monoharpukur slum in south calcutta

Sheela, a worker at Disha's nursery school, took me around her neighborhood in the slum off of Monoharpukur Roard, near Hazra Road in South Kolkata. I had informal conversations with eight women and one man there, all from Bihar and all people Sheela didi knows well (didi is a term of respect, meaning sister). Sheela didi is also from Bihar, and she purposely took me to a Bihari section of the slum. She thought it would make less sense for me to talk to Bengalis, since I don't know the language, but when I actually do some interviews I will ask if she's willing to do the talking, and translate the responses for me as she goes along. I think it would work well, since I'm beginning to understand a bit of Bangla, and even trying to utter some small phrases!  And she seemed to enjoy taking me around and was proud to show off the slum, so I don't think she'll mind it.  She's on the left:

And that was not a typo... she was very proud of the slum. And with good reason, it seemed to me. It was clean and vibrant, with all sorts of facilities. In fact, every person I talked to emphasized how happy they are with the facilities (suvidha) available to them. They have electricity, and plenty of water (not in each room of course, just in the central areas of the slum). This is really different from every single slum area I visited in Mumbai, where water was one of their biggest problems. In Calcutta, at least in the south, there are hand pumps all over the streets, maintained by the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, from which anyone can get free and (farily) clean water. The slum had several of these pumps in common areas.

Besides that, the people I spoke with told me they appreciate having schools and a hospital nearby. None of them own their rooms... they live on government land and pay rent. But no one thought it likely at all that the government may decide to destroy their slum if the land is ever sold to a developer. They acknowledged that this very situation happens in the suburbs once in a while, but for reasons I was unable to uncover, they thought their slum was safe.

And physically, at least, it looked like a very permanent settlement. Bricks and cement instead of tarps and corrugated metal. Other impressive infrastructure included wide, paved alleys that were used as areas for socializing, cooking and washing clothes; and functioning drains in the alleys. Inside, the tenements were very much like the ones I visited in Bombay... families lived in very cramped, one-room spaces.

I must say, I was a bit perplexed by this experience. I am used to talking to slum dwellers who have a positive attitude, who like their neighborhoods, and are content with their homes. But no where in Bombay did I encounter such sunny sentiments. And it wasn't just one person... it was the running theme from room to room.  I almost wonder if they are just being reserved around a stranger/ outsider.

I also had some conversations with people about ration cards, election cards, as well as their thoughts about voting. And Sheela Didi and I had a long, whispered conversation about political parties, and how sensitive of a topic political affiliation is in this neighborhood. More on that later.

musings on migrants and bengali identity

I think its accurate to say that in Calcutta, you see the chauvinism of the Bengali intelligentsia, but it doesn't have overt political manifestations like it does in Mumbai. One of the questions that I hope to get a handle on while I'm here is why this is the case. Why don't political parties in West Bengal exploit the migrant/native cleavage?

I think the first part of the answer is that they do, but more subtly than in Bombay.  In Calcutta, it seems politically incorrect to speak out against migrants. Maybe it has to do with the way the city's political language was formed, with its historical roots in the Bengali enlightenment as well as the last 3 decades of Communist Party rule.

On that front, I've been thinking that maybe the relative religious tolerance in West Bengal is one route to understanding its migrant politcs as well? Communal politics (Hindu-Muslim competition) isn't a stark aspect of politics in West Bengal like it is in other parts of India. The BJP, for example, has almost no presence here. This is typically explained by the two trends I mentioned above:

1. The Bengali literary and philosophical enlightenment period of the late 1800's has enabled Bengalis to form a Bengali identity over a primarily Hindu or Muslim one, and so to rise above the communal divide

2. The Left Front government, stable in power for 3 decades, has managed to maintain power because it stands for all workers and does not exploit Hindu-Muslim tensions

And yet, there are religious divisions that are quite apparent in Calcutta, even if they don't manifest themselves in political rhetoric. For example, it seems to be a more segregated city than Mumbai. There are some areas, like Raja Bazaar, where there are concentrations of Muslims.  And a few pockets of the city that are like Muslim ghettos (and you see very few Muslim women, in hijab, elsewhere in the city).  Another indication is that Muslim Bihari migrants tend to be significantly poorer than Hindu ones. So the two reasons for the lack of religious tensions that I listed in some ways hide the communal divides in Calcutta.

Similarly, there is definitely an undercurrent of anti-migrant thinking here, even if it is politically incorrect for a mainstream politician to say that migrants should not be welcome.  I found an organization called Amra Bangali, which is kind of a fringe Bengali chauvanist political pressure group.  Among their demands is a Bengali regiment in the Indian army, job reservations for Bengalis in both public and private service in West Bengal, and no land transfers to people outside of Bengal. They claim that as you move from downtown Calcutta to the outer areas of the city, the population of Bengalis gets higher, which indicates that natives are being pushed out of downtown and into the suburbs (by migrants). So while their platform sounds similar (yet more extreme) than Mumbai's anti-migrant party (the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena), they actually don't have anywhere near the infamy or political following that the MNS does. Its more... sub-culture. Still, Dr. Das at the University of Calcutta said he has a strong feeling that there is an underlying anxiety, even among mainstream parties and the general population, that newcomers from Bihar have cut into local jobs and culture.  And maybe these things are also masked by the strong strain of enlightened, leftist thought in Bengali culture.

So another thing I have to find out is whether the outcomes for migrants into this city--like their ability to get idenitity documents, how they are treated in bureacratic settings like rationing offices, their ability to vote-- whether these experiences are similar to those of rural migrants from West Bengal, or native Calcuttans, or whether there is a marked difference that seems to stem from other prejudices.

went to the zoo

Yesterday afternoon I had a meeting with a prof at the Alipore campus of the University of Calcutta... and when I got there, I saw that the Alipore zoo was right across the street. So of course, I had to wander around it after my meeting.

Admission was 10 rupees (20 cents). The grounds were fairly well maintained and more or less free of trash. Not according to Western standards though. I was there in the evening, after the heat of the day, and it was a really lively place. In between the animal houses and cages there were lots of open grassy areas and gardens. So it was definitely a family picnic destination... lots of boys kicking around soccer balls.  My estimate is that it was a lower-middle class crowd.

And there were lots of couples. Interestingly, it was the first time I have seen public displays of affection in India... all the more striking because of the particular crowd of people. Since the grounds were sprawling, with lots of little nooks and corners shaded by trees, it was the perfect place to have a romantic little escape.

The only thing is... seeing the animals was actually kind of hard. The zoo definitely made an effort not to keep everything in too-small cages. The lion had a big grassy, tree-filled island with a huge moat around it (I didn't actually see the lion). The giraffes had a smallish compound to walk around in addition to their house. Almost all the birds were in large cages and that was pretty sad... no where to fly. But the worst were definitely the chimps and monkeys. Between the 96% genome similarity with humans; their ability to use tools and learn language; and their complex social structures and emotional range... well, I guess having that background knowledge on chimps made it much harder to see them in small cages. The same went for other monkeys.

I don't know, I know that I care more about animal rights than a lot of people I know. A few months ago, I read Peter Singer's Animal Liberation and mostly agreed with it... main point was that humans have a moral imperative to not cause extended animal suffering. (and that doesn't necessarily mean that we shouldn't eat them). Anyhow. Obviously this blog is not about animal rights... but it was certainly an interesting experience to care so much about these animals at the Alipore Zoo while I am in a city where human suffering confronts me at every turn.

Zoo pics here.

Disha visit

This morning I visited an NGO called the Disha Foundation. Neena Aunty, its director, is another one of the extremely welcoming and helpful Calcutta contacts that Sumita has put me in touch with. The foundation is set up near the Manoharpukur slum--which is one of the biggest in south Kolkata-- and runs an awesome school, from montessori to grade 10, for about 300 kids from the slum.  I briefly dropped into a class... they all said "good morning aunty" to me in unison :)

After a good introduction to the NGO and details of its work, Neena Aunty and I talked about the migration issues I'm interested in. I observed that Calcutta doesn't seem to have the rampant discrimination and backlash against migrants that is so evident in Bombay (i don't mean to say its non-existent... just not obvious).

She explained this by invoking a special Bengali quality... she used the word bhadralok to describe it. Its a term I've heard several times by now... it means gentle or well-mannered person, and invokes colonial-era images of middle-class cooperation with the British as well as a rising education base.

She went on to describe Bengalis as "non-militant types" who don't like to toil. They are happy to have the Biharis fill the hard day-laborer types of jobs. (And, she explained, the Biharis are happy to do this work... she said the Bihari migrants know that the government work is informally reserved for Bengalis and they don't try to get into it. I'll have to look further into this...)

I asked her if she was only describing an upper and middle class Bengali quality. But she said that even poor Bengali migrant women, who come to Calcutta from the rural areas of West Bengal, prefer to work as ayas (nannies), clothes washers and nurse helpers.

What about the men, I asked her? She laughed and said the men like to fish and laze. And also prefer jobs like bus conductors or menial white collar positions. One of Neena Aunty's employees, sitting in the office with us, wholeheartedly agreed with this entire characterization.  Again, the whole exchange had a slight air of amusement to it.

There are some interesting comparisons to make between this and the stereotypes I heard about Maharashtrians in Bombay.  People would often say that Maharashtrians prefer easy, white collar jobs... they don't want to do the hard physical work.  Basically the same attitude about Bengalis that I've just described... but somehow, in Mumbai it sounded negative, and here it doesn't seem to be an insult at all.  Also, I don't think anyone would describe the Maharashtrian identity as gentle. In fact, its is quite the opposite... the Maharashtrian hero is a 17th century king called Shivaji... he is revered because of his military prowess and his feat of saving Maharashtrian lands from Muslim conquest.  Bengali heroes seem to be writers and poets.

Anyway.... so far I feel like I have a collection of generalizations and stereotypes. Tomorrow I'll be back at Disha.  I'm meeting up with one of the women who works at the school.  She was nice enough to agree to take me around her slum neighborhood and introduce me to people.  Also, I am going to be involved in Disha's computer classes for adults... that'll be really good exposure to both Bengali and Bihari migrants. So hopefully I am working my way toward learning about people's specific experiences.

photo

a photo from my walks around the city... it was on a construction site.  The clothing hung up to dry is a sure sign that the workers on this site also live on it.  Once the building is complete, they'll live at the site of their next gig.