The Industrial Ephemeral: Labor and Love in Indian Architecture and Construction

290 Pages·2022·21.473 MB·English

by  Namita Vijay Dharia

The Industrial Ephemeral
Atelier: ethnogrAphic inquiry in the twenty-First century
Kevin Lewis O’Neill, Series Editor
1. Mortal Doubt: Transnational Gangs and Social Order in Guatemala City,
by Anthony W. Fontes
2. Contingent Kinship: The Flows and Futures of Adoption in the United States,
by Kathryn A. Mariner
3. Captured at Sea: Piracy and Protection in the Indian Ocean, by Jatin Dua
4. Fires of Gold: Law, Spirit, and Sacrificial Labor in Ghana,
by Lauren Coyle Rosen
5. Tasting Qualities: The Past and Future of Tea, by Sarah Besky
6. Waste Worlds: Inhabiting Kampala’s Infrastructures of Disposability,
by Jacob Doherty
7. The Industrial Ephemeral: Labor and Love in Indian Architecture
and Construction, by Namita Vijay Dharia
The Industrial Ephemeral
lAbor And love in indiAn
Architecture And construction
Namita Vijay Dharia
university oF cAliF orniA press
The publisher and the University of California Press Foundation
gratefully acknowledge the generous support of the Richard and Harriett
Gold Endowment Fund in Arts and Humanities.
University of California Press
Oakland, California
© 2022 by Namita Vijay Dharia
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Dharia, Namita Vijay, 1980– author.
Title: The industrial ephemeral : labor and love in Indian architecture
and construction / Namita Vijay Dharia.
Other titles: Atelier (Oakland, Calif.) ; 7.
Description: Oakland, California : University of California Press, [2022] |
Series: Atelier : Ethnographic inquiry in the twenty-first century ; 7 |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: lccn 2021061564 (print) | lccn 2021061565 (ebook) |
isbn 9780520383098 (cloth) | isbn 9780520383104 (paperback) |
isbn 9780520383111 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Urbanization—Social aspects—India—Delhi—
21st century. | Labor—Anthropological aspects—India—Delhi. |
Construction workers—India—Delhi. | Architecture and
anthropology—India—Delhi. | BISAC: SOCIAL SCIENCE /
Anthropology / Cultural & Social | SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology /
Urban
Classification: lcc ht147.i4 D47 2022 (print) | lcc ht147.i4 (ebook) |
ddc 307.760954/560905—dc23/eng/20220114
LC record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2021061564
LC ebook record available at https:// lccn .loc .gov /2021061565
Manufactured in the United States of America
31 30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Dedicated to
Madhusudan, Malati, and Mandakini,
forever in my heart

Contents
List of Illustrations ix
Acknowledgments xi
Note on Anonymity xv
Introduction: An Asynchronous Time Line 1
1. Ephemeral Infrastructures 23
2. The Financial Sublime 55
3. Drawing Fantasies 85
4. The Industry of Sound 113
5. Inside the Pit 137
6. Concrete Love 171
Conclusion: Inquilab Zindabad (Long Live
Revolution) 201
Appendix 207
Notes 211
Bibliography 243
Index 269

Illustrations
MAp
1. Central cities and districts in India’s National Capital Region xvi
Figures
1. Sunset over buildings under construction, Gurgaon, 2012 2
2. A cement mixer in Gurgaon, 2012 3
3. View of Gurgaon from train platform at Sikanderpur metro
station, 2013 4
4. Unfinished road in Gurgaon district, 2012 25
5. Ecologies of Gurgaon district, 2012 45
6. Lake in Gurgaon district, 2012 45
7. Bala draws a map to his village in West Bengal, 2012 86
8. Women farm at agrarian peripheries of Gurgaon, 2013 93
9. Buffalo at rural home in Gurgaon district, 2012 94
ix
x illustrations
10. Example of an architectural rendering of a building project 99
11. Computer drawing of a building floor plan 103
12. A backhoe at work on a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 118
13. A ready-mix concrete machine on a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 123
14. A tower crane lifts material onto a terrace at a Gurgaon construction
site, 2012 126
15. Workers balance on bars as they bind steel on a Gurgaon construction
site, 2012 127
16. Drawings on walls of a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 173
17. Femme drawings at a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 176
18. A road map for sex on the wall of a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 179
19. “In the market of hearts,” verses on the wall of a Gurgaon
construction site, 2012 182
20. “Do not stress, the work will get done,” slogan on the wall of
a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 187
21. Mother and child on the wall of a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 189
22. Drawing of home on the wall of a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 192
23. “The one who sucks the sweat and blood of the poor . . . ,” saying
on the wall of a Gurgaon construction site, 2012 196
tAble
1. Master Plans Affecting Gurgaon 208