people in workplaces - the office, the factory and the institute

yesterday the office at mmrda where we had gone for a vajreshwari meeting. dingy lobby spaces with pan stains and peons in white uniforms. the tube lights stick to the grid of beams and the offices are whitewashed and covered with plans of the city. the open office systems have push back chairs but the tables have white sunmica and rusted iron details.

in the afternoon, at veera desai road, i had to go to a gala in andheri industrial estate to pick a printed circuit board for my father. the dark grease stained space was just a few doors down sen kapadias swanky white office but could not be more different- an iron framed false ceiling, an ips floor, huge machines to cut beautiful glowing plates of copper plated plastic.

two men in their undershirts were pushing and pulling levers- using body weight and brute strength, slicing sheets with a loud ‘clak’. in the visitors room - a narrow slot below the staircase to the mezzanine - an old computer sat on a metal table. above our heads laminated cupboards made a canopy of folded plates.

today, exhausted dealing with the multiple dramas that any day in school throws up, rupali lies down nursing her bad back on the sofa in pauls lounge while kaushik waits patiently as i try and type the fourth year brief. meanwhile in the background rumors are flying about riots and stone throwing all around the city.

i got home easily with no trouble at all in a car full of kids - nisha, dishita, shetty, saurabh, ninad, sonal and me