Lest we forget

Acknowledging the role of construction labourers in the making of the Millennium City through their work clothes

A dynamic city-in-progress like Gurugram is the ongoing work of a sweeping range of enterprising professionals: from investment bankers, real estate developers, IT engineers to restaurateurs, DJs and comedy artists to call centre staffers and cab drivers.

And then there are those vital set of men who, equipped with cranes and excavators, physically build the boomtown’s most visible aspect—its sprawling malls and sky-kissing high-rises.

Yes, the construction labourers.

One smoke-filled afternoon, a spot along the perimeters of an upcoming mall beside the busy NH-8 was throbbing alive with a set of two items: a yellow plastic helmet and a pair of black gloves.

The gloves were wrapped around the helmet as if a person’s hands were gently touching upon a loved one’s head. The more you stared at the sight, the more intensely it resonated with the life of all those unknown invisible men who build our promising cities brick by brick. Soon, a labourer surfaced from the worksite behind the boundary wall. Though these weren’t his possessions, he spared a few moments from his shift duties to explain the ideal dress code that goes in the making of a typical Millennium City construction worker.

Apart from the helmet and gloves, Kamlesh Dev listed the following appendages to a labourer’s daily work-clothes: a safety mask as protection from dust and smoke, black goggles to shield eyes from welding sparks, a grey safety jacket to minimise the body’s exposure to risky particles, and black safety boots to cushion the feet from nails, metal pieces and many other potentially dangerous objects that litter the construction grounds.

The “company” or the “thekedar (contractor”) supplies this necessary gear to the labourers for free, Mr Dev confirmed. Ironically he himself was wearing only the black goggles. He sheepishly pinned the blame to his laziness.

By the time Mr Dev returned to his assignation, the helmet and gloves had gone missing. Perhaps they were reclaimed by the owner -- the anonymous labourer who, among many, was helping the shopping mall come up in the city’s smoggy air.