Friday, November 13, 2015

Traditional Construction Training, Oct 27 - Nov 1 

 

A five day workshop in local building techniques was conducted for the villages of Kaule and Bhangeri using traditional building materials and talent to ensure they are better equipped to handle future seismic events 

 

The training was hands-on, with the help of some customised tools that we took with us to Kaule - bought with contributions from the South Col Earthquake Support group. The villagers were encouraged to participate and upgrade traditional skills-  like stone masonry, carpentry, and mud work - skills they have honed for generations.

The training was led by architect Ashish Sharan Lal from Kolkata, and conducted together with Areen Attari of Put Your Hands Together, Mumbai; Manu Narendran of Thumbs Impressions from Ahmedabad; Tribhuvanji Artisan from Saharsa, Bihar; and ably assisted by Aditya Rao and Siddhartha Arya from Mysore.

We planned for a group of twenty - fifty two people turned up with almost the entire village watching from the sidelines! Everybody wanted a saw! And a drill! and  hammer! Their enthusiasm and willingness to learn overwhelmed us completely - making the session a hugely satisfying and successful one.

Santaman Tamang as usual played a key, leadership role in organising the trainees and infrastructure at the training site. After the training we also met with the Deputy Director of the Department of Urban Development and Building Construction, Shri Ravi Shah, Biresh Shah, a well known architect in Kathmandu, our supporter Vivek Rawal from People in Centre currently working in Nepal for the UNDP, and a number of other prominent citizens in Kathmandu and presented to them our concept design for the prototype we are developing for the reconstruction effort.

Here are a few images from the training sessions:

(There are a number of names in the images that have escaped me even though I tried jogging...(my memory) - Apologies to them - I will fill the gaps next time I sit with Santaman). Also, Siddharth was given the responsibility of handling one of the cameras - so he features little. Thanks Siddharth!

OCTOBER 26, MONDAY - Day 1


'Khaja Ghar' lunch on the way from Kathmandu to Kaule

A stop for tea at Satbise, the bus-stop town at the base of the Sundara Devi hill reminded us what we are up against!

It is dusk by the time we reach Kaule. The driver of the Scorpio we were traveling drops us and turns back to return to Kathmandu to attend his niece's birthday. The Scorpio lost its rear bumper on the tough road up to kaule, along with the driver Pushkar's confidence to return on such a tough road with a not-so-tough vehicle

Areen, Manu, santaman and I inspect the pit that has been dug by the villagers for the dip treatment of bamboo and we retire for for the day to an annexe in Santamans house half way below the hill where we stayed for the duration of the training

  OCTOBER 27, TUESDAY - Day 2 

 

On the way to the training site in the morning, we are greeted by a series of bamboo clumps, growing wild - one of the materials we propose to use in the reconstruction effort

The pit is ready and lined with a plastic sheet to receive the solution of Borax and Boric Acid - required to rid bamboo of insects in the void of their culms

Santaman - the excellent orator and leader - addresses the participants and onlookers who have come from the three wards of the Sundara devi VDC - some of them more than an hour's walk away

Aditya is made in-charge of keeping track of the tools procured for the training - complete with a 'bahi khata' - traditional accounting notebook wrapped in cloth that he has brought along

Resham, the quiet, ace carpenter, is given the responsibility of storing them away after the session ends

The participants are encouraged to get a feel of the tools - mostly hand tools and man-powered
A fire is lit for heating water to around 60 degrees Celcius - required for mixing Borax and Boric Acid in water. this will then be added to the pit that is filling with water at the time

The mixing of Borax and Boric Acid - procured from Birgunj in the Terai against great odds given the fuel blockade situation currently in effect in Nepal - is in progress. Two parts of Borax is mixed with three parts of Boric Acid. Once the solution is ready it will be added to the pit for treatment of bamboo by dipping them. Owing to the small container - this process would be repeated at least 20-25 times to achieve the concentration required for a pit that is 40 feet long, 5 feet wide, and 4 feet deep

While the pit is being readied, Manu and Areen take the stage and make a presentation on bamboo and its uses in a nearby make-shift 'auditorium' - the committee room of a school presently under construction in the village. With window and doors missing, it took contributions of shawls and bedsheets from the residents of the village to make the audi projector-friendly

Santaman and I apprise the gathering of the prototype design and the site proposed for it - an old building on the school premises that will be demolished and its foundations used for reconstruction

Areen receives a rock star's reception by the crowd - full house, full attention

Given the responsibility for preparing the pit, Sanjay wades through the water to make sure the chemicals are mixed evenly in a solution. Borax and Boric Acid solution is harmless to the body and the skin. Sanjay, a guide/porter by profession during trekking seasons, is one of the toughest and strongest people in the villages, capable of lifting twice the amount of load meant for one person without a grimace

Nothing to do with Bharatnatyam - Manu is instructing the participants on how to sort bamboo which then can be stacked separately and used for purposes that fit their size, diameter, straightness etc. - no bamboo is wasted - they can all be used for some purpose or the other - posts, mats, jafri, wattle, or, if nothing else, as fuel for fire

Sudershan - an ace carpenter and people manager - measuring and sorting bamboo

Indians see Chinese saw! A China-make saw Manu got from the internet proved to be the best one around - prompting us to order more for the next stage (prototype construction). The locals are used to 'pulling saws' as against 'pushing saws' - this depends on the direction in which the blades are oriented and sharpened. The saws we purchased from Kolkata were pushing saws, which they found difficult to operate

Areen and Dawa - one of the all-rounders and ever smiling trainee - enjoy the battery operated power drilling of 4 mm holes in the bamboos for letting the chemicals into the voids - that is where the insects reside, and chew up the bamboo from inside making them weak over time

Power is a scarce commodity - so charging of batteries is possible - at best of times - once a day. Hand drilling is the solution - and the younger generation is attentive to the fact

"I have been framed" - Areen

On another location five minutes from the bamboo treatment pit, the building that was destroyed during the earthquake is being demolished - to make way for the prototype

Material salvaged from the demolished building is being stacked for re-use. Good, seasoned timber is a precious commodity. expensive and scarce

Meanwhile, bamboo, our material of choice, can be locally grown and has a turnaround time of three years when it can be harvested again - from the same clump. Presently we train the people in various ways in which bamboo can be joined structurally

Bamboo pins have great tensile strength owing to the longitudinal tissues - and are used in a combination with rope ties, nuts and bolts, depending on the joint, to provide easy and strong junctions. A trainee is being instructed in the making of a bamboo pin - usually 10 mm in diameter

Most of the participants are within the impressionable age

As clouds blow in from the east, Manu and I try communicating with the rain gods in the evening to try and stop him/her -  but there is no signal and our smartphones are not smart enough for this kind of communication

OCTOBER 28, WEDNESDAY - Day 3

Cereal and buff milk breakfast - excellent start for day 3...

...Followed by a training session with Gareth Bale and other wonderful 'monkeys' - as he calls them - from Santaman's joint family. Siddharth brought the football with him as a gift for the youngsters - the last trip we played with what looked like a pumpkin from their fields below

Are we early - or has the village has had enough of us already?


Not really, Dawa (from Kaule) and Ram (from Bhangeri) are here... two senior participants who make everything look easy. Santaman is now preparing a participant's list - as we have geared ourselves to pay a fee to the participants from the contributions made by the South Col Earthquake Support group. We have come prepared for twenty, we already have more than forty participants...

.... And the list is growing by the minute  as more join in...

We are in finally in business - dipping the bamboos prepared the day before in the pit ready with the chemical solution for the treatment

Initially the bamboos float in the solution - as the voids inside are yet to be filled through the twin holes drilled in each segment for the purpose

Cool job - keeping the bamboos submerged - wish I could exchange my desk job with their's
Sudershan - aces anything assigned to him - carpentry, bamboo work, supervision - with a very mature and cool head on his shoulders. If one was given the unpleasant job of picking the best of the lot - it would be him

Another team prepares bamboo splits - for use in wattle for the walls, and other flat applications and surfaces

We are invited for lunch to a house in the village - rice and fowl curry. The house belongs to one of Santaman's relatives. Most of the villagers are related to each other in some way or the other - it is a huge, extended joint family spread over two ridges


Meanwhile, the demolition of the destroyed building by another team of participants continues- by forming a human chain - a manual conveyor belt - to transport large stones the size of, well, large stones

The team working on the bamboo joints crafts one such under Areen's supervision

Getting the right fit between the bamboos at the joints is important for the loads to be transmitted efficiently and without causing stress on the material

Cross my bamboos and hope to tie...Once the fit is obtained using hand tools like saws (aari), chisels (batali), and files (reti), the bamboos are secured to each other using bamboo pins or nuts and bolts - depending on the nature and function of the joint, and tie together with inelastic ropes using innovative loops and knots


 OCTOBER 29, THURSDAY - Day 4



The clouds re-group - ominously and threatening the next morning's sessions. The smartphones obviously did not work - and as is usually the case, a complaint to the service provider's call center too did not. The girl at the other end of the line kept saying - please press the 'God' button followed by the 'hashtag', and kept me on perpetual hold to find out from her senior where the 'god' button was on the keypad...

Siddharth from our team is not only a tech wizard - he has four, half a centimeter diameter clip-on lenses for his One Plus smartphone (macro, fish-eye, and zoom), but he is also an experimental photographer who captures multiple moods in the same click...

Siddharth also excels in 'normal' photography - on the way to the site at around 12 noon - once the rain started to stop

Digging and clearing of debris from the foundations meant for the prototype - this will be taken up in December - but currently we will use this site for demonstrating measures to be taken to strengthen stone masonry in mud mortar

The bamboo soaks up the water - or is it a leak in the plastic?

Maan Singh is framed this time - literally. Maan Singh is an all rounder - and commands respect from the participants as their senior supervisor

We start the training session in demonstrating timber joinery embedded in stone masonry suitable for mitigating seismic loading


Manu differs with me on something as I prepare to knock him down while Areen is secretly regretting his decision to come to the site in shorts in what turned out to be a rather cold day after the rains. Siddharth is conveniently looking busy and away. He and Aditya - the young guns - never needed more than one T shirt though
 
Bhuvan - a very accomplished carpenter with deft hands - who lost his father to the earthquake - saws through the markings on the timber for making a right-angle extended lap joint to be used in wall corners

It has started raining again and an expert 'climber' - all of ten - helps us with a temporary tarpaulin cover

We shift under the verandah of the school building and carry on making a good joint

Lunch time - we are invited to another household - Resham's father's house - where we get steaming hot servings of noodle soup with eggs thrown in for good measure - the cold vanished into thin air - also thanks to the 'chhang' a local brew that accompanied lunch

 OCTOBER 30, FRIDAY - Day 5


Tribhuvan ji, the bamboo magician from Saharsa in the plains of Bihar in India, arrives on the scene. One day late, but this seventy year old bamboo artisan braved a road blockade, unfamiliarity with the local language, a sim card that was not working in Nepal, and torrential rains that hindered the best of us, and made it to the base of the hill. From there he walked up - full three hours, in failing light and falling rain, in his rubber slippers, aided by one of Santaman's sisters who accompanied him, and made it to Santaman's house at 8 pm previous night. Today, he is going to hold the audience spellbound with his artistry in bamboo handling, treatment, and design. Hats off! 

Tribhuvan ji starts weaving his magic, and has a special connect with the artisans from the village through the language of craft - though spoken Bhojpuri and Nepali are not totally alien to each other

The wattle panel made by Tribhuvan ji is being admire by the participants

Areen is trying to determine the proportion of sand and clay in the local (special) soil that is used for plastering here in Kaule - and finds that it has a perfect combination (60 : 40 :: Sandy : Clay) for the purpose

No special additives are necessary  apart from the usual - rice husk, cow dung, chopped hay, and 'maida' (fine flour) if available)!!! What Areen is wearing is the Chinsese saw in its holster - not a gun that EVERYONE thought it was


Demonstrating the final mud mix prepared by the participating ladies - ready for use in wall plaster



Plaster thus prepared is applied on both side of the wattle panel made by Tribhuvan ji

....With astonishing results...

....And immense possibilities... even if by using the cap of the plastic bottle for imprinting decoration!

The sample timber bands for the stone masonry is almost ready

And is set in place at the plinth level for the stone workers to start

All the tools he has - and needs

The man himself - the master mason

The stone masonry in mud mortar is prepared - using long stone - 'sur dunga'. The timber bands will be repeated at the cill and the lintel levels, making the wall stable during earthquakes - along with other measures - like using a bounding wire mesh in the corners on the inside and on the outside, and vertical members holding the bands together

Everybody is paying attention to the instructions

Every body...

And all seem to be understanding everything...

....Including visitors not originally on the invitee list...

Manu demonstrates lap jointing for structural lengthening of small pieces of timbers salvaged from fallen buildings for re-use

The work is completed by local carpenters who posses natural expertise in wood work

With satisfying results, in the shortage of time available - the edge-halved scarf joint)
Manu also demonstrates what many of us refused to believe - that apples bought on streets are coated with wax to retain their freshness and shine...

'Dhedo' - a kind of local 'halua' - made of maize flour is served with spinach and buff stew and tomato 'aachar' (preserve)

Prepared by Sanjay and his wife especially for us in their house in Kaule

Tribhuvan ji continues with his pursuit of perfection

Till every strand he touches has to transforms itself to a level he is completely satisfied with - a creative genius who does not believe in an iota of compromise
And then moves on to making 'jafri' a transparent wall without plaster that blocks the sun but lets in air - with mathematical precision

Meanwhile the building that stood hanging dangerously over passerbys has been raised to the ground, and material salvaged from it stacked neatly in piled inventories

The evening feels much better tonight - the Call Centre is doing its job!

OCTOBER 31, FRIDAY - Day 6


List of participants - to be used for payments today. It is decided between Santaman and even though we came prepared to pay only twenty participants a fee for their effort, we would distribute the sum evenly among all who participated. I also mentioned that we will try and re-imburse the remaining amount the next time - when we come back to build the prototype. One of the intentions of the excercise we have undertaken is to assist the villages in earning while working on the reconstruction effort - something that would otherwise needs to be spent on contracted labour from outside - and help revive the local economy along with disseminating knowledge and expertise

List 2

List 3

We are packed and ready to leave Santaman's house in the morning. The car will pick us up from the training site directly once the concluding session is finished in the school auditorium

Goodbye Gareth Bale - till the next time!

Each of us are offered a 'Khada' by Santaman's family members - a customary Buddhist scarf to protect us from things evil, to make our journeys safe, and to ensure success in our endeavours... Thank you and Namaste! Thank you also for putting up with our late night discussions over repeated rounds of Rakshi


Concluding session in the auditorium by Manu, me, and Rajen Sir - headmaster of a local school nearby - on my left

And a vote of thanks by Santaman

Remuneration for the hard work handed to representatives of the participants from the three wards of the Sundara Devi VDC

Ditto

The group photo before our departure to Kathmandu

Our Land Rover ready to roll - 'PHIR MILENGE'

NOVEMBER 1, SATURDAY - Day 7


At the DUDBC office to meet Shri Ravi Shah, Deputy Director DUDBC

Scale model of a design proposed by the DUDBC - using burnt bricks, concrete and steel - materials not easy to access in remote areas, and with large amounts of embodied energy
Visualisation of the prototype design proposed by us - adaptable to existing houses across the villages of Kaule and Bhangeri - using re-cycled stone, mud mortar, timber, bamboo, GI sheets, and thatch with marginal use of steel bolts and fitted with solar power units - constructed through community action and self-help with minimum - but strict - supervision for adhering to a standard of workmanship that ensures safety. (This last ingredient is applicable to all types of construction, else even RCC construction fails, and becomes MORE destructive to life and property)

Winding up dinner at Northfield Cafe in Thamel, Kathmandu, with (left to right) Siddhartha Arya - architect from Mysore, Manu Narendra - Civil Engineer from Ahmedabad, Vivek Rawal, architect from Ahmedabad, Areen Attari - architect from Mumbai, Santaman Tamang - tour guide and politician from Kaule, Ashish Sharan Lal - architect from Kolkata, Pradeep - solar energy specialist from Gham Power in Nepal, and Aditya Rao - architect from Mysore