THURSDAY, APRIL 25, 2024
Tallulah D’Silva
Why do we migrate to cities or towns? For better education, opportunities, jobs and perhaps a better life too. Or so we thought until the pandemic descended upon us. Yes there have been other calamities and unfortunate vagaries of nature that we have had to deal with but the pandemic has made us stop, listen and think. About migration, about human greed, about mismanagement of resources, about indiscriminate mining, about deforestation in lieu of development. And as a consequence of the lockdown it has also helped us to think about a reversal of our actions. About reverse migration. About reversing the negative human impact on the environment, about reversing the negative impact of development and construction. About living in tune with nature. About being humane to nature.
I recently received a document titled ‘Advisory for gated colonies’ for containment of Covid-19 pandemic for housing colonies and immediately circulated it to my neighbours and society members for awareness and implementation. The guide was all about safety protocols, of sanitation, of displaying info about the do’s and don’ts to increase awareness. But what caught my eye were a few specifics like physical distancing of 6ft in parks (one person on a bench literally!) and corridors (in pokey corridors and passages with a landing shared by 4 families what are the options!), number of people in elevators (basically only one person at a time using the elevator!) to maintain physical distancing norms and air conditioning guidelines of AC devices at 24-30 degrees centigrade and humidity levels at 40% intake of fresh air! And a very important set towards the end, of avoiding stigmatisation, care giving to those who had nobody to help and calling for volunteers to facilitate. Why these specific guidelines? Because people in crowded spaces are at risk, people in closed spaces, in air conditioned spaces are at a higher risk. And why are these specific ones important to note? Because today our apartments and buildings in a gated colony are designed so badly that all community spaces and public access and spaces are cramped and devoid of natural light and ventilation, the basics to healthy lining and to keep dangerous viruses at bay. It is also important to note that our crowded cities, non-inclusive design and architecture have also allowed us to be more intolerant, judgmental and prejudiced to the underprivileged. There have been articles of how the lockdown has adversely impacted the occupants living in closed and limited spaces of modern buildings in crowded cities. Of depression and alienation. And these very specific words are key - crowded, closed, herd.
Keshav lives with his aged mother in a grand apartment in a gated complex. There are another 99 families in different sized apartments in his colony. Some with 10 members in a smaller apartment. Some with limited natural light and ventilation. Some with a polluted and smelly creek flowing outside their window. They have not stepped out for months. The elderly have not been able to go for their regular walks in the morning and evening both in the garden space in the colony as well as the nearby neighbourhood promenade with lush green trees and wide pavements teeming with senior citizens and young cyclists. The children in the colony have not been able to play with abandon their routine hide and seek, catch, soft ball cricket and football. This year they have not been able to enjoy a summer break visiting their ancestral village, exploring their backyard, cycling in the narrow lanes of their colony with their peers, cousins and friends. Everybody has been locked in with only their windows as the only connect to the living world outside that had suddenly become hostile with an invisible virus lurking in the shadows. A young boy living next door, not able to cope with the loneliness ended his life. A couple of families in the next block- women and children often subjected to domestic violence and abuse suffered silently as the sounds of abusive words, breaking furniture and hard blows floated across walls on cold and deaf ears.
Raghu works as a house help at Keshav’s house. He has not been able to report to work since the lockdown and since his area has been contained as a red zone. Raghu lives in a shanty near Keshav’s apartment complex. Raghu has a tin sheet house with no permanent and solid walls. There are a total of 100 families in his slum like area. His neighbour is an alcoholic and a really volatile person and so his spouse and two kids have been taking shelter at his place since the lockdown. Many families with infants and toddlers have been struggling keeping their sanity locked indoors. The elderly have been finding it difficult to use the public toilet which is mostly locked and always stinking. Many need basic provisions and are unable to step out. The only place that the children used to play has been littered with garbage that hasn’t been collected over days. The incessant rains have flooded some of the hutments at the periphery in the low lying areas. Many don’t have masks and sanitizers. Many are unable to go to their villages in neighbouring states for respite from this monster pandemic.
While Keshav and his society members are still able to have certain privileges, the air is rife with discrimination. To keep Raghu and his types out.
But Raghu is not the virus! The discrimination and stigmatisation is.
(Tallulah D'Silva is
an architect)
