armed policeman

Here's a random note on something that I notice that is a little jarring for me here in Mumbai.

The police often walk around with guns over their shoulders and lathis in their hands.  This policeman was pacing around the train station platform that I was waiting on, and the lathhi made me much more nervous than the gun.  (Actually, I don't even know if it is a lathi, or just a stick...)  He was only casually holding it because he didn't have any other way of carrying it, but I felt that it looked kind of sinister, and a bit too ready to use.  I probably just have an overactive imagination.

The gun, also, weirds me out.  I am used to seeing police guns that are much smaller in size and always kept in holsters.  The casual sling-over-the-shoulder method of carrying a gun doesn't seem quite right.

Its strange that I felt a little nervous when I saw this guy walking around... its not even like I'm particularly scared of Indian policemen.  I have asked several for directions before, and have always found them helpful.  

 

research progress with LEARN

I'm getting pretty involved with LEARN, the ngo that organizes workers unions for women in the informal sector.  The majority of the women who participate in the organization are migrants, so its a good platform for my research.  I went to two more Sangathna meetings over the last three days.  One of them was especially interesting because it was a meeting of just the group leaders (the union is divided into groups of 20ish, each with 3 leaders).  The women talked a lot about their agenda for the next several months, as well as their general philosophy for why they were there and why be involved in trying to secure rights.  There was a sustained back and forth between the leaders of the organization, who wanted the group leaders to do more to get their members involved, and many of the group leaders, who said they had no way to demand participation from members who have a hard enough time balancing their home and work lives.  There was some grumbling about people who were only in the organization to get ration cards and didn't have an appreciation of the broader empowerment that might take place.  Two of the leaders-- Razia Apa and Bano Apa-- did most of the talking, and were both very charismatic and forceful speakers.  Here's a picture of the meeting:

 

I have now been assigned to some projects of my own with LEARN.  I'm going to do two things:  organize a health clinic and teach basic English classes.

The clinic will be a temporary thing for a couple of days at the end of June to give the women a chance to get blood tests, cancer screenings and physicals for themselves and their families.  This will actually be easier than it sounds... there are already organizations that bring these clinics to slums, and I basically just have to schedule them and make sure the women know when to show up.  So not much time commitment on my part, but it helps out the women and generates some trust and good will toward me :)

I've found that people tend to be a bit resentful of researchers that come to an organization, spend a few weeks with them, get some soundbites and leave, not having made any friends or much of an attempt to contribute to their work.  And for the researcher too (at least for someone like myself who is new to this society and the slum environment in general) it makes sense to spend time just getting to know the personalities and lives of the people you want to study.  Still, I have so little time in India that I am a bit wary of being roped into doing too much work for the NGO.  (Sounds selfish, I know... they are really short of manpower, are doing good work, and could use the help).  But I think the bit of work I'm doing will be appreciated, and will also allow me to have better access for research. 

For one thing, I hope to gain access to the records that LEARN keeps about its members.  They maintain files on all the women in the organization... about 300 or so.  They have all filled out a form with information on their background, occupations, families and incomes, as well as detailed records of their identity documentation status-- for example, whether they have a ration card or whether their kids have birth certificates.  With the permisison of the women, Indira thinks that it will be no problem for me to have access to this information and use it in my research.  Since I've decided that my focus will be on identity documentation and how its related to political integration, this is a really big deal; just a goldmine of very systematic information about the group I'm studying.  As I get to know the women, I will supplement this data with peronsal interviews about their thoughts on living in Mumbai, their struggles with establishing their identity and their political particiaption.

As for the English classes, I think they will be good way to get to know the women better and make them comfortable with me.  I hope its the kind of interaction that will make for richer interviews.  Already, the women who have seen me several days in a row are joking around with me and relaxing a bit, and Bano Apa has invited me to her house.  I hope more of this is to come.

I plan to spend the next few days doing a lot of research on the policies and bureacracy around identity documentation in Maharashtra as well as India as a whole.   Luckily I have library access at the Institute for Population Sciences, and thanks to Dr. Mohan, I have a source that I am hoping will hook me up with some ration card office bureacrats. 

Between this research and the English clasess, I'm a bit nervous about how this next week will go! 

maharashtra day

Yesteray was Maharashtra Day, a state holiday and a rememberence of when Maharashtra became a state (in 1960. Before that, the Marathi and Gujarati areas of India were both part of the state of Bombay).  This is a really interesting time for me to be here, because its the first time that North Indian migrants have organized special events for Maharashtra Day, and also because it has only been a couple of months since the violence instigated by Raj Thackeray and his anti-migrant party (the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena).  Unfortunately, its kind of hard to find a published schedule of events for the day and I only had vague ideas about when/where to go... so I woke up, left the apartment and hoped to stumble upon interesting stuff.

My first attempt didn't work out.  I got to Shivaji Park, one of the main venues for events, in the late morning, but the ceremony and pomp was already over.  This was the official event by the government of Maharashtra and there had been music, speeches and a parade.  I was really disappointed to miss it.  And I swear, this is the first time I have heard of anything starting before 10 or 11am in this city.

Since I happened to be in a shopping district, I couldn't resist looking in some stores for a bit.  And then I hailed a cab to take me to Juhu, where I had read there was to be a symposium in celebration of Maharashtra Day about the role of migrants in Mumbai's development.  But I didn't have an address or time for the event (not for lack of trying).

Luckily, I hailed the right taxi.  I explained to the driver where I was trying to go, and he knew nothing about it either but he said he would figure it out once we got to Juhu.  He also had a newspaper with a schedule of other events for the day.  He helped me plan where to go and I hired him to drive me around for the rest of the day.  This worked out wonderfully because he was from UP and pretty tuned into politics... I was able to interview him in detail as we were driving.  It was also nice not to have to worry about how to get places... he did all the leg work, like stopping at corners and asking for directions.  

We ended up finding information about the Juhu event on a banner on the street.  The event was a symposium organized by Sanjay Nirupam, a former Shiv Sena party leader who made headlines in 2005 when he switched parties because of the Sena's anti-migrant stance.   He is now in the Congress party and his signature issue is migrant rights.  His event was in a really ritzy club in Juhu (itself a posh area).  I got there early, and as I was sitting around waiting, Mr. Nirupam came into the room and said hello to everyone.  When he walked by me, I asked if he had some minutes to spare for a couple of questions.  And he immediately sat down next to me!  It was kind of ridiculous.  Luckily I had prepared questions for this unlikely possibility.  

Much of what he said were standard soundbites about how two thirds of Mumbaikars are migrants and about how Marathi-only politics don't make sense because "language is to communicate, not to fight."  One thing that surprised me is that he actually supports a proposal to give hiring priority to local laborers.  He made sure to say that he thinks reservations like these don't make sense for the skilled sector, because industry will suffer, but for unskilled labor, he thinks people who have lived in Mumbai for at least 15 years should have job priority.  I asked him why he supports this prioritization, and he basically just said "because they're local" (but in a more complicated way).  This is a spin on one of the hottest migrant-related issues right now: proposals to reserve a percentage of jobs in Mumbai for Maharashtrans in particular.  I'm surprised that Mr. Nirupam supports some version of this plan, though I guess as an elected official, he has to be somewhat accommodating in his stances and the inclusion of "locals" in his plan means that Maharashtrans aren't the only beneficiaries.  

The migrant symposium itself started off with almost 2 hours of music and dance performances... and I had another event (also at 5) that I wanted to attend, so I left before the speeches.  I figured I could read about them later.  Here's his new website that was launched at the event and below is a picture of the banner advertising the symposium (the man pictured is Nirupam):

The other event I went to was very different, sponsored by a Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand (basically North Indian) cultural forum.  While the Nirupam event was posh, kind of small, and seemed to be aimed at professionals, this event was in a huge public ground with probably a couple of thousand people attending.  Again, the main thing on the program was popular songs and dances, and a Maharashtran patriotic song as well.  The audience was obviously there for the music and dances... the young men whistled and clapped a lot, and the performances went on for a couple of hours.  The whole thing was infused with Maharashtran patriotism.  I thought it was interesting that the North Indian association took the strategy of being super-patriotic toward Maharashtra (this was also a contrast to the Nirupam event).  An alternate track they might have taken would be to emphasize everyone's common Indian identity and minimize the salience of local languages and cultures.  But there was tons of Maharashtran imagery, cheer and even a bit of Marathi spoken. 

There were a handful of high-level government officials on the stage, and they were recognized and made some speeches that expressed the right of Uttar Bharatis (North Indians) to be part of Maharashtra's economic and cultural landscape.  One of the men said, Maharashtra is our home and livelihood, North India is our family and lineage, and the two coexist.  It sounded poetic in Hindi.  There was also a lot said about how Maharashtra day is also for North Indians, because they come to Maharashtra, work hard, and along the way move the state and the country forward.  The symbolism at this event was pretty interesting.  For example, all the dignitaries were presented with matching Puneri pagris (a type of Maharashtran cultural hat) and Banarasi gamchhas (a famous North Indian scarf). 

 

The entire event had a positive atmosphere and a well-behaved crowd.  I did feel kind of out of place, but people talked freely to me, (often asked why I was taking notes), and wanted to know how I liked Mumbai.  It was fun.  More pictures from Maharashtra Day here.

the informal sector

Most of the migrants in Mumbai are part of the city's informal labor force.  As I've been talking to NGO workers, professors and family members over the last few days, I've heard lots of facts and thoughts on the informal sector... I want to jot down some of the stuff I found the most interesting.

The informal sector is "under-the-table," outside of government regulation.  In a way, the people who constitute it are kind of outsiders in the city, not integrated into the formal economy, not paying taxes or official rents and often living in ad hoc and unsanitary settlements.  They also do not have labor rights or the same private property and residence rights that are typical in the formal sector.  I think that this situation is particularly unstable for them because in the political climate of today, they are also portrayed as cultural outsiders by certain political parties.  And the direction of local and state government policies seems to be making it harder, not easier, for them to formalize their residences and livelihoods in the city.

Despite a status that seems temporary, many of them have lived in Mumbai for all or most of their lives and their presence and economic activities are indispensable.  Most of my own food and transportation needs here are met by the informal sector.  And they do pay "rents" (in the form of bribes) to government officials and landlords.   If they live in a "declared slum," then the government is responsible for ensuring they have access to city services like electricity and water.  But if they are in an undeclared slum, they do not have these things, or they get them through bribes and backdoor channels.

Informal sector activities include a truly huge array of things.  All of the hawkers that sell various things in carts on the street (hawking is illegal), food vendors, waste removal workers, maids, cooks and other household workers, clothes makers, construction workers (who are hired by subcontractors and paid in cash), cab and rickshaw drivers, and the endless number of people that you can hire for all sorts of small jobs... all of these are part of the informal sector.  Even factories-- like many places in the Dharavi slum that produce snacks, leather, buckles, garments-- are informal because they occupy their land unofficially by paying bribes to government officials, and always face the threat of destruction to make room for more upscale development. 

To give me an idea of the scale of production that falls into this sector, Indira (my new friend from LEARN India) told me that there are about 50 farsan (snack) factories in Dharavi alone, and they produce about 50,000 kgs (110,000 lbs) of food per day that goes into Mumbai.  This is a low estimate... its more when there is a major event or festival.  Its clear that the informal sector is critical for meeting the city's demand for consumption.  (By the way, the term "factory" may be a bit misleading here... they are called factories, but a better way to describe them would be large clusters of small scale, labor intensive production.  For example, a garment factory is likely to be several men who sit at sewing machines in small cement structures... more like sweat shops).

When we were talking about hawkers, Indira said that she thinks the very informality of the informal sector makes small human connections more possible and reduces the alienation people feel in a big city.  She said that besides its obvious economic value, the informal sector is also important  because it keeps a certain level of sanity and personal contact in society.  For example, the experience of going to a bazaar and bargaining for an item forces you to talk to people, engage with them, and even use a bit of charm.  Formal businesses, with no space for haggling, also leave little space for extended personal interaction.  She thinks thats one of the reasons that in era of supermarkets and department stores, things like local bazaars and farmers' markets are again popular in the West. 

The pictures are of a girl selling hair clips on a train, and a line of informal shops on the side of a street:

 

 

volunteering with down to earth

Today was something of a day of contrasts.

I met some friends of Aazamina's who run an NGO called Down to Earth.  They provide education for children in slums.  I took a bus from the CST station to the last bus stop in a posh area of Mumbai called Cuff Parade.  The bus drove by beautiful apartment residences and hotels, and stopped at a bus depot, right next to the slum where Down to Earth runs its classes. It may be a bit misleading to call this place a slum though.  The definition of a slum is quite contested and varies depending on who you talk to and what their interests are.  But I think most people would call this place (named Ambedkar-nagar) a slum.  But the housing in it isn't temporary or disgusting.  Most of the houses are two stories (with a small room on each floor and a simple ladder connecting the upstairs and downstairs), have cement walls and corrugated metal roofs and electricity (though it is not metered).  Its an extremely crowded place, with really narrow alleys and walkways between the structures.  And it is certainly very shabby, with a lot of crumbling cement and trash. 

But at the same time, its quite vibrant.  There are stores, people working and talking everywhere, chickens running around, food being sold.  The Indian census defines a slum as a cluster of 50 or 60 households that are dilapidated and unconnected, and the BMC declares areas slums based on different housing conditions.  But those are just technical definitions.  I guess my point is that there are really bad slums, and better off slums, and this was probably a better off one.

So I met 3 NGO workers-- Dev, Maansi and Niki, all in their 20's or early 30's and all really friendly.  As Maansi was taking me through the alleys to the NGOs headquarters, 3 or 4 people stopped her to say hello or ask a question.  Several of the kids also said hi to her.  The headquarters were in one of the cement structures.  And everything was quite clean, as I assume the houses of the people who live in this area are as well.  There were gaps in the places where the walls met the ceiling, and once two cats involved in a chase came through one corner of the room and streaked out another.  I guess things must get a bit wet inside during the rainy season.

I met two of the pupils... about 9-11 year old boys.  When I came in, they were working on sudoku puzzles with Dev.  They had pretty decent English skills, and for the most part, understood me just fine when I said simple English sentences.  Dev wanted me to help them practice their English, so I had a "Where are you from?  How many siblings do you have?" type of conversation with them.   They were really sweet boys.  Dev, Maansi and Niki told me about Down To Earth and the kind of work they do, and I think I am going to help them with teaching a couple of times a week.  And Dev offered to arrange interviews for me with the students' parents (they are mostly migrants from all different places in India) and to have one of the NGO staff accompany me.  So that will be incredibly helpful.  I'm really excited to be involved with this group.

To give me some practice, Dev called in an 18 year old guy named Nasir.  I asked him my set of questions, and he answered like he thought his parents would.  It was cool, and Dev had some great suggestions for fine-tuning my questions a bit.  I mentioned earlier that the place didn't seem like a terrible slum to me.  When I asked Nasir whether there was something he or his parents wished they could have, he told me nothing... they were doing pretty well.   Dev wasn't sure if his parents would have said the same thing, but at least this 18 year old felt pretty good about his life.

So after my introduction to Down to Earth, I stopped by Makduda Aunty's house because her family lives right in Cuff Parade.   Their flat is just gorgeous, and it was really nice to see her and get her advice on living in Mumbai.  It was particularly good to hang out with someone who I've known for a long time... helped mitigate some of the culture shock I've been feeling.  These two places were close to each other but also worlds apart (I would say a lot more so than the lives and dwellings of rich and poor people in the West).  Not just worlds apart in terms of aesthetics and facilities, but also outlook.  I guess its not surprising that I get totally different opinions on Bombay's slum issues from family and family friends here then I do from the NGO workers and the actual slum dwellers that I've met so far.  Many people on the upper-middle and upper class end don't really seem to identify with their plight.  Instead they seem to be thought of as people who are ruining Mumbai.  I've heard that opinion several times over now.

I do think both sides of the issue make legitmate points.  I'll write about those some other time.