`Rubble
to Renewal'
An Architecture of Hope
- A Personal View. Brinda Somaya
The earthquake-January 26th 2001. It was a Friday. As it
was our Republic Day it was a holiday. I had moved into
a high-rise apartment in Mumbai (Bombay) just a few months
earlier. I was sitting at the dining table having a leisurely
breakfast when I felt the floor below me shake. I first
thought I was having a giddy spell and stood up, but then
I noticed the ceiling lights were swaying from side to side.
It was an earthquake. It was several hours later that we
found out that the epicenter of this earthquake was in Kutch
in Gujarat. It measured 7.9 on the Richter scale and took
place at 8.50 am with its epicentre near Bhuj in Kutch district.
I had been to Bhuj many years earlier. The erstwhile Maharaja
was a client of mine and I had gone with my family to his
"Raj Tilak" or Coronation. We had been wined and
dined at his palace and it had been two days of celebration.
My next trip to Bhuj was going to be very different.
Shortly
thereafter I received a telephone call from Sunil Dalal.
Sunil, is one of those rare people, who believes he has
been sent to earth to do "seva " or service for
the poor and needy. A young man, he runs the `Jasoda Narottam
Charitable Trust' (The Pentagon Trust), a family charitable
trust. His lovely wife Swati was connected to one of the
most respected NGO groups in Kutch, Shrujan. I had just
completed designing an emergency trauma centre in a Municipal
Public Hospital in Bombay for Sunil and we had got to know
each other. Sunil said he wanted to do something for the
earthquake relief and would I be willing to help? Naturally
the answer was yes. The important next step was to locate
a village that needed help the most. We soon realized that
all did, but the most important aspect of reconstruction
was that we had to find a village that wanted us to help
them and the villagers would be part of the process. Sunil
and his family finally located Bhadli, an hour's drive west
of Bhuj. Bhadli was unusual, in that it had a large number
of Hindu and Muslim families. It was 60% Hindu and 40% Muslim.
(The % in India as a whole is approximately 80% Hindu and
18% Muslim). Bhadli village is approximately 40 kms west
of Bhuj. It is a village of 1500 people and there are about
325 houses. There are two tube wells and one surface well
and the village has electricity. There are approximately
30 telephones in the village. The village is made up of
farmers, handicraft workers, poultry farmers and agricultural
workers. There is an 11 - member village panchayat that
takes decisions for the village. There was a school that
taught children from grades one to seven with seven teachers.
There was also a small dispensary in the village. For further
education and hospital treatment the villagers have to go
to the adjoining village which is 8 kms away.
The villagers wanted us to help. Sunil took a decision not
to wait for government aid so as to eliminate government
red tape. He told me if the government aid comes in well
and good and if it did not we would go ahead anyway!
Swati
and I then visited Bhadli in early June. It had been five
months since the earthquake but it hit me hard. There was
rubble everywhere. People were living in the open. Schools
had not reopened. In our village of Bhadli we met a couple
whose three sons were all lawyers in Baroda. The sons had
offered to pay for the reconstruction of their home so they
proudly told me they did not need government money This
old man kept following me as I walked around the village
and said he wanted to show me his house. When I went there
was nothing but open land and a shed on one side where his
wife was cooking in the open. . They had also neatly stacked
their old doors and windows for reuse. Other villagers came
up to us and asked us to hurry and rebuild the school. They
said once the children started working and earning their
parents would not send them back to school. The principal
was almost crying when he told us this. Our school and community
centre is now under construction. The most important Muslim
villager was the one who took us around. He worked in tie
and dye work and was well off. He had already begun on the
reconstruction of his house with his own money, but was
very sympathetic to the plight of the rest of the villagers.
We then went round to the harijan part of the village, where
the poorest of the poor lived. As fourteen of them never
had "pucca" houses, the irony was that they would
not be entitled to government aid because they had not "lost"
their homes. When I told Damu, my architect friend in NYC
this she took on this mission and has been collecting money
for us for these fourteen harijan homes and of course Sunil
will always fill in the deficit!
We learned from Sunil that a village panchayat had been
formed with Hindus (patels and banias and harijans), Muslims
and A WOMAN representative. Three cheers! We went and met
the committee at the home of the woman representative and
sat in her courtyard and discussed our plans. They gave
us ideas and subsequently we presented the school plans
to them as well where we received a lot of valuable input.
Money
from the government has started coming in and this will
help the `Jasoda Narottam Charitable Trust' to achieve some
of their other goals for this village. These include water
harvesting, improving the sanitation and water supply conditions,
building a community centre, a crèche and a women's
working area in addition to the school. Apart from the school
none of these facilities existed earlier. Kutch is the home
to the highest density of craftsmen and women in India.
The fabrics are world famous and include tie and dye work,
embroidery, printed and woven pieces of cloth. These bright
and colourful textiles are known all over India and in many
parts of the world as well. It is a major source of income
especially for the women.
On
my way back from Bhadli I went to Bhuj and visited the palace.
The earthquake had spared no one. The palace was severely
damaged. We had sat, during the Raj Tilak in the Maharaja's
garden amongst Italian marble statues enjoying the evening
celebrations. Today I saw only broken pieces of marble.
The palace needs reconstruction too. Where does one begin??
Kutch is rich in art and architecture and one cannot even
imagine when the repair of the wonderful old buildings will
take place. At this time we are more concerned to ensure
that everyone has a roof over their heads, and we have begun
with Bhadli. .....
contd.
Also
read about:
Kutch:
A Brief Overview
Rehabilitation
and reconstruction
Bhadli
Village: Rehabilitation Plans
Facilities
that require repair and upgradation
Proposed
Plan for the Rehabilitation of Bhadli Village
The
Village in Pieces - A visual presentation
Completed
Houses
We need
your support
