs 450 at the retail shop 3 kms from Best; Himalaya Book Stores, can be picked up for as low as 90-100 at the Best books Shop. Moreover Chitra, adds gleefully, many a time she manages to convince the seller to settle for an even lower price. Chitra rates the price as usually being about 1/4th of the original cost. She has even managed to convince the Best Books seller to buy back his own books at ½ the price he sells it to her but he won't accept books from other seconds sellers. There is also a method behind the seeming madness in the variety of books and a very important change in the working of this business from the traditional methods of functioning of the second hand book trade. In subsequent posts I will give you a detailed account of the interesting way in which this trade now operates Chitra also filled me in on another very different experience of shopping for second hand books at the pavements of Abids and Koti in Hyderabad. Today a drive past Koti inevitably draws our attention to an absence ,even to a newcomer in the city, the graffiti on the walls outside Koti women's college announce such things Prakash books Shifted to Shop number 516 Gokul Arcade And a hundred other such pointers to the new addresses of the displaced old shops. As Chitra and others told me the pavement that is now barren, with only the graffiti pointing to, what had become something the city had grown around. It was hardly the shops that were the cause of congestion or nuisance that were the reasons cited behind their removal. They were small shops, remembers Chitra, maybe slightly bigger than a pan shop, propped against the compound wall of the women's college, stacked with text books reference materials etc from floor to ceiling and more books fighting for space on the counter. Hundreds of students came to these shops from the Women's college and the nearby Arts College as well as the schools located nearby and at other places in the city. Seema recalls her school days in Hyderabad when these shops were the succour for many poor students, children from families with many children for whom books were unaffordable, people who wanted to read to make a better lives for themselves etc. Though the shops have been provided an alternative location, many feel that they are not what they used to be. People like Chitra feel there has not been any significant reduction in congestion as the area itself is like that with schools, colleges, cart sellers etc all-jostling for space. The need for a space that makes books easily available and affordable is clearly felt. Chitra feels that this is also an excellent way to promote the reading habit. Until the next post… [ Interview were conducted with Ms Chitra on 10th July, 2007 and prof Javeed on multiple occassions in June] Alice Samson C.I.E.F.L, Hyderabad alicesamson at gmail.com ps. Thank you Mr Prashant Iyengar and Basscom Guffin for sharing your experiences at these book shops and in Hyderabad. It would be extremely useful if others also can share their experiences at these shops in other cities and in Hyderabad. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070726/036cc10e/attachment-0005.html From vpjain28 at rediffmail.com Sat Jul 28 10:23:02 2007 From: vpjain28 at rediffmail.com (Ved Prakash Jain) Date: 28 Jul 2007 04:53:02 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Noise Pollution Message-ID: <20070728045302.24398.qmail@webmail36.rediffmail.com> A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-2955 Size: 6509 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070728/52595169/attachment-0002.bin -------------- next part -------------- Dear Friend, Recently, the Supreme Court has reprimanded the civic authorities for allowing traders and hawkers encroaching and occupying footpaths, causing great sufferings to pedestrians. But the courts also need to book other culprits: Delhi has more than one lakh places of worship, invariably encroaching on public land, including footpaths and, in some cases, also roads (please go to the links). Not only these structures are illegal and above law, but also serve as platforms for fundamentalist and obscurantist activities. What is most disgusting is that they are a big source of noise pollution, disturbing peace and causing sleep related problems (socially produced suffering). They encroach on pavements which blocks footpaths, the sufferer being the pedestrians who are forced to walk on the roads along with the traffic with all the risk it entails. And, of course, will find a place in guinea book for blaring auditory hells in almost every neighborhood: generate noise continually (from early morning to mid night) from chimes and bells (often exceeding 100 db) which is highly irritating and disturbs the peace of the residents. These structures even spill on to the roads and, as road blocks, often cause traffic jams. When the traffic becomes chaotic, the frustration of the motorists finds its outlet in mad honking of the horns, raising the noise level to menacing heights. The law which prohibits noise only from 10PM. to 6 AM. needs to be widened in scope. we should bear in mind that the age of homogeneous working hours is long past and every body can not observe the golden rule of “early to bed and early to rise”. With the World becoming a global village, the concept of day and night has ceased to be a local affair: People work in Delhi, for example, in call centers not because it is day time in Delhi but because it is day time in America. Moreover. All kinds of incentive schemes like night surfing and mobile talk encourage people to work late hours in the night. In a significant judgment the Supreme Court has ruled: “undisputedly, no religion prescribes that prayers should be performed by disturbing the peace of others, nor does it preach that that they should be through sound producing instruments in the name of religion in a civilized society.” In-spite of the constant refrain from various authorities, the MCD, the DDA and even the Honb’l Supreme Court not to tolerate encroachment of public land, they defy the demolition squad with impunity. Further, in all the residential colonies pavements and roads are used for car parking leaving no room for pedestrians to walk. The issue needs to be addressed in the right perspective. Regards, V.P.Jain Reader (Retd), Department of Economics, School of Open Learning, University of Delhi. Link: http://www.scribd.com/people/view/6506 http://www.scribd.com/doc/35903/SEZ Please forward it to a friend From elkamath at yahoo.com Sat Jul 28 20:08:48 2007 From: elkamath at yahoo.com (lalitha kamath) Date: Sat, 28 Jul 2007 07:38:48 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Consolidating ideology in law? Legal and judicial reform programmes at the World Bank Message-ID: <136809.43782.qm@web53601.mail.re2.yahoo.com> From the Bretton Woods Project website: Consolidating ideology in law? Legal and judicial reform programmes at the World Bank The World Bank has vastly increased the resources it commits to good governance, with a large portion of that going to a complex and under-researched area: legal and judicial reform. Researcher Victoria Harris explores how the Bank uses such reforms to cement in place its preferred market-based development paradigm. http://brettonwoodsproject.org/legalreformatissue ____________________________________________________________________________________ Choose the right car based on your needs. Check out Yahoo! Autos new Car Finder tool. http://autos.yahoo.com/carfinder/ -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070728/c9570daa/attachment-0002.html From rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in Sun Jul 29 23:02:24 2007 From: rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in (raju jadhav) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:32:24 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting One Message-ID: <383794.99800.qm@web94008.mail.in2.yahoo.com> My self Sangita Chandu Thosar , I have completed my post graduation in political science From S.P. College Pune. Presently I am doing M. Phil from Yashwantrao Chavan Open University the topic is “ POLITICAL LEADERSHIP OF DALIT WOMEN IN PUNE– A DALIT FEMINIST PERSPECTIVE ”. Born in poor dalit family I have spent my childhood in a slum areas. Hence I am witnessing the problems faced by the dalits their harresment at the hands of the corporation officials & works & the police personals. being a part of this society I was organically linked with their sorrows & pains a sort of anger did developed against .the municipality officials & police. while going through these experiences I got enrolled in a well known academic institution called Fergusson .In this period I was introduced to various new things .I got aquented with various individuals & institution working in the social field. got attached personally with number of them .during this period I got connected with SATYASHODHAK VIDYARTHI SANGATHANA ( hence forth S.V.S.). which works on the question of bahujan students & I started working for them. While working in S.V.S. perspective to look at the DALIT BAHUJAN questions did develop .In this period S.V.S. published a book right to love & the question of violence ,written by Dr. Sharmila Rege.it was about the problem of one sided love affairs & the murders of young girls committed in Maharashtra them by publishing this S.V.S. tried to reach to the college youngsters with a value of man – woman equality in doing these activities with S.V.S. I starkly realized the realities about women subordination & the functioning of patriarchy .Though aquented with women questions earlier but now I realized the problem of patriarchy which is at the root of all this in general during the college days I stated reaching the problems like exploitation & subordination of woman and through S.V.S. I started fighting against it. For a year I worked with a pune based organization which is working with the waste picker women it gave me an opportunity to work with the waste picker women directly .which provided valuable insight to the lives of these women who are I got a glimpse of the life of these women who belong to the weakest and most exploited section. Of the society .this ‘ glimpse ’ gave a stark realization that situation of these women is like living hell .These women are primarily related to dalit castes. After toiling the whole day these women manage to earn merge amounts . still they are looked upon with suspicion .at home these women have to face beating ,abuse and suspicion of their husband (who are in many cases alcoholics and unemployed ) in the outside world she has to face exploitation on account of caste where as on the domestic front she is a victim of patriarchy .Even her hard earned money is taken away. These terrible experiences shattered me and made me realize the diverse nature of exploitation of women the romantic notion that ‘women are the same across the different strata of society’ dissolved completely. because of the hierarchical caste system even the subordination & exploitation of women is varied in India after reading Mahatma Phule I realized it even more major discourses in the political & soual spheres in India started after the coming of Mandal commission .Commission recommended for a 27 % reservation for the O.B.C. T he O.B.C.’s forms a major lot of the overall Indian population .recommendations of Mandal commission generated political awareness among the OBC’s to fulfill the political ambitions OBC especially the influential castes entered the parliamentary politics. this helped to expand the boundary of parliamentary. democracy. however these discussion and actions were limited to men women who are weaker and more exploited in the present social hierarchy continued to remain on the periphery of parliamentary democracy. in spite of their empowerment being discussed at so many for a. in comparison to other countries India still lays behind in political representation of women even today .the manner in which women reservation bill is being postponed shows how hollow discussions on women empowerment are. Recently dalit feminist perspective has grabbed attention of the intellectual world. Conventional / Traditional feminist framework has proved to be insufficient to deal with over all exploitation and subordination of Indian women .hence this framework is being rejected on the analytical & movement fronts. Conventional feminist and has remained limits to urban .due to these limitations dalit feminist perspective was put forward .this perspective can address women’s issues more. While finalising the research topic I naturally selected the subject that was close to my heart since post – graduation I have been keen to do research on women’s issues. I chose dalit feminist perspective as a tool to analyses women’s issues as it will give me an opportunity to test if dalit feminist is capable to address women’s issues. For this research topic I have selected pune city and the period of 1995 – 2007 in my opinion this study is essential to understand the nature of women’s representation in the political journey of the urban center like pune. --------------------------------- Once upon a time there was 1 GB storage in your inbox. Click here for happy ending. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070729/e7be30af/attachment-0002.html From mayurisamant at yahoo.com Sun Jul 29 23:11:06 2007 From: mayurisamant at yahoo.com (mayuri samant) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:41:06 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting Two- Media Representation Message-ID: <383247.15542.qm@web51907.mail.re2.yahoo.com> In my second posting I am trying to explore the role that media and especially print media played in this whole issue of desecration of statue and the kind of violent reaction that it received by Dalit masses. Various reactions to the issue of desecration of the statue of Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar in Kanpur took violent turn in all over Maharashtra, which further gave rise to intense debate both among activists and academicians. An important incidence in this chain of events was setting ‘Deccan Queen on fire’1. Almost all the newspapers condemned this event by arguing that, though the anger of Dalit masses is justified the kind of reaction that they gave can not be justified on any grounds. It is interesting to recall a kind of scenario that was there at the time of Gujarat riots. At that time almost all the news papers filled their columns with articles in which the out dated Newtonian principles of action- reactions (that is every action has a reaction) were used very conveniently to justify the massacre that victimized Muslim community in Gujarat. Since media is an integral part of the public sphere, this issue of ‘different treatment’ compels us to ask question that ‘how secular is the public sphere’. In other words, these issues tend to show how ‘public’ of some specific caste, community, class and gender has more importance that that of ‘others’. Thus, before going in to further discussion of the issue of collective action let us first discuss the role that these newspapers played in creating the public opinion, which might help us to throw some light on some of the important questions regarding the construction of public opinion in urban spaces with respect to collective action. In modern society media holds a great responsibility towards construction of public opinion. Though today the electronic media has acquired a special importance the print media continues to play a vital role. One of the reasons for this is that even today, in this electronic world, the ‘printed material’ still continues to have great impact on the minds of the people. So, there is a great tendency to accept whatever has been published in the newspapers without enough scrutinizing the same. For instance, often the ‘proof’ of authenticity of any news or event is based on the fact of it being published in newspaper. A common man always uses this to prove his/her point to others because he/she believes that whatever has come up in the newspaper is ‘The Truth’. Apart from this newspapers also work as a pressure group by persistently writing and focusing on particular issue of public interest because of which they are also called the ‘fourth pillar of the democracy’. While taking in to consideration this vital role that newspapers play it is essential to ask the question whether they do justice to this. For instance, it is important to look critically in to how these news papers ‘covered’ that whole incidence of the violent upsurge by Dalit massed not just after the desecration issues but the one that took place also after the event of organized killing of a Dalit family in Khairlanji village of Bhandara district of Maharashtra. In this case they were expected to play the most patient and responsible role. However, if one does a chronological analysis of the news that appeared in different newspapers one can argue that the whole focus of the ‘reporting’ was on the violent upsurge of Dalits and on ‘showing’ how Dalits have become ‘victims of hatred’. The only paper that up held the issue of Khairlanji was ‘Samrat’2. So called mainstream newspapers such as Lokasatta, Maharashtra Times and even Times of India, initially did not even take the notice of the event. But later on they started giving some news regarding Khairlanji occasionally in some ‘corners’. During the course of this time one of the news channels brought ‘breaking news’ of desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar in Kanpur. As the news spread Dalit masses all over Maharashtra expressed their anger through various violent acts. One of the acts that caught the attention of all the newspapers was that they set Deccan Queen on fire near Ulhasnagar, Bombay. But it is important to note that it was done only after making all passengers getting off from the train. So, not a single human calamity took place. Next day it was the headline of almost all the newspapers with the pictures of the burning train covering almost half of the front page. Not just that, but even in the subsequent pages there were articles under very provocative headings such as ‘Queen of Deccan on Fire’ along with the reactions of common people on the whole incidence. One of the leading newspapers in Marathi called Lokasatta gave the picture of burning train with the heading “Anarchy”! All other newspapers including English newspapers emphasized the fact how law and order in the state is now on the verge of collapsing. It is really disturbing that the newspapers, which maintained convenient silence about the brutal murder of a Dalit family, were calling unrest among Dalit masses as anarchy. The main reason behind showing the pictures of burning train was to create an impression that how ‘Dalits have created great problems because of such immaterial issue of desecration of just one statue’. Some newspapers also reported it as the ‘glory of Maharashtra’ getting burnt. Here it is interesting to see for whom it is a glory. It is important to notice that Deccan Queen has always been a symbol of glory only for few upper case/class people of the city of Pune and Mumbai. So, the act of burning of Deccan Queen without causing any human calamity was in a way a symbolic attack on the middle class/upper caste mentality of these two cities who were least bothered about the issues of desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar which meant an insult of not just Dalits but the whole Ambedkarite community in general. Here the attempt is not to justify the violent upsurges which do in a way cause some kind of law and order problem but as a student of social sciences one should be able to politically locate such events in the broader context. It requires asking critical questions such as on what background this upsurge happened, what were the political as well as social factors behind it, can one call this upsurge as ‘anarchy’ or it was a collective reaction given to the deprived and so a secondary status that Dalits have in society. Without dealing with such critical questions the one-sided role that newspapers played really makes one question their ‘unbiased ness’. Though the presence of newspapers like ‘Samrat’ openly advocated the voice of Bahujan Samaj brings some hope the mainstream newspapers continues to represent a higher caste/class voice in the society. 1 The Deccan Queen is an Indian passenger train that connects Mumbai with Pune. It is a daily means of transport for thousands of passengers traveling between the two cities. It is also called ‘Dakkhan chi Rani’ in Marathi, which literally means the Queen of Deccan. 2 Samrat is a Marathi daily newspaper in Maharashtra, which is considered to be representing the voice of Bahujan Samaj, which is considered to be anti-establishment, and so differs radically from other mainstream newspapers. ?? ?? ?? ?? ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/ From rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in Sun Jul 29 23:24:09 2007 From: rajsangitta at yahoo.co.in (raju jadhav) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 18:54:09 +0100 (BST) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting Two-Dalit Feminism Message-ID: <741144.47149.qm@web94006.mail.in2.yahoo.com> In my second posting I attempt to review the debate of Dalit Feminism that has taken place in Maharashtra. Relationship between Dalit and feminist politics is an important issue around which many of the debates of contemporary Dalit politics revolve. The emergence of autonomous Dalit women’s organizations in the 1990s gave rise to a politico-ideological platform called Dalit feminism there by giving rise to an intense debate around the issue of caste and gender and their interrelatedness. The formation of the National Federation of Dalit Women and the All India Dalit Women’s Forum, were seen as the expression of such assertion of autonomous Dalit women’s identity. At the state level, especially in Maharashtra, one can see such organizations forming. Maharashtra Dalit Mahila Sangahatana was formed in 1995; a year earlier the women’s wing of the Bhartiya Republican Party (RPI) and the Bahujan Mahila Sangh had organized the Bahujan Mahila Parishad. In December 1996, at Chandrapur a ‘Vikas Vanchit Dalit Mahila Parishad’ was organized and a proposal for commemorating December 25th (the day Ambedkar set Manusmriti on flames) as ‘Bharatiya Stree Mukti Din as against 8th March, which is celebrated as International Women’s Day, was put forth. There has been a serious debate around the celebration of 25th December as Bharatiya Stree Mukti Divas involving various scholars, mainstream feminists, Dalit feminists, activists from different Dalit political parties, and also Dalit Christians. The Indian Association of Women’s Studies carried out this debate through a special issue that they brought out on the occasion of ‘Bharatiya Stree Mukti Din’ in December 2003. There were various questions raised by this debate. For instance, it was questioned whether there was a need to have another ‘day’ when already 8th March was being celebrated as International Women’s Day; and in this context this move of celebrating 25th December as Indian Women’s Liberation day was seen as ‘divisive’. However, a strand supporting 25th December as Indian Women’s Liberation Day answered this criticism by arguing that declaring 25th December as Indian Women’s Liberation Day was a ‘political statement’ to challenge mainstream feminist politics that, according to them, failed to address the question of caste and consequently that of Dalit women particularly. In this way the major debate around this issue basically dealt with the question of interrelatedness between caste and gender. However, interestingly the issue of religious identity also came in front through these debates. For instance, some Dalit Christian women strongly opposed this move by arguing that it did not take in to account the interest of religious minorities and here that of the Christian community. In other words, according to them, the significance of 25th December (Christmas day) for the Christian community was being sidelined by these Dalit feminist groups who were advocating the need to celebrate it as Indian Women’s Liberation Day. This has challenged the claimed all encompassing character of Dalit feminism there by giving rise to serious debates around the issue of caste, gender and religion and especially around their complex relationship to each other. Further, in 1997 the Christi Mahila Sangharsha Sangahatana, an organization of Dalit Christian women was also founded. Thus, as Sharmila Rege argues, ‘these different organizations have put forth varying non-Brahmanical ideological positions and yet have come together on several issues such as the issue of Bharatiya Stree Mukti Divas (though there are also some opposing positions) and the issue of reservation for OBC women in parliamentary bodies’ (Rege 1998). Further, apart from the debate around this particular issue of celebration of Bharatiya Stree Mukti divas, the emergence of autonomous Dalit women’s organizations in general also gave rise to a debate that raised several issues such as the relationship between Dalit politics and feminist politics. It was started first by Gopal Guru’s essay called ‘Dalit Women Talk Differently’. Different feminist groups organized a series of discussion around the paper in Pune. Alochana – Centre for Research and Documentation on Women in June 1996 also organized a two-day seminar on the same issue. The discussions from the seminar revealed various positions. Through his essay ‘Dalit Women talk Differently’ Guru points to the politics of ‘difference’ which has become a major feature of feminist politics and in which Dalit women today are engaging themselves. With this there has been a general concern for representation of Dalit women both at the level of theory and politics. In the context of this, as Guru argues, Dalit women justify the case of talking differently on the basis of external factors such as non-Dalit forces homogenizing the issue of Dalit women and internal factors such as the patriarchal domination within Dalits (Guru 2003: 81). What he tries to argue here is that, caste blindness of the feminist politics and gender blindness of Dalit politics together has sidelined the interests of Dalit women, who are subjected to the exploitation that takes place due to their particular caste as well as gender status. This specific location of Dalit women has created a necessity for an ideological as well as a political platform for ‘their’ voice, which is ‘different’ from the mainstream feminist as well as Dalit political voices that claim to represent them (Dalit women). Sharmila Rege, although recognizing the importance of naming the differences that emerge out of caste, class, ethnicity etc; and despite agreeing with Guru regarding the specific location of Dalit women and the epistemic privilege that they have due to this location, is highly critical of creating such a category of difference. According to her, it has a limited analytical as well as political significance. She locates the emergence of this category in the context of the alliance between feminism and post structuralism/post-modernism. It is in the period of 1980s-90s that one can witness a shift in feminist thought in terms of the visibility of black and third world feminist work. In spite of this, there is some kind of reluctance on the part of white middle class feminists to confront the challenges posed to them by these black/third world feminists (Rege 1998). And this shedding off the responsibility is justified by creating the category of ‘difference’. In other words, with this a process of division of labor is taking place by which ‘historical tasks’ are being assigned to each and every group. So now confronting racism is the sole responsibility of black women. Thus Rege argues, ‘a commitment to feminist politics demands that such limited political and analytical use of this category of difference be underlined’ (ibid). Similarly, in the Indian context, the invisibility of the lineage of contributions and interventions of women in the non-Brahmin movement has led scholars to perceive the recent autonomous assertion by Dalit women as a different voice. In this context the formation of autonomous Dalit women’s organizations was seen as suggesting ‘one more stand point’ within such framework of difference and that of multiple/plural stand points. Rege is particularly critical of this kind of formulation. She is arguing that we need a shift in the focus from just naming the differences and multiple voices to the social relations, which will convert these differences in to a stand point. Thus, in my view, Rege is arguing for an objective stand point stemming from subjective experience. This kind of formulation clearly attacks the marking of separate epistemic territories, which is implied in the formulation of multiple stand points based on ‘difference’. Thus, in Rege’s formulation there is a journey from subjectivity to objectivity. In other words, the Dalit feminist stand point that she formulates, though it stems from the subjective experience of Dalit women and though it acknowledges the epistemic privilege that Dalit women have due to their specific location in the socio-political structure, it (this formulation) takes a form of objective epistemological position which is ‘available’ to non-Dalit feminists. In this sense it is constructive i.e. it can be cultivated and it is not dependent on birth. Thus, according to Rege, this Dalit feminist stand point proves to be emancipatory and calls for a revolutionary epistemological shift. Though she is calling it ‘Dalit feminist stand point’ she is careful in not attaching any essentialist, homogenous character to it. As she argues, ‘it is obvious that the subject/agent of Dalit women’s stand point is multiple, heterogeneous even contradictory, i. e. the category of ‘Dalit women’ is not homogeneous- such a recognition underlines the fact that the subject of Dalit feminist libratory knowledge must also be the subject of every other libratory project and this requires a sharp focus on the processes by which gender, race, class, caste, sexuality-all construct each other. Thus, we agree that the Dalit feminist stand point itself is open to libratory interrogations and revisions’ (ibid). Chhaya Datar has responded to Sharmila Rege’s comprehensive efforts to formulate a Dalit stand point by asking ‘is it a more emancipatory force?’ (Datar 1998); though she appreciates Rege’s efforts to chart in comprehensive manner the recent history of Dalit women’s movement and its theorization in Maharashtra. Her first contention is that Rege while placing the contemporary feminist debate within the narrow framework of feminist versus post-modernist streams, tends to overlook another vibrant stream called Ecofeminism which according to Datar does focus on caste and gender based oppression of Dalit women, particularly when women are losing their livelihood in the rural areas because of displacement and environmental destruction. Thus what Datar argues is that Dalit feminist stand point can not become a superior stand point; instead it merely helps inform the liberatory knowledge of other movements to expand their scope and richness. Apart from these responses there were also other responses by feminist scholars and activists like Kiran Moghe, Vidyut Bhagwat and Pratima Paradeshi. As Moghe argues, the left party based women’s organizations have viewed the emergence of autonomous women’s organizations as ‘setting up separate hearth’ (Moghe 1996; cited in Rege 1998). Thus, she is critical of any kind of autonomous assertion in general and that of Dalit women in particular because according to her, any kind of autonomy is limiting. In the case of Dalit women’s organizations she argues that ‘they face a threat of being autonomous from the masses’ if they did not keep the umbilical relation with the RPI, a Dalit political party. Vidyut Bhagwat who is arguing against Moghe’s position states that this kind of formulation lacks self-reflectivity and the awareness of the dialectics between left parties and the autonomous women’s groups. Thus according to her, ‘to label this kind of autonomous assertion from the marginalized as identitarian and limited to experience, tend to overlook the history of struggle by groups to name themselves and their politics’ (Bhagwat 1995; cited in Rege 1998). Further, there are also various apprehensions raised about these autonomous Dalit women’s organizations that criticize them for being predominantly neo-Buddhist organizations (Rege 1998). Pratima Paradeshi has responded to these apprehensions by arguing that such apprehensions are historically insensitive and they tend to overlook historical trajectories of the growth of the Dalit movement in Maharashtra (Paradeshi 1995; cited in Rege 1998). --------------------------------- Unlimited freedom, unlimited storage. Get it now -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: not available Type: application/defanged-27 Size: 12302 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070729/06868be1/attachment-0002.bin From mayurisamant at yahoo.com Sun Jul 29 23:26:33 2007 From: mayurisamant at yahoo.com (mayuri samant) Date: Sun, 29 Jul 2007 10:56:33 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Posting Three-Theoretical Frameworks of Collective Action Message-ID: <88182.97270.qm@web51903.mail.re2.yahoo.com> Before going in to various issues related to collective action and also various processes of its ‘legitimization’ in urban spaces it is essential to look in to different theoretical frameworks of collective action that are developed in the discipline. In this third posting I am trying to discuss the theoretical framework of the study of collective action. Today the theoretical field of collective action has entered a new phase or a new millennium with urbanization happening at a great, extra ordinary speed especially in the context of global south, the new wave of globalization where concepts like nation, nation state are being questioned and lastly the fall of Soviet Union or in other words, disintegration of USSR. These three things have together framed the context of the study of collective action, one of the areas of which tends to focus on the swelling impact of urban centers on collective action. Study of collective action today is not merely considered as a ‘sub-topic’ in sociology but it is now very much central to the discipline. In other words, it is now considered as one of the main subject matters of sociology especially with Buchler’s formulation of sociology and collective action being the ‘siblings of modernity’. It logically follows from his argument were he shows how sociology was a child of modernity since it was enlightenment that broke the intellectual ground in which modern sociology would ultimately take root. He further shows how even the idea of conscious collective action having the capacity to change society as a whole came only with the era of enlightenment (Buchler 2000). His argument helps one justify the need to study collective action being a major analytical lence to study society. Apart from the scheme that Buchler has developed there are also other theorists who are worth considering because it might give us a perspective to look at any collective action in general and this particular collective action that we are considering Manuel Castell in his work ‘City and the Grassroots’ (1983) analyses collective action as the generic term that includes social movements as one form of consciously undertaken and organized within a specific aim. He suggests that ‘urban social movements are collective actions consciously aimed at the transformation of the social interests and values embedded in the forms and functions of a historically given city’ (Castell 1983). Since movements can throw light on the collective action constructing the city, the study of the city through the lence of collective action over the years would prove to be beneficial in evaluating the nature of the city. Though Castell’s argument helps us to understand why one would look at collective action in order to study the city or why the study of collective action is very much central to urban studies, his definition of collective action in terms of what constitutes collective action is very limiting. Castell has discussed forms of collective action only as they refer to the cities he studied. More contemporary theorists of collective action such as Tilly and Maheu also defined collective action in a broader sense. Charles Tilly (2004) in his recent work highlights three ideological tendencies where popular collective actions are considered as social movements, namely ‘inflation of the term to include all sorts of popular collective action past and present [the] conflation of the movement with its supporting population, networks, or organization and treatment of movements as unitary actors’ (Tilly 2004). Earlier he (1986) discussed the repertoires of collective action involved in each case of collective action. In his study of popular project in France he introduced the notion of the limited repertoire of a society for society and argued that in different time periods there have been different repertoires of collective action. Here again the definition of collective action is vague. As per this definition the notion of collective action is still restricted to organized action or movement. Maheu (1995) agrees with Tilly’s position. He argues that ‘a more rigorous use of the notion of collective action would allow us to move beyond movement centered analysis and also advocates going beyond institutionalization of collective action while analyzing how collective actions are defined (Maheu 1995). Apart from these frameworks of collective action, when one is dealing with the dilemmas regarding ‘spontaneous’ and ‘organized’ collective action, which is the core issues with regard to the kind of collective action that we are dealing with, looking at James Scott’s formulation that he has developed in his work ‘Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance’ becomes essential. As Scott rightly argued in his work, the limitations of any field of study are most strikingly revealed in its shared definition of what counts as relevant. In other words, most of the things, events in any given study are often ignored by the virtue of being ‘irrelevant’. For instance, in most of the studies of collective action there is a danger of making sweeping generalizations regarding some kind of upsurges, similar to the one that took place after the desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Such generalizations often tend to label such actions as ‘spontaneous upsurge of emotions’ not worthy of much attention. By another simple analysis such collective actions are neglected by labeling them merely as a ‘political ploy’. Whatever be the case, one does not take pains to dig in to what constitutes or constructs this so called ‘spontaneity’. Even in case of an organized political ploy, one does not go in to explaining what makes thousands of people come on the street and put their lives in danger. Thus, we need explore the gray areas that lie between two poles of spontaneity and organized collective action. In other words, we need to go beyond the dichotomous view regarding spontaneous collective action and an organized collective action. For instance, as James Scott has argued in his work, a great deal of recent work on the peasantry concerns itself with rebellions and revolutions. Except some standard ethnographic accounts of kinship, ritual cultivation and language it is fair to say that much attention has been devoted to organized, large scale. Protest movements that appear, if only momentarily to pose a threat to the state (Scott 1990). Drawing from this we can argue that there is a need to develop ‘ethnographies of collective action’ in the city, which will help take the notion of collective action beyond its well established boundaries. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Need a vacation? Get great deals to amazing places on Yahoo! Travel. http://travel.yahoo.com/ From naveenkanal at gmail.com Mon Jul 30 11:49:18 2007 From: naveenkanal at gmail.com (Naveen Kanalu) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 11:49:18 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Muharram in the light of Weaver Migration in the Deccan Message-ID: <5be243090707292319u30cbdec4kb7809a317b52fd7c@mail.gmail.com> I am presently working on Muharram in the Deccan as a Student stipendship holder at the SARAI. This is my third posting. Muharram in the light of Weaver Migration in the Deccan: A historical examination of the Deccan in the medieval as well as colonial period presents an interesting picture of the range of economic activities including agriculture, artisanal processes and trade relations. Indeed, for a long period the accepted notion in the economic history of the Deccan has been that the pre-colonial rural economy was one of self-sufficiency at least in terms of economic activities. However, recent studies point to the fact that the economy was not only vibrant with strong trade links and market networks of mercantile nature but also spanned over large regions like the handloom sector, which had links spread from the Saurashtra to Madurai, the heart of Tamil culture. This reveals a strong mercantilist character of the region in artisanal occupations and trades, prominently cotton and silk handloom. Such an integration of economic activities through out the Deccan is linked with the constant migration of artisans and specifically the weaving castes and is spread from as early as the 12th Century A.D. onwards. Migration has been a strategy for subsistence and also survival from famines and conflicts and more importantly for the betterment of living standards. Handloom weavers have engaged in collective movements for long as a survival strategy and have also been closely intertwined with state formation, moving to emerging markets and centres of political activity. However, the movement in the British period has been reflective of regional dynamics such as the rise of newer markets and trading centres outside the traditional institutions and regions of handlom concentration in the Deccan. This change is significantly reflected in the decline of the handlooms at an increasing rate through the nineteenth century. For analytical reasons and the qualitative distinction among the migratory behaviour, the process could be understood in three historical strands: the Pre-Colonial (12-17th Century), Early Colonial (1750- 1870s) and the Late Colonial (1870s onwards) periods. An attempt is made to hypothesise the origin of Muharram as a popular religious activity and the migration of weavers. It is interesting to note that the regions where Muharram assumes a nature of a carnival have a common social and cultural pattern in terms of the caste and class relationships and political conditions. It is also distinct from regions such as Mysore and Hyderabad, which have had differing socio-political conditions as elaborated elsewhere. Though Mysore had a prominent silk producing industry, this is a much later development and being a fertile region, agriculture remained a prominent occupation here. Hence, the scope of migration was limited. Pre-Colonial Migration: Historical evidence suggests the migration of professional weavers well before the colonial period, in the medieval ages. The artisans were involved very little in agriculture and hence were not integrated in the 'jajmani' village systems of medieval times. The limited dependence on land for employment meant that weavers had greater opportunity of mobility. Sufficient recorded evidence is available from the medieval times of migration of artisans from regions of declining political power to rising ones. Especially, in the case of weavers this was even truer as they supplied high quality cloth for the nobility and textiles formed a significant part of both internal and external trade. Thus, concentration of weavers usually tended to political centres, which were not only markets in themselves but also trading centres or the coastal habitations in case of export of textiles. Thus, the weavers were strongly linked with state formation, a phenomenon that is absent in the colonial period. Migration took place either due to an acute distress or as a mark of protest against the social and economic conditions. Weavers being largely dependent on the purchasing power of the agricultural castes faced serious threat more than any other group during famines. The artisans not only had no grain stocks to survive through the famine nor were they able to earn a living out of selling cloth as the general purchasing power declined. Other than that high taxation, dominant regimes and the downfall of states caused migration on a large scale. However, not only were the push factors important in making migration decisions, so were the pull factors. The Push factors were only of a temporary character, i.e. they acted only at times of extraordinary conditions. However, the weavers were a strongly knit community and dynamic in character. Thus, the guilds under master weavers always looked for settling in towns of greater prosperity, which were either markets or the centres of political activity. Further, evidence of the royal families and nobility frequently inviting fine craftsmen from different and far off provinces is commonly found. Most of the accounts of medieval migration are linked with the Vijayanagara Empire, under whose expansive and well-administered territory, the weavers received patronage. The Khatris and Sourashtras from present day Gujarat migrated to the Deccan and the Salis and Devangas of the Andhra region concentrated in the Vijayanagara capital. Further, with the fall of the empire, castes such as the Devangas, Kaikkolars and Sourashtras penetrated further into the Tamil country to Madurai, where the Nayakas had gained control. On the other hand, with the rising Maratha power, textile trade was encouraged. Thus Pune, Solhapur and Burhanpur continue into the colonial period as centres of textile production and trade. Early Colonial Migration: It is not only significant to note that migrations were well connected with the political conditions in Medieval Deccan, but also that production and trade was under the control of communities and families from within the weaving castes. Not only were weavers well knit and had the ability to enhance their economic opportunities but also resist times of difficulties. They formed strong community ties wherever they migrated by forming guilds, adopting brahminical rituals and building temples. However, they were ridden with disputes such as the right/left rivalry amongst their sub-castes. Some castes proclaimed themselves as having been created from the right hand of the Gods and hence claimed superiority in the social system over others who were supposed to be created from the left hand. In addition, weavers were typically known for the tensions within their sub castes but other communities as well in the medieval times. All this was to gain political and economic clout. With the disintegration of state structures in the Deccan in the eighteenth century, and the rise of colonial interests, migration not only became increasingly dynamic but also changed the character and nature of caste relations and functions. The growth of textile imports from Britain in the early nineteenth century did not entirely displace the handloom sector, nevertheless opportunities declined for artisans who were increasingly absorbed as peasants. However, inter regional migration of weavers continued but was qualitatively different from the pre-colonial period. The collapse of the state structures and repeated famines only increased the distress of weaving castes. Not only were employment conditions weakening but the weavers lost the control over both production and merchandise decisions. Increasingly, medieval weaving centres were displaced by new centres or coastal towns as trading centres. Further, production was controlled by 'Sahukars' or merchant-capitalists who provided the weavers with yarn imported from Britain or other regions, paid them piece-good wages and collected the cloth for trade. Not only were the weavers paid low wages but had no control except for working as labour. This would have clearly meant a destruction of the networks within the weaving castes that existed in the medieval times. Thus, migration does not remain a community based and permanent one to newer centres as in the pre-colonial period but one of short and seasonal movements to newer places. This was especially the case of the Telugu weavers to the Maratha districts of the Hyderabad state. With poor margins to subsist on and the exploitation of the Sahukars and yarn dealers, the condition of weavers was awful and more so at times of famines. Thus, in the first half of the nineteenth century, Padmasalis who wove coarse cotton migrated from Nalgonda, Medak, Karimnagar, Anantapur and other districts to Sholapur, Narayanapet, Ahmednagar, Pune in the Bombay Presidency. Migrations were not permanent with mainly the adult males moving to work at times of poor conditions, leaving behind their families and communities. Thus, weavers moved to newer towns and visited their families on occasions. Newer social and cultural relations would be established with old belief structures side by side. Not only did communities practiced their religious beliefs in their newer settlements but also imbibed the practices in these regions. However, with most of these migrations occurring due to rising unemployment, lower wages and profitability and newer methods of production caused repeated distress and volatility in their lives. They have remained in the memories of communities and expressed in various forms and more popularly in mass congregations. The growth of associations of weaving castes gave them a political voice to demand better opportunities but occasions such as Muharram present a more popular version involving the sentiments of the community members. Naveen Kanalu Ecole normale superieure From mayurisamant at yahoo.com Mon Jul 30 17:13:03 2007 From: mayurisamant at yahoo.com (mayuri samant) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 04:43:03 -0700 (PDT) Subject: [Urbanstudy] Important Corrections with reference to Posting Three-Theoretical Frameworks of Collective Action Message-ID: <561886.85506.qm@web51906.mail.re2.yahoo.com> I have been attending an open course on “Collective Action in the Urban Arena” floated by Dr. Shruti Tambe in Sociology Department of Pune University. The framework with which I have started the discussion in the posting that ‘studies of collective action have entered in to a new millennium which has provided an important context for the study of collective action in urban spaces’ was very well discussed in the class. Through the course of the discussion in the class it triggered to me that it will be well suited for the kind of empirical work that I intend to do for this Stipend ship Programme, but in the posting I forgot to acknowledge this. So, readers are kindly requested to re-read the posting with this important correction. (This is to conform to the rules regarding pleasurism in Pune University and also elsewhere). Before going in to various issues related to collective action and also various processes of its ‘legitimization’ in urban spaces it is essential to look in to different theoretical frameworks of collective action that are developed in the discipline. In this third posting I am trying to discuss the theoretical framework of the study of collective action. Today the theoretical field of collective action has entered a new phase or a new millennium with urbanization happening at a great, extra ordinary speed especially in the context of global south, the new wave of globalization where concepts like nation, nation state are being questioned and lastly the fall of Soviet Union or in other words, disintegration of USSR. These three things have together framed the context of the study of collective action, one of the areas of which tends to focus on the swelling impact of urban centers on collective action (as per the discussion taken place in an open course on “Collective action in the Urban Arena” floated by Dr. Shruti Tambe). Study of collective action today is not merely considered as a ‘sub-topic’ in sociology but it is now very much central to the discipline. In other words, it is now considered as one of the main subject matters of sociology especially with Buchler’s formulation of sociology and collective action being the ‘siblings of modernity’ (Buchler 2000). It logically follows from his argument were he shows how sociology was a child of modernity since it was enlightenment that broke the intellectual ground in which modern sociology would ultimately take root. He further shows how even the idea of conscious collective action having the capacity to change society as a whole came only with the era of enlightenment (ibid). His argument helps one justify the need to study collective action being a major analytical lence to study society. Apart from the scheme that Buchler has developed there are also other theorists who are worth considering because it might give us a perspective to look at any collective action in general and this particular collective action that we are considering Manuel Castell in his work ‘City and the Grassroots’ (1983) analyses collective action as the generic term that includes social movements as one form of consciously undertaken and organized within a specific aim. He suggests that ‘urban social movements are collective actions consciously aimed at the transformation of the social interests and values embedded in the forms and functions of a historically given city’ (Castell 1983, cited in PhD theses by Dr. Shruti Tambe). Since movements can throw light on the collective action constructing the city, the study of the city through the lence of collective action over the years would prove to be beneficial in evaluating the nature of the city. Though Castell’s argument helps us to understand why one would look at collective action in order to study the city or why the study of collective action is very much central to urban studies, his definition of collective action in terms of what constitutes collective action is very limiting. Castell has discussed forms of collective action only as they refer to the cities he studied. More contemporary theorists of collective action such as Tilly and Maheu also defined collective action in a broader sense. Charles Tilly (2004) in his recent work highlights three ideological tendencies where popular collective actions are considered as social movements, namely ‘inflation of the term to include all sorts of popular collective action past and present [the] conflation of the movement with its supporting population, networks, or organization and treatment of movements as unitary actors’ (Tilly 2004,cited in ibid). Earlier he (1986) discussed the repertoires of collective action involved in each case of collective action. In his study of popular project in France he introduced the notion of the limited repertoire of a society for society and argued that in different time periods there have been different repertoires of collective action. Here again the definition of collective action is vague. As per this definition the notion of collective action is still restricted to organized action or movement. Maheu (1995) agrees with Tilly’s position. He argues that ‘a more rigorous use of the notion of collective action would allow us to move beyond movement centered analysis and also advocates going beyond institutionalization of collective action while analyzing how collective actions are defined (Maheu 1995, cited in ibid). Apart from these frameworks of collective action, when one is dealing with the dilemmas regarding ‘spontaneous’ and ‘organized’ collective action, which is the core issues with regard to the kind of collective action that we are dealing with, looking at James Scott’s formulation that he has developed in his work ‘Weapons of the Weak: Everyday Forms of Peasant Resistance’ becomes essential. As Scott rightly argued in his work, the limitations of any field of study are most strikingly revealed in its shared definition of what counts as relevant. In other words, most of the things, events in any given study are often ignored by the virtue of being ‘irrelevant’. For instance, in most of the studies of collective action there is a danger of making sweeping generalizations regarding some kind of upsurges, similar to the one that took place after the desecration of the statue of Dr. Ambedkar. Such generalizations often tend to label such actions as ‘spontaneous upsurge of emotions’ not worthy of much attention. By another simple analysis such collective actions are neglected by labeling them merely as a ‘political ploy’. Whatever be the case, one does not take pains to dig in to what constitutes or constructs this so called ‘spontaneity’. Even in case of an organized political ploy, one does not go in to explaining what makes thousands of people come on the street and put their lives in danger. Thus, we need explore the gray areas that lie between two poles of spontaneity and organized collective action. In other words, we need to go beyond the dichotomous view regarding spontaneous collective action and an organized collective action. For instance, as James Scott has argued in his work, a great deal of recent work on the peasantry concerns itself with rebellions and revolutions. Except some standard ethnographic accounts of kinship, ritual cultivation and language it is fair to say that much attention has been devoted to organized, large scale. Protest movements that appear, if only momentarily to pose a threat to the state (Scott 1990). Drawing from this we can argue that there is a need to develop ‘ethnographies of collective action’ in the city, which will help take the notion of collective action beyond its well established boundaries. 1 ____________________________________________________________________________________ Moody friends. Drama queens. Your life? Nope! - their life, your story. Play Sims Stories at Yahoo! Games. http://sims.yahoo.com/ From sumalathabs at gmail.com Mon Jul 30 22:26:40 2007 From: sumalathabs at gmail.com (sumalatha b.s) Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2007 22:26:40 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Third Posting Message-ID: <798e17240707300956i39bf7144j177b950e93b0b3a4@mail.gmail.com> Dear all, This is my 3rd Posting on Sarai Studentship on Cities titled 'STOCK BROKERING BRANCHES IN CITY SPACES: Exploring the new Phenomenon of Kerala'. As told in the earlier posting, I presently will be highlighting the perceptions of Malayalee's approach towards the Stock brokering culture. The tryst with investors opened a new world of thought regarding speculation, investment, return, liquidity, high technology and city spaces. These people keep in pace the dynamics of stock market investment like a cricket score board keeper busy updating the scores. It was from this interaction that I understood that basically there can be two major classes of stock investors and many more, within this division. They are day speculators and long-term investors. While the day speculators are intra-day investors, who will be looking at the slightest chance of price change to book the profits in a single day, long-term investors are speculative in a longer period of time anticipating bigger price changes. There are long-term investors who are like sleeping investors also[1] <#_ftn1>. Most of the investors however, do not confine strictly to these divisions, there are investors who will be having long-term positions and at the same time indulging in day- speculative trading. At the outset, it will be ideal to see the basic economic rationale before going straight into analysing the nuances from the investor class point of view. As a beginning let us meet Dominic (name changed), a retired teacher. Dominic can be an ideal representative of Keralities venturing into this scenario of late. "The interest on post office and bank deposits is meager compared to the prospective returns from investment in equity and mutual funds. There is an element of risk, but it is worth taking," he says. Due to this, people are looking towards newer investment avenues like land and real estate and in stocks. Together with this, the increased money flow into the region through remittances[2] <#_ftn2> is also a reason. Rajeev, a stock brokering branch manager from the northern Kerala says 'People are aware of the low returns from investing in bank deposits'. Simon, another branch manager from a rural area however brought into focus the agriculture prices. He says 'the increased income due to the bumper rubber prices is also providing an impetus to the new investment culture. Together with this, the bad shape of other agricultural products has prevented the people from investing in agriculture'. As mentioned by Dominic, the low returns from other investment avenues are one of the common perceptions voiced in favour by most of investors I interacted upon. Gopan a government employee told 'if you want you have high returns for your money, you should invest in stock markets which will give you good returns'. However he was also vary of the risks involved and was supportive of the need for having sufficient information. Some of the investor just wanted more money. These are people whose need for money has landed them in this arena. It may not be purely greed that is guiding them, but the rising living conditions associated with urbanization has prompted them into this investment. Anil a professional from the city says 'I indulge stock brokering business just to make money. The expenditures are more now a day, compared with the earlier periods'. To my query that this is greed, he replied 'this is not greed for money; I want to meet my two ends. My salary is not enough most of the times. To meet these, I indulge in investing in stocks'. Some others like Prashanth consider this as a fashionable profession to be indulged with, in a society. Says he 'You know this is quite fashionable also; I mean a sort of white collar job. You are increasing you wealth through this profession' Another reason attributed by many is the liquidity provided by the investments in stocks. Teena (name changed) a lecturer views that this is also the most liquid investable avenue 'You can sell the stocks when you wants the money back. If you are a day speculator, and if you smart and lucky then you can retrive the money that day itself. Within three days you money will come into your account. Where else do you get such an avenue?' There are people who turn into an investor for time pass activity. Says Kumar 'even though I am occupied with my business, I invest as a time pass activity. But at week-ends I feel terribly bored and will be looking towards Monday for the beginning'. However, to my question regarding the gambling nature, he was accepting to a certain extent that this inclination towards speculation can be due to a type of casino affect[3] <#_ftn3>. Abdul Rahiman a Gulf returnee considers this as his profession. He says 'I want to make fair returns with the money I earned till date. Since investing in business is risky and since this business has a decent societal image associated with it, I consider this as a nice profession'. There were many who spent their days in these branches. In fact, the view of a decent societal image was also implicitly mentioned by the majority during the interactions. This, they felt is unavoidable phenomenon in city life. This sounded like a fashion trend creeping into the very root of urban life or developing with the development of cities. Benson was aware of need for having through information, 'but you should have enough information'. This view was however supported by Utham (name changed) who is retired business man. He says 'one should have a through knowledge before venturing into this business, especially day speculation. The investor should be aware of the general economic and business conditions, business and corporate news etc. the prices can be affected my many exogenous factors. One should get some experience with respect to the basic knowledge guiding stock movements'. Apart from this, the increased knowledge about stock markets now a day is another reason for this phenomenon. Says Joseph (name changed) a stock brokering franchisee manager 'Even the college students owns an account. They know what a stock market means, what are other investment options, the profitability and benefits of investing in stock markets. That is why they are ready to invest using their pocket money. Women too come here for investments, housewives and professional ladies do also prefer investing their money in stocks[4] <#_ftn4>. Most of the television channels air up to date information regarding the stocks. I think even school going children knows at lest what a stock market is'. He implicitly referred to the large improvements in the field of information and communication technology augmenting the high knowledge- society of Kerala in this case. However, some of the clients also voiced about the impacts of social networks on them in luring them this activity. Sunita a housewife says 'the societal space around you is well aware of these developments, this will always keep you well informed about the news. For example in this area it self, my friends who are also investors (clients with other brokers) will share their news regarding some of the forecasting on stocks made by them. An urban environment always augments these societal functions. The news spreads very speedily here.' The growing number of stock brokering branches shows the social, economical and technological reshaping of Kerala. However, it will be highly improper, to leave out the perceptions of the public but those who are not part of this activity regarding the growth of these stock brokering branches in Kerala. While common people view this phenomenon with wonder and as an inevitable factor of the urbanization happening in Kerala, academic sections consider this as an output of economic liberalisation. Certain others viewed this as a reshaping of the capital under the aegis of technology and urbanization. ------------------------------ [1] <#_ftnref1> These are high wealth investors who are given special services by the stock brokering branches. They will inform about suitable chances of price rise based on brokering firms analytical forecasting. Once the investments are made, the firm will inform the investor about the price range to be sold (and may even sell at certain instances). Virtually these investors does not need to keep in pace with the news in the stock market. [2] <#_ftnref2> From expatriates working in gulf, Europe and US and from the income from software professional working in other states. [3] <#_ftnref3> Some people seem to be crazy about these activities. They seem to breathe, eat and drink stocks. [4] <#_ftnref4> People like Teena also bring into prominence the increased women participation in this scenario. She is based in Cochin. According to her, Cochin has a sizable amount of women investors. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070730/fd217219/attachment-0002.html From renucherianp at gmail.com Tue Jul 31 08:17:14 2007 From: renucherianp at gmail.com (renu cherianp) Date: Tue, 31 Jul 2007 08:17:14 +0530 Subject: [Urbanstudy] third posting- space of chrisma in a city Message-ID: <613457570707301947l6355675buf3a605fd93a4eb81@mail.gmail.com> *Popularization of the Charismatic Movement.* Hi friends It is my third posting. It deals with the advertisements of the C.H.M, the charismatic movement taken for the present study. Here I am going to discuss about the role played by these advertisements in creating a religious space among the community. The primary aim of an advertisement is to catch the attention of common people towards the product or the service. Generally, advertisements are done only for those things, which are brought under the category of commodity. So now, day's religion has come under the group of commodity that needs advertisements for its publicity and popularity. Apart from all other religious groups C.H.M has advertisements for its publicity inorder to familiarize it in the society. The main purpose of these advertisements are first to give a description of the nature and specialties of the movement. Secondly, attract people towards it by giving the testimonies and other miraculous events as examples. These advertisements are packed with charismatic leader's message, captivating captions and testimonies of believers along with their photos. In addition, the headings, statements and layout are created with an intention to attract those who are facing problems or disabilities in their lives and tempting them to attend C.H.M's meetings. They publish their advertisements in newspapers, periodicals, leaflets; flux boards e.t.c. C.H.M also sells C.D's regarding their worship and testimonies. They present big cut outs of the main pastors in the street and road side. They also publish notices and palm let's regarding their worship and ideologies. Some of the captions in their advertisements are quoted below for an analysis. 1*) Are you in the shadow of curse? Come, Jesus will give you deliverance* Here in the advertisement the catching words are 'shadow of curse' and 'deliverance from Jesus'. The word shadow of curse is used to mention the condition of suffering in ones life. C.H.M is giving more importance to curse because they consider curse as the creation of Satan. The second half of the caption says about the solution of this suffering and Jesus Christ is presented as the solution. It means that, if any one in the society is facing any sufferings she/he can reach C.H.M and god will save him/her from all sorts of sufferings. 2*)Miracles are happening today. Come and receive the blessings*. This caption also has two parts. First one is a general statement, says that miracles are happening. Material benefits, healing, spiritual awakening etc are considered as the miracles. In the above caption the catching word is miracles, the possibility of miracles through C.H.M is presented in front of lay people. Along with this they invite others to have the miracles in their life. The term miracle is an attractive word for all human being. It means that C.H.M can do many miracles that can solve the dilemmas of the human being. These miracles are given through their meetings. By attending the meeting people can have these miracles. *3)Miracles happening on behalf of Jesus Christ.* * * Here also the term miracle is emphasized. They emphasize that miracles are possible only through the Jesus Christ, so one who believes in Jesus Christ Can easily have all these miracles. C.H.Mpresents itself as the way to get miracles. It says that Jesus Christ is the one who can do all the miracles *4)Get redeemed from your sin.* * *This is also a general statement addressing all people. Since it is a general statement those who reads is the subject of this statement. This statement says that 'you' (those who reads the advertisement) are in sin. And it is essential to get redemption from ones sin. This in turn constructs a lacune in the mind of readers that they are sinners and this sin is the cause of all sufferings in their life. And C.H.M provides the solution to this sin. We can note that they have given more emphasis to certain words in their advertisements. This enables a person to feel that he has some problems to be solved and it can only be solved by approaching these peoples. Testimonies of healed ones are the attracting segment of their advertisements. These testimonies include incidence showing ones redemption from sufferings. These sufferings are financial problems, health problems, etc. A person with the same problem, by reading the testimony feels that he also can get solution to his problem after approaching C.H.M. Here I am presenting a testimony from an advertisement. Jesus Christ transformed the shadow of grief in my life "My wife was a uterus cancer patient. We were almost disappointed. We contacted HF fellowship, and their team visited our home and prayed for us. They asked us to undergo chemotherapy only after further tests. On a screen test it was found that no symptom of cancer was there in the body of my wife. Jesus saved our family and I cannot abstain from giving testimonial." People who are suffering from chronic diseases get attracted by this testimony approach C.H.M for their healing.Thus the movement get popularised among the society. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070731/98606a1c/attachment-0002.html From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Thu Jul 19 12:21:32 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 06:51:32 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Campaign Appeal to PM to repeal EIA Notification 2006 Message-ID: <469F09BA.30704@bgl.vsnl.net.in> Environment Support Group ® *105, **East End B Main Road**, Jayanagar 9^th Block East, **Bangalore** 560069 **INDIA*** *Telefax: 91-80-22441977/26531339 Fax: 91-80-26534364* *Email: *esg at esgindia.org or* *esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in * Web: *www.esgindia.org * * 17 July 2007 Dear Friends, As you are aware, the Environment Impact Assessment Notification - 2006, issued by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests on 14 September 2006, is amongst the most controversial legislations brought into effect in recent times. This subordinate legislation provides the Ministry enormous powers to justify and clear a wide variety of high impact projects including petrochemical complexes, nuclear power plants, large infrastructure projects such as roads and railroads, dam building, mining, highly polluting industries, construction of high density commercial and residential complexes, Special Economic Zones, Exclusive Economic Zones, airports, etc. EIA Notification is the only piece of legislation that provides statutory support to appreciate the potential environmental and social impacts of such projects, and also for involvement of local communities and the wide public in making decisions on such matters. In comprehensively revamping this Notification, the Indian Environment and Forest Ministry actively neglected the need to consult Parliament, Legislatures, Local Governments and the wide public and admittedly consulted only with industry and investment lobbies. Needless to state, the outcome is the current EIA Notification that wholly subordinates environmental and social considerations to investment priorities. Shockingly, the Notification subordinates the importance of prior informed consent and due and legitimate participation of the wide public to the discretion of the executive. Since the EIA Notification was issued last year, this deeply flawed legislation has proven to be a major problem in implementing its provisions to the Ministry of Environment and Forests. In addition, State Governments have been lagging behind in constituting a variety of Expert Commitees and Impact Assessment Authorities required for effective implementation of the provisions of this Notification. Shackled by budgetary constraints, this over-bureaucratisation of environmental decision making in India has resulted in achieving the very opposite purpose of what the Ministry is mandated to do - the conservation of our natural resources, protection of ecologically sensitive areas, protection of lives and livelihoods and mitigation of the adverse impacts of development. Over a dozen circulars, notes and memos issued by the Ministry in clarification of the features of the Notification, is evidence enough of how deeply flawed this Notification is, and how problematic its operationalisation has become. We are of the sincere opinion that if this Notification is not repealed with due dispatch, India and its peoples will suffer unnecessarily from the adverse consequences of industrial and infrastructure development that will subordinate environmental and social considerations and threaten the ecological security of India. We have comprehensively addressed this issue in our publication /"Green Tapism: A Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification - 2006"/, details of which are available online at www.esgindia.org. Even as we were grappling with the implications of the EIA Notification, leaked copies of the proposed comprehensive amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, to be replaced by the Coastal Management Zone Notification, reveals that the Ministry proposes to comprehensively dilute our coastal protection laws next. As we share our concerns, we urge you to join us in pressing for the repeal of the EIA Notification 2006 by writing to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who also holds the portfolio of Environment and Forests. A draft letter highlighting various issues of concerns is enclosed for you consideration. Please feel free to adapt this letter and do include your full contact details before sending it to the Prime Minister. We believe that multiple appeals would bring greater emphasis on this matter of critical importance and hopefully help in securing for India an effective and pro-environment EIA law. We will be grateful if you mark a copy to us. We are also happy to share with you the proceedings of the release of "/Green Tapism/" on 4^th June 2007 by Dr. B. K. Chandrashekar, Hon'ble Chairman, Karnataka Legislative Council. The release included a discussion involving a rather diverse panel reflecting the views of the Government, regulatory authorities, academia, industry, social action and media. This panel brought out a range of perspectives on environmental regulation in the country. A report of the proceedings is attached. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Leo F. Saldanha Bhargavi S. Rao Arpita Joshi Environment Support Group Encl. As above -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismRelease_040607_lite.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 246940 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0002.pdf -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RepealEIANotif_Campaign_Letter_PM_170707.doc Type: application/applefile Size: 35840 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0002.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismBkreview_DH_15July07.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 532378 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/1173c710/attachment-0002.jpg From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Thu Jul 19 12:48:41 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 07:18:41 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Campaign Appeal to PM to repeal EIA Notification 2006 Message-ID: <469F1061.2050107@bgl.vsnl.net.in> Environment Support Group ® *105, **East End B Main Road**, Jayanagar 9^th Block East, **Bangalore** 560069 **INDIA*** *Telefax: 91-80-22441977/26531339 Fax: 91-80-26534364* *Email: *esg at esgindia.org or* *esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in * Web: *www.esgindia.org * * 17 July 2007 Dear Friends, As you are aware, the Environment Impact Assessment Notification - 2006, issued by the Indian Ministry of Environment and Forests on 14 September 2006, is amongst the most controversial legislations brought into effect in recent times. This subordinate legislation provides the Ministry enormous powers to justify and clear a wide variety of high impact projects including petrochemical complexes, nuclear power plants, large infrastructure projects such as roads and railroads, dam building, mining, highly polluting industries, construction of high density commercial and residential complexes, Special Economic Zones, Exclusive Economic Zones, airports, etc. EIA Notification is the only piece of legislation that provides statutory support to appreciate the potential environmental and social impacts of such projects, and also for involvement of local communities and the wide public in making decisions on such matters. In comprehensively revamping this Notification, the Indian Environment and Forest Ministry actively neglected the need to consult Parliament, Legislatures, Local Governments and the wide public and admittedly consulted only with industry and investment lobbies. Needless to state, the outcome is the current EIA Notification that wholly subordinates environmental and social considerations to investment priorities. Shockingly, the Notification subordinates the importance of prior informed consent and due and legitimate participation of the wide public to the discretion of the executive. Since the EIA Notification was issued last year, this deeply flawed legislation has proven to be a major problem in implementing its provisions to the Ministry of Environment and Forests. In addition, State Governments have been lagging behind in constituting a variety of Expert Commitees and Impact Assessment Authorities required for effective implementation of the provisions of this Notification. Shackled by budgetary constraints, this over-bureaucratisation of environmental decision making in India has resulted in achieving the very opposite purpose of what the Ministry is mandated to do - the conservation of our natural resources, protection of ecologically sensitive areas, protection of lives and livelihoods and mitigation of the adverse impacts of development. Over a dozen circulars, notes and memos issued by the Ministry in clarification of the features of the Notification, is evidence enough of how deeply flawed this Notification is, and how problematic its operationalisation has become. We are of the sincere opinion that if this Notification is not repealed with due dispatch, India and its peoples will suffer unnecessarily from the adverse consequences of industrial and infrastructure development that will subordinate environmental and social considerations and threaten the ecological security of India. We have comprehensively addressed this issue in our publication /"Green Tapism: A Review of the Environmental Impact Assessment Notification - 2006"/, details of which are available online at www.esgindia.org. Even as we were grappling with the implications of the EIA Notification, leaked copies of the proposed comprehensive amendment to the Coastal Regulation Zone Notification, to be replaced by the Coastal Management Zone Notification, reveals that the Ministry proposes to comprehensively dilute our coastal protection laws next. As we share our concerns, we urge you to join us in pressing for the repeal of the EIA Notification 2006 by writing to the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, who also holds the portfolio of Environment and Forests. A draft letter highlighting various issues of concerns is enclosed for you consideration. Please feel free to adapt this letter and do include your full contact details before sending it to the Prime Minister. We believe that multiple appeals would bring greater emphasis on this matter of critical importance and hopefully help in securing for India an effective and pro-environment EIA law. We will be grateful if you mark a copy to us. We are also happy to share with you the proceedings of the release of "/Green Tapism/" on 4^th June 2007 by Dr. B. K. Chandrashekar, Hon'ble Chairman, Karnataka Legislative Council. The release included a discussion involving a rather diverse panel reflecting the views of the Government, regulatory authorities, academia, industry, social action and media. This panel brought out a range of perspectives on environmental regulation in the country. A report of the proceedings is attached. Thanking you, Yours sincerely, Leo F. Saldanha Bhargavi S. Rao Arpita Joshi Environment Support Group Encl. As above -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0003.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismBkreview_lite_DH_15July07.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 172868 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0003.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismRelease_040607.doc Type: application/applefile Size: 78336 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0004.bin -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: RepealEIANotif_Campaign_Letter_PM_170707.doc Type: application/applefile Size: 36352 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/3c47a8b2/attachment-0005.bin From varanashi at gmail.com Thu Jul 19 23:02:44 2007 From: varanashi at gmail.com (varanashi) Date: Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:32:44 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] Sacred Spaces - Seminar at MMB Message-ID: <469fa032.1abd600a.25f0.ffffdc0d@mx.google.com> FYI Sathya -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/6d791cb8/attachment-0002.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: MMB Part1.pdf Type: application/pdf Size: 568004 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070719/6d791cb8/attachment-0002.pdf From esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in Sat Jul 21 11:13:39 2007 From: esg at bgl.vsnl.net.in (ESG VSNL India) Date: Sat, 21 Jul 2007 05:43:39 -0000 Subject: [Urbanstudy] [WaterWatch] Campaign Appeal to PM to repeal EIA Notification 2006 Message-ID: <469F1061.2050107@bgl.vsnl.net.in> An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070721/3c47a8b2/attachment-0001.html -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... Name: GreenTapismBkreview_lite_DH_15July07.jpg Type: image/jpeg Size: 172868 bytes Desc: not available Url : http://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/urbanstudygroup/attachments/20070721/3c47a8b2/attachment-0001.jpg -------------- next part -------------- A non-text attachment was scrubbed... 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