Bangalore

Today (after a pretty brutal day of driving) I'm in Bangalore. Bangalore is like Los Angeles on steroids (or maybe crack?) Imagine all the same problems LA has and then multiply them by 10. Crappy traffic, bad air, poor public transportation, homelessness...etc. The developed areas of the city are good. That's is, they have side walks, the buildings are fairly well built (well, they look good at least) and the infrastructure (other than the roads) seems OK. But one thing the city clearly isn't ready for is the recent explosion in car ownership. From what people have told me cars are a totally new thing. Individuals owning cars only just started in the last 5 years or so. Bangalore (and other big cities) are buckling under the pressure of all the new traffic. I got to experience it first hand when I went to visit my new friend Michael's orphanage, Children's Project. On the way there, it took us over an hour and a half to go about 20km. As it turns out, that was making good time. It took us over two and a half hours to get back to the hotel! (during rush hour)

Pretty much grid-locked. Even the motorcycles can't move:


You'd think that they would have learned from the experiences of other developed cities. Why not plan for and install public transportation before the rest of the city is to mature for it to be easy in install?


My guess is that it's mostly the poverty of the government. They just don't have the resources to make transportation in a developing city. Of course, there are ways that they could easily make developers "pay as they go" for the instillation of city-wide public transportation. (American cities like LA could do the same thing) Or at least purchase the land for future transportation development BEFORE the city is complete, when it's still relatively easy and cheap to do so.



In Bangalore, even the old bus system didn't seem like it was ever quite up to snuff... but now the roads are jammed with cars, three wheelers and motor cycles, even the buses are starting to lose their value. They are jammed up with the cars! Add to that the issue of parking... there is none, anywhere. In this respect, Bangalore is worse than any other city I've ever been in, including Boston. (The silver lining to that is the self limiting nature of the potential car culture that might develop. Like Boston, who will want to drive if parking costs 25 dollars a day!) Then, of course, is the issue of pollution. Between all the two strokes and the terrible old smokey diesels the air is nearly un-breathable. My lungs were sore after one day. I thought Chennai was bad, but Bangalore takes the cake. If they don't do something about the air quality in the cities here they are going to have an explosion of lung disease cases in the coming years.



Otherwise, the future is pretty bright. There is clearly a LOT of money pouring into Bangalore. I have never seen so much construction going on all at once in any place I've ever been. It seems like half the buildings are brand new or under construction. Sadly, they are still using the same brain-dead way of building them. No matter how big or small the building it's pretty much always the same: Ferro-cement with brink or cinder-block (i.e. fly ash / concrete blocks) infill. There often seems to be pretty poor or no engineering on the structure. For example, I've seen buildings with WAY more steel than they need. It's a total waste. IN addition, the concrete is still often mixed in small batches and carried up the building by hand. (they have "ready-mix" services here, but many contractors still seem to just use manual labor rather than concrete pumps, etc.) As a result, the concrete is often mixed and layed up completely incorrectly. Here is a photo where you can see where a whole section of concrete has totally failed:
The structure isn't even complete and it's already falling apart. I've also noticed all kinds of really bad workmanship on other under-construction buildings: Not plumb, level , or square masonry; bad bond patterns; incorrectly anchored rebar; etc. In the end, everything is always plastered over with some sort of cement based plaster. Not too many of the mistakes are visible after that. (But the problems are still there). Also the final "finish" of the building often leave much to be desired. For example, they often don't bother to put any plumbing or wiring in the walls or create wet walls. Instead, pipes and conduit can be seen running along the inside and outside walls. It's as if no one ever bothered to put them in the blue-prints. (It isn't universal, but I am seeing a LOT of it)

Often things also seem overbuilt.

I'm no engineer, but this looks like an awful lot of steel.

It LOOKS good, but what's under the skin?


It could be that there is SO MUCH construction going on that contractors can't find any skilled workers. Or, looking at it more pessimistically, maybe it's contractors looking for the cheapest labor regardless of experience. I actually saw a child laborer working on one of the construction sites I walked though. I even got a photograph. (He ASKED me to take his photo) :




My main reason for wanting to visit Bangalore was to see Michael's orphanage. As he warned me, it is a very humble operation. Right now, due to some financial complications, they operate out of a two bedroom condo. I was impressed by the energy of the place regardless. The kids are all angels; very well behaved. And you could feel the genuine love that they have for Micheal, Aleli (his wife) and Rangeeta (Their main teacher and helper). Of course, the adults love them all as well. I took portraits of most of the students. The kids were all so full of happiness, it was quite easy to get good shots. They make me look like a master photographer! It really is hard to share with words the happiness and upbeat attitude of the kids. Considering their backgrounds, it is astounding. Many of them come from the most terrible situations you can imagine. One child, who was only four or five years old, was so neglected by their former guardian that they had scars from skin infections. A few of the kids have been abused sexually and physically. Normally, the prospects for such kids aren't good. Yet after a few years of living in a place where their foster parents provide a safe home, decent care, and plenty of love, it seems that they are well on their way to a bright future. They have the safety to be allowed a proper childhood.


There are so many shots I just combined them into a single sheet. The kids are so radiant, it made my job easy. (Click the link for the image [5MB] .)

http://www.mediamax.com/lordtangent/Hosted/ContactSheet_LARGE.jpg

I met Michael at the earth architecture workshop. His reason for taking the workshop was to learn enough so he could build his new facility. Recently, the Childrens project was lucky enough to acquire some land in Coorg, which is an area in the tea/coffee region. But resources are stretched to the limit, so the money he has to actually build with is limited. They are going to have to make every penny count. He plans to build the structure himself. (But no offer of help will be turned away!) You can see more about the project at childrensproject.org