India has a great deal of trash. It's everywhere; on the side of the road, in bodies of water, in piles, and sometimes it's even in trash cans. BUT, let me just say India does trash cans right. They aren't just regular barrles or even fancy three past sorting waste recepticals. No my North American friends they are in the shape of varying animals. These lovely cartoon like creatures makes throwing away trash fun. Here are three examples of the fantasticness that is local trash recepticals.
I had a most magical day. It began with an early rise and boat tour through the Tiger Reserve in Tekkady. Being winter there were no Tigers or elephants spotted, but there were wonderful birds, funny wild boars, and a huge lizard. Mostly it was a lovely early morning through beautiful surroundings made majestic by the mist in air.
Tiger Reserve
Next came what I will forever think of as the Indian version of the middle school horse ride for city kids in Texas. If you haven't guessed it, that means I road an elephant. Me and four of my classmates road an elephant who we named Philadelphia. It was a short ride, but something I can now say I have done. The wildest part was not the ride, but standing next to philly's friend and feeling dwarfed by his size height, girth, and the size of his feet. Geez! they were huge and could squish me. Also, the skin. It's weird.
Can you tell that I'm awkwardly nervous about posing with the big guy
If that weren't enough for one day we decided to though in a boat ride through the backwaters of Kerala. This is what tourist come to Kerala to do and for good reason. If you have a honeymoon, babymoon, anniversary, extra vacation time I highly recommend renting a houseboat on the backwaters for a week. I know I would do it. Yes, it's beautiful, but more than that its pleasant. The slow pace of the boat as it makes it's way down the river, the waves and hellos to other boats you pass, and the sweet little homes along the water were families are making their lives. It is a time when you question why we moved away from the water into offices and factories; when you disregard you feelings that Thoreau was a mooch and had something valuable to say. I felt at ease on the backwaters and was thankful to have been able to see it.
And before you get too jealous, I also spent many many hours in this bus with 16 other people. And I may or may not have lost by breakfast.
Kerala can boast of having the highest literacy rate and highest human development index of any state in India. Many contribute this to their progressive political agenda over the past fifty years. In 1957 it became the first place in the world to have a democratically elected Communist Party, with the highest voter turnout in India. Political history in Kerala shows a trend of an alternating elected right and left government, which results in an increase in public welfare activities, much to the benefit of the common man. Political icons are commonly scene as one moves through Kerala. Painted images such as the hammer and sickle are found on roadside walls and the sides of buildings. Statues of Indira Gandhi, portrait of Marx, Engels, and Lenin can also be spotted. I had read that strikes and union disputes were a common element of Kerala's politically engaged society, but it was proven the first day we arrived when we came across one such public protest. Anthropologist Bill McKibben says “Though Kerala is mostly a land of paddy-covered plains, statistically Kerala stands out as the Mount Everest of social development; there's truly no place like it.”
Currently Kerala parliament contains two major political alliances: the United Democratic Front (UDF—led by the Indian National Congress)and the Left Democratic Front (LDF—led by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)). The belief in redistribution and the common good is at the root of the Kerala model of development and the unique nature of Kerala when compared to other parts of India.
Slum housing communities is a prominent issue in India. Kerala has significantly less slum developments than other major cities in the country. Previous efforts of slum eradication took the form of slum relocation government schemes. Often this meant that housing would be built on the outskirts of town for slum residents to be moved to. Yet, often this scheme has failed resulting in most residents selling their units, or simply leaving the units in preference for slums closer to jobs in the city. With the failure of slum relocation a new approach is being taken. Slum redevelopment recognizes that slums are communities much like other. The significances of social networks, location to employments, and services play a role in why people choose to live there. Many slums develop on pieces of land that are in highly desirable areas, but that are difficult to build on. They are commonly in areas that flood or in close proximity to drainage collection ponds, which is why the land is undeveloped and available for slums to pop up.
Karimadom is one such slum community, and has also been the site of a Costford project for the past year. In contrast to the slum relocation scheme, the slum redevelopment project set out to provide improved housing stock on the same land in which the slum currently exists. This requires that Costford pay special attention to the timing of construction and the relocation process. To do this, the project was planed in four phases. After many meetings with the slum community, Costford identified a small section of the community to relocate into temporary housing on the site for the first phase. Once the housing units where completed the relocated residents returned. And with the increased density of the building, additional residents are also offered units resulting in less residents needing to be relocated for phase two. Costford has completed phase two and is moving rapidly through phase two.
Karimadom (photo by Yeneira Ortiz)
Key aspects of Karimadom is the unique tier design that allows all levels of the development to have equal amounts of area outside the unit. It is common for residents of the bottom floor to build extensions onto the unit for businesses, another room, etc. In providing patios for the higher floors; residents of any level have the freedom to utilize the additional space. As always, special attention to the orientation of the buildings, materials, and energy use are standard aspects of any Costford project.
It is a new year and I thought I would share a bit of my new year's eve night with you. The group headed toward the beach, possibly the Indian Ocean, to see traditional dancing, eat some food, and do a little dancing. Ahh yes friends, a dance party Indian style. Lets just say I'm coming home with some new dance moves and they are stellar. In addition to all the festivities there were some poorly planed possibly illegal fireworks. A bit before midnight came what sounded like a riffle shot, followed by a string of real high in the sky balls of lights. Unfortunately for the guy running the show the following string of bangs produced nothing but a humorous new years fail. Oh, but the pyrotechnics weren't over there. Yes, next came the large sparklers on the patio to add to the festive nature of the evening. Well that and add to the poor decision making that goes hand in hand with most New Year's Eve. I wish I had pictures of the bight lights that brought so much laughter, so instead I give you Katy Perry in all her glory.
The future is brick, beautiful exposed brick made right here with local Kerala. This isn't normal brick you see, its burned mud brick soaked in water to secure a strong bond with the Lyme mortar. This is at the center of the Costford building model. Typical Kerala homes are made of manufactured brick and then covered with plaster and finally painted. The plaster will begin to show wear within six moths or so and will need to be replaced in two or three years time. The addition of plaster and paint adds to the initial and long term cost of the building. These maintenance and labor costs can be saved by leaving the bricks exposed. In exchange Costford spends much more time in the design of the building; the roof lines, the seating, room orientation, window, and most of all jolly design. Jollies, let me express my love of jollies. A jolly is a perforated exterior wall that allows for airflow, light, privacy, as well as being lovely to look at.
Example of a Jolly at the Laurie Baker Center
The social implication of this model, beyond that of cost, is the use of local materials and local labor. The focus on using burn clay bricks and Lyme mortar is its use of small scale producers. Commercial brick production in India is controled by some 500 hundred families. Burned bricks however can be made by a number of small producers from the area near the building site. Lyme mortar has a similar dynamic; as apposed to concrete Lyme can be made by small producers in local sea side villages. In choosing these unconventional material Costford is supporting smaller local economies and typically lower income communities.
Laurie Baker working with brick layers in the Costford style
I have been touring homes and buildings built by Laurie Baker and Costford. Laurie has a wonderful life story or growing up in Britain, moving to China to serve the medical needs of the British Army, moving to India, marrying a woman in the India Independence movement, running his wife's leprosy clinics, and then finally beginning an architecture career. The way people talk about Laurie is unnerving at first; they speak with great admiration, warmth and devotion. Yet after many days of exploring the work and vision of Laurie I can see that it is well deserved.
Costford was established by Laurie with the goal being to build cost effective ecologically sensitive buildings. Through the years they have established methods of building that incorporate passive cooling, local materials, site specific design, low maintenance, and much more. The building as simply beautiful, particularly when you realize that they are often built for 60% of the cost of a building using traditional methods.
Home built by Costford, Kerala India
Images from the Braille without Borders Campus built by Costford
I will talk more about Laurie Baker's building model and the work Costford is doing, but it is far more important for you to know that Laurie Baker had a thing for mangoes. Possibly bordering on obsession; the man drew then, made staircases and ponds in their shape, made walkways with mango designs. It's the where's waldo of Costford building. It is inevitable that someone will cry out mango upon their discovery of the hidden fruit.
Laurie Bakers Mango Collages
In celebration of the Mango and all it's unknown powers I invite you to enjoy palo de mango
Upon arriving in Trivandrum and walking around I was struck (almost physically by a passing bus) by the lack of sidewalks. Some combination of walking in the street and along the dirt strip to the side is required to reach you destination. Much attention must be paid as you maneuver drainage ditches, large rocks, construction materials, and you know other people. It is a wild free for all (slight hyperbole) of cars, buses, auto rickshaws, motorcycles, motorscooters, bicyclist and of course the occasional walker. From what I have been told the number of cars in the city has increased significantly in the last ten years and the traffic has become a issue that officials are wanting to address. An article came out in the paper yesterday remarking on new street plans in an effort to deal with the current problems. Issues such as congestion, motorist weaving in and out of their lane into oncoming traffic, the conflicts of differing types of transportation modes, and the need for the all holy side walk. These are large undertakings; ones in which even some cities in the US are slow to deal with. As Trivandrum continues to grow and as all of India continues to grow it should be interesting to see how they begin to manage their transportation needs for their population. I would expect that they may develop strategies that we in small populous countries would never have devised.
