The decisive phenomenon of the urban scene over the last two decades has been the growth of the zhopadpattis, caused by distress migration from the villages. The squatters live a wretched existence, in niches and crevices all over the city, building with whatever materials come to hand. Yet even in this elemental struggle for survival, surface two opposing sets of mythic images. The first: the expression of age-old symbols – the tulsi plant, the wayside shrine. The second: a new set of images reflecting new aspirations – the T.V. set, the transistor, the plastic buckets, the nylon shirts.

Woman waves happily from her hutment of corrugated iron – favourite building material of squatters.
Woman waves happily from her hutment of corrugated iron – favourite building material of squatters.
Though she lives in the heart of a teeming metropolis, the woman at right retains her old traditional life-style, surrounded as she is by the household gods, rustic cradle, potter’s wheel and auspicious symbols painted on the walls.
Though she lives in the heart of a teeming metropolis, the woman at right retains her old traditional life-style, surrounded as she is by the household gods, rustic cradle, potter’s wheel and auspicious symbols painted on the walls.
Ingenuity is to the fore in the grim battle for living space, as even unused water pipes provide shelter for many of the city’s migrants.
Ingenuity is to the fore in the grim battle for living space, as even unused water pipes provide shelter for many of the city’s migrants.

This document is embedded in …

"Manusha – Architecture as the measure of man." In Vistāra - The Architecture of India, Catalogue of the Exhibition, edited by Carmen Kagal, 14-31. The Festival of India, 1986.

See also …