With the real estate business booming, we see tons of apartment buildings coming up. And typically, the constrution workers live right next to the site, if there is empty space avaialble for the erection of a fairly permanent living set up. I have had the opportunity to observe a couple of such set-ups for a few months now. Usually, these workers are from far away places, mostly from rural North India. The following picture shows one such set up where the construction workers live and lead fairly normal lives.

A typical construction site ‘village’, with a bunch of homes and a main street!

This ‘village’ has about a dozen families and each family gets one shed. All they have is the 5 tin sheets; on all 4 sides and one over their heads. They seem to live fairly peaceful lives, raising their kids, cooking and cleaning, and working from morn to night at the nearby construction site. This bunch of people speak a dialect of Hindi. There are lots of children, none of whom seem to go to schools. In the below pic, the kids are enjoying a game of cricket.

A game of cricket

There is this one child that I have heard crying constantly. I have heard this child cry at night and during the day. Sometimes all by herself, when the mother is probably working at the site.

Going about their morning activities

These people have no bathroom facilities of any sort. I have seen the men folk go about their morning nature calls amongst the shrubs in the vast open land. Surprisingly, I have rarely seen the women attending to nature’s calls. They probably finish up their morning rituals and bathing before day break, seeking privacy in the comforts of darkness.

Finding a place to squat and defecate

The men literally hose themselves down using the water from the construction site.

Bathing with a hose pipe!

They spend most of the day doing hard labor. The women folk do a lot of physical labor too.

Hard at work under the hot sun

Seemingly peaceful!

You can see smoke rise from these sheds in the mornings and in the evenings, when they cook their meals. They do play the radio often and enjoy some loud Bollywood music on the FMs. A recent development: they have a black and white television set. This TV is in one tent, and all of them gather to watch movies, soaps etc!

The next couple of pictures are from yet another such set up. This ‘village’ does not seem to be as “evolved” as the one above, what with tarpauline sheets forming tents. These tents are not laid in too much of an order like the sheds above.

Yet another construction site ‘village’

Zooming in on their activities

As the sun sets and the long shadows are formed, these families retire into their sheds and tents for some much needed rest!