On the path of ‘pragati’ in Delhi

Digging into the lives of three labourers

The air is laden with dust. The temperature is so high that the body seems to be on a slow roast.

In such a setting, a new world is coming up, gradually, steadily, here on Mathura Road. This stretch overlooks Pragati Maidan, whose exhibition complexes were demolished a few years ago to make way for new landmarks. The construction isn’t complete, yet one can see the new structures. Many seem to be nearing completion, though still encased in scaffoldings. Some are overlooked by high cranes.

This scorching afternoon, the road is almost empty. Every person who is fascinated by how cities alter ought to take a walk here. It’s the equivalent of surveying New Delhi while it was being built by the British.

The air is quiet, except for the droning sound of a bulldozer ramming its sharp teeth into the roadside tarmac. A dozen labourers are digging the ground with their shovels. It is impossible to confirm if they are part of a bigger group of labourers assigned for the area’s wider redevelopment, or part of a more focused assignment. They themselves have no clue.

“We have been put to work by a contractor, our job is to dig the ground,” says Sanju. He is at work on the roadside with colleagues Uday Bhan and Vinod. Only Sanju appears to be wearing shoes, the others are in slippers.

All three men have been on the site “for many days”, and all are from Jhansi, in UP’S arid Bundelkhand region. “We have agricultural land at home,” Sanju says. “But we want to see the duniya, so we came to work in Delhi for a while.”

The other two men silently nod. A while later Uday Bhan adds that “we each get ₹450 daily for our work.” The three men live “with many other labourers” in a city stadium.

Sanju confesses that neither does he, nor his friends know what exactly will come up on the ground they are digging. “May be a chabutara for pigeons,” says Uday Bhan. He says it so solemnly that one isn’t sure if he means it as a joke.

The earth is wet and suddenly Vinod’s feet sink deep into the ground. Sanju laughs loudly. Vinod too takes his feet off the earth, but the slippers get stuck. He takes them out with his hands, and they get back into work.

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