Mehnat Manzil

An initiative by Saath and Conflictorium

Narrating a critical story of informal sector in a city

A city has many stories to tell. Architecture, artefacts, institutions, personalities, public spaces tell various stories. Some stories are loud and clear hence are heard by all but some stories need to be told loudly so that these are heard by all. The story narrated by Mehnat Manzil, a Museum of Work from informal sector, in Ahmedabad is one such story that needs to be heard by all.

Mehnat Manzil, a significant public space, is based on the idea that museums can be public spaces of contestations and promotion of equality and hence it displays the informal sector, marginalized sections and poverty. Strategically located in Vasna, Ahmedabad which is close to a large locality of informal sector workers, it offers nuanced understanding of the life and problems of informal workers such as migration, housing, livelihood and infrastructure.The museum intends to be educative/informative as well as artistic. With the aim of presenting a multiple appeal, the museum has a variety of experiences such as artistic, didactic, photographs, visual art, installation, and interactive performances. Mehnat Manzil narrates its story to two sets of viewers: the informal workers whose stories are told and the privileged section of citizens for whom the informal workers are invisible though the privileged benefit from their services. The museum, however, aims at creating a dialogue and not a conflict between these two sets of viewers.

In the conceptualization of Mehnat Manzil, teams from Conflictorium and Saath, both non profits at Ahmedabad, collaborated with local informal workers to identify issues and ideas to be presented. Saath team focused on ideas while Conflictorium team organized the space as per the ideas. The content was divided into three levels of abstraction: from the personal, to the communal, to what pertains to society as a whole. Also the space was organized such that three different routes might be taken by viewers with a specific focus of informality: housing, livelihood and migration. This structure would ensure that it was possible to draw on all the strands of material, from anecdotes to academic scholarship. Furthermore, it would allow for a space that could accommodate a diversity of perspectives and forms of experience.

The story by Mehnat Manzil is critical for an inclusive society. The informal sector is marked by vulnerability of all types. Economically with very meagre earnings, they are deprived of all amenities of municipal administration such as housing, water, electricity and health.  Being continuously under the threat of being evicted, they also become victims of shadow networks of patronage such as politicians, bureaucrats, and criminals. Yet the informal sector forms a strong base for the economy with contribution to public transport; construction and maintenance of our buildings and infrastructure; the provision of groceries; our domestic help and; the vast instances of skilled services (electricians, plumbers, cobblers, tailors) that are easily available to most in Indian cities.

The content of Mehnat Manzil, in addition to the abstract and theoretical content, presents stories of transformation from local community of informal workers. It presents the transformation of the informal workers community of Pravinagar-Guptanagar, the locality in which Mehnat Manzil is housed. Mr. Rajendra Joshi, Founder of Saath, and Miss. Avni Sethi, Founder of Conflictorium, explained that ambience of the slum provides an appropriate context to understand the world of informal workers. The residents of this locality were largely labourers who were disenfranchised by the closing Ahmedabad’s textile mills and a mix of migrant and displaced families from a variety of ethnic and religious backgrounds all cloistered together. Struggles of this community were enormous as they were deprived of all amenities, there were internal strife, they functioned outside the formal national legislature and were often antagonized by the State for being illegal. The efforts of the community to battle with the extremely difficult conditions has been through measures such as building novel institutions for collective self-determination, identifying innovative means of negotiating the law, dealing with  the fluctuations  of social justice, and developing the will and discipline necessary to provide some modicum of economic advancement and infrastructural investment has improved their condition. They live in a functional neighbourhood. This story will be told by Mehnat Manzil. The detail of the manner in which the story will be told and the installations required is presented in Mehnat Manzil.

The endeavour of Mehnat Manzil is to document the lives, voices, struggles, hardships, victories, of these faceless large section of informal workers. By this the informal workers will also become a part of documented history. The idea is to foster a sense of pride and self respect in the informal workers. As being inclusive is critical for a smart city, this mass documentation of informal workers will pave a path for recognizing them. Rajendra Joshi and Avni Sethi explained that the policy makers, the administrators, the decision makers ought to listen to this story. Mehnat Manzil also has a great educational value for students of architecture, urban planners and social work.

Article on the design of Mehnat Manzil to follow soon.

Check out the videos below to know about Mehnat Manzil.