the red corridors of power

gandhi garden on the left/ oval on the right / mantralaya in the middle

the mantralaya is a building on madame cama road where j tata road meets the gandhi garden. today at the ‘high powered’ committee meeting after waiting in lines at the innumerable gates on three sides of the building we were ushered in past multiple security gates and friskings for bombs and guns into a labyrinth of red terrazzo floors and empty lobbies with hardly any light seeping in through the wooden frames and frosted glass.

the wires hung loose in exposed conduits on the ceiling carrying information and electricity down halls. the obligatory ‘decent’ off white or rather almost yellow that all government building have all over was all accentuated by the few dark plywood details of the older interiors that no one has bothered to change and the anemic grey cubicles of the newly renovated rooms.

the pwd conference room was at the end of one of the many corridors that we walked down like a troop of soldiers. the floor was a dark laminated wood, the chairs upholstered in red with golden stars all over and around the table the high powered- paul and lubaina included.

the labyrinth has within enormous courtyards dwarfed by the stalinesque buildings on all sides and there is of course the perpetual presence of security guards on metal folding chairs to make sure no one lingers on the finely mowed lawn in the middle.