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Below are the 25 most recent journal entries.

	2006.04.24  19.12 Nehru Place seen by Imran Amin III "1988 to 96 was the golden period for Nehru Place. Business was on its pick. Every shopkeepers and dealers were happy here then. Actually, then there was no hue and cry like today we see here. Today every body is working as a JHAPATMAR. The moment a costumer comes to your shop, you start looking ways to engage him in various other things. But the best part with the costumers is their up to date knowledge. They have every idea of product and price. You can not make them fool. But earlier it was not so. You know internet, internet has made things very easy and accessible to all. Pahle to log darte the ki kahin kuch gadbad na ho jaye." "Sahab, 88-96 ke bich mein bhikaris turned into millionire. Even the porters earned a lot. They brought their relatives and started counters on the first floor. Aur kuch nahin to some of them started selling cartridges on the corridors. But the best part of today's nehru place is that it is clean. Business is clean. Now if you think that you will be cheated, then your perception is wrong. Kyonki competition is such high that there is hardly any scope for this kind of dealings" "Yes, you are asking about how computer accessories used to import to Nehru place. See, it is very easy. Then Nepal was the safest route. You insert a 50-100 rupees note in the pocket of boarder police, he will let you go with whichever thing you want. So, boarder-bribing ... As simple as that. Yahi hota tha. Believe me, people here made a lot of money simply through supply. Every thing right from hard disk to ram, motherboard, cpu were coming through via nepal. This mode of import is still in practice, but not as it was done earlier. The main reason behind this is that now mostly original things are in circulation, and there are companies, who are dealing with this issues. If you see, you will find that the number of companies dealing with computer and its accessories are much higher than it was. And this has made the trade easy and simple. This conversation could not go long because of sudden coming of some outstation distributors.

	2006.03.17  19.10 Nehru Place seen by Imran Amin II ".... First floor is maximum on rent. There is no single owners of these shops. For example this is Bajaj House. Bajaj made this building and sold it to different individuals. Some purchased two flats (let us read here rooms), some one or some three ... So, this way people pay rent to different indiviuals, who are big property holders. I am on the third floor and I pay 17, 000/- per month as a rent. Are you looking the size of this office, don't you think 17000/- is too much for this? Besides, this 17000/- I have to pay 2000/- rs. as maintenance money also." How long you were in Hardware? "Hardware .... Till 2000 we were in multimedia hardware. After that import of cds began, so we came into this. I never worked for others, instead I started my own work form the very beginning. As far the investment is concerned, there are two ways of investment in the business. Firstly you have to make your own investment to begin with after that the transactions circulate. My main reason of coming into cd business is I am an IT person, I was in the IT industry from the beginning. Whatever, new technological development happens, we switch on towards that. Today cd has become a common thing. So, I see some new development in future. DVD has already come, but it still has to become a common thing. Things will come in dvd in very soon, hence I will start dealing with dvds. See, there is a principle of trade. If you want to sustain yourself in the market, you will have to go with the technological changes. If I was still sitting with floppies, I had become a gone case long ago, nobody will be asking to me. Although I began with floppies. I sold softwares in the floppies in the beginning. But this will not happen today. You have to keep your eyes open if you want to sustain in the market. As far manufacturing is concerned, no body can manufacture every thing because this industry is very big. The big multinational companies are not complete in themselves, they have to depend on others for several things. See, CD is a storage media. The main thing is the inside material. What is inside the cd. Some people are making educational cds, some are making games cds, some reference cds, some application softwares. So, what I mean to say is that each company is doing her own work, which is her main concern. I make some games. I have some games of my own. I don't make eductional because expertise of making educational cds is with someone else. There are some things in games, which I import instead of making my own. I have distributorship of educational materials made by others. No body can make all things by his own." "As far as the changes are concerned at nehru place, all I will say that the space is same. Yes, there are certain things like setting up of counters began around 1998-2000. Which is not now of that scale. The govt. has started glorifying and beautifying the space, so that people can be attracted towards np. While if you see from the business point of view, then there were few players at np, margins were high and turn over was low. Today players have increased and margins have shrinked but the over all turn over has grown. See, if you want to start hardware business, generally there is no need of investment. Only you arrange a space to sit and have a local line (chhoti line/intercom), whenever costumer comes to you, you already know that who is the stockist of mother board, who is of key board and who is of cabinet, dial all of them, take the rates and keep 5-10rs. margine and tell your costumer and make ready the system. Maximum no. of people who are dealing with hardwares are the similar people. Those who are running away from are the same TOPIWAZ, WOH KEWAL TOPIYAN GHUMATE RAHTE HAIN. The base of the local econony are very few, they are not even 20 % of total dealers. 80% are the topi ghumao persons. Every 2-3 month there is a KAND at nehru place. People come here, property dealer show him high-figh beautiful dreams. Now see, there is no space in Nehru place on which the property dealers sustain themselves. They are always hunting a room so that they can get some brokerage. What they do, they provide them room/shop on 40-50, 000/- monthly rental. Once a guy get the space, there are other expenditures also. Suppose if one invests 60, 000/- rs., now tell me, how many computer he will sell and take out margin from that sell? The maximum profit is rs. 500/- on the sell of one computer, because costumer is well informed today. He lands up to your shop after having idea of price from 20 other places. When he comes to your shop he has 20 price lists. He has idea of whose rate of hard disk is right, whose mother board is cheap... Sometimes he brings all components and accessories and says to the shopkeeper, YE 200 RUPYA LO AUR ASSEMBLE KAR DO." "As far the second hand computers are concerned, there is no any thing in computer to be called second hand. What you say is not second hand but obsolete. Second hand means the new of that second hand already in the market. For example, there is used MARUTI 800, but there is new M 800 also. While obsolete means no more production of that particular product. There is nothing second hand in computer. Suppose, I have Pentium 4 computer. Why I sell this? I will sell this only when the P 5 comes. Then I will say, tell me how much you will give? OK cut 500-1000 rs. for upgradation and give me latest accessories. There is nothing called second hand in technology. Never. What happens with obsolete items? See, there are people doing accounts, looking computers for kids, they take such computers. Or, someone is still working on 486, and finds problems in his computer. Then, he comes to np and takes required accessories. He takes this because he does not want to use advanced item, because there is no utilisation of item for him. Secondly, it works in repairing." "AS far my supply is concerned, I supply mainly to the shops in the malls and reputed stores in Delhi, Bombay, Chennai, Kolkata, Chandigarh. Means, my things goes to all India, I supply to Bihar also. The main thing is that what exclusive thing you have. What is new! Only then you can supply." "Internet has made the business easy and difficult at the same time. Easy, because every second day you come to know about the latest technology, what is new, where you get it from.Difficult, because costumers also have the same information including the source and price. Most of the costumers come here only after googling. And in this situation, you can't make them fool. You can't charge a single penny extra. Obviously, the margin will be less. Internet is the main medium and source of information. You are on the mailing list of those companies, whom you deal with. So, whenever any new thing comes, automatically you get information through their newsletters or regular packets. And this does not happens for the dealers only but costumers also get information from various website. You go to normal websites like yahoo or rediff, you will find advertisements of new products. So, end users are also well informed." Now, I am stopping this posting here only. Still some part is remaining, which I will post in the next week. Just an experience. Let me share with you. When I requested him for this interview, he asked about my work, orgainsation and purpose of this conversation, which I explained enough. Finally, he typed www.sarai.net in the usl box and had a look of our website and then said, 'ok ask what you want to know, but see this is business hour, so, please keep some account of my time also.'

	2006.03.16  19.06 Nehru Place seen by Imran Amin Imran sahab came to Nehru Place in 1994. He says that was the period of beginning of IT business at Nehru place. Being a student of computer science, he found this sector very lucurative, and margins were also very high, these all played important roles in his landing up to nehru place. According to him it was a kind of white colour job to deal with computer. He says that it was the advance technology, and people easliy attracted towards this. Right now he deals with various softwares and cds, especially cds of school curriculum, but he has started his days his days at np with Multimedia. He says, "Multimedia was a new technology, and my specialisation was in Multimedia hardware. We started with Sound cards, cd drives and similar other components. Since these were new to nehru place, demand was also high. People from far places used to come to ask these things." "Actually, our business strategy is different to others. We very quickly shift towards new technologies or new inventions. Because, the moment technology becomes popular and accessible, aoutomatically its demand comes down." Speaking about the base (of information) of his switching on into any particular technology he says that anyone who works in a particular industry knows the intra industry developmets. The moment something new comes at nehru place it becomes the centre of discussion among the dealers. For example, when I came to NP, CD drive was out of normal configuration. People used to purchase it seperately other than the PC. The the cost of Single X CD drive of Rs. 13-14000/-. Then gradually, it became the part of normal configuration and finally became obvious for a pc. Then, multimedia cards, TV tuner cards came. Today you can play mpeg movie directly on your computer, those days it was not possible. If anybody wanted to play movie on 486 or pentium I computer, they there was no option for him other than buying a mpeg card seperately. So, what all I want to say is that if you are in the industry, you automatically know the latest developments." "If you see the transactions, you will find that your turn over has increased but the margin has decreased. Earlier you used to earn 10-15 000/- rs. on one computer, while today you sell 500 computers a day but get margin as less as rs. 500/- on each computer. That is why I am saying that the margin has been decreased drastically, from the hardware point of view. Now let us see the softwares. Leave the days of high degree of competition, then very few at nehru place had the monopoly over softwares. Now the situation is entirely different. Piracy has made the software accessible to all. You know, the software piracy is easiest thing to do. You need to have only a computer with cd drive. Blank cd is available at 2-5 rs. Now there is no more fear of raid, because you do not stock copied cd. Whenever costumer ask for a cd, you burn and give him. So, on the investment of 5 rs you earn 50-100rs. Aare, if one wants to pirate a book, then he will have to expose himself, he has to have a printing press, a binder for binding and then some investment also, like cost of paper, printing etc. and a place to stock. And you know, stocking is a very risky job. Any time there will be a raid, and then you try to bail out yourself. In this situation our effort is to provide cheap legal software to the costumers. We are sacificing our margin, so that costumers don't go for pirated softwares. But the govt. policy is against our spirit. The govt. has increased the excise duty in the recent budget. Now, we are forced to price hike. This price hike will turned the costumers towards pirated softwares." "Earlier nehru place was the main market. Then, the volume of sell was very limited. Since volume was less, companies did not use to import at large scale. Today volume has increased, the burden of having things for the companies has also increased. Earlier nehru place used to fulfill the demands of NCR and adjoining states. People from Punjab, J & K, Himachal, Rajsthan, UP used to come to np. Saturday used to be the busiest day for us. The amount of sale of saturday was more than the sale of rest 5 days of week, from the hardware point of view. Today situation has been changed. Now companies give the same rate on 25 piece on sale in Jammu, which she gives on the sale of 100 piece in Delhi. Becasue there is no sale as such. So, in this kind of business companies are growing anyway, but the dealers of Nehru place find it very difficult to survive. Because market has a size (area). Earlier the parties used to purchase things keeping the size into mind that he will sell the things in those areas. Now, when this area has been disintegrated, the sell will obviously go down. Where will they sell. Athough, companies still expect that the local dealers purchase things in the same volume which they used to, but tell me, why they will purchase that much when there is no market for sell. You know, what happens then? Cost cutting. Since there is no sell, dealers started decreasing the cost and started selling in loss, competition increases. As a result of that you will get to know that two dealers disappeared with that of amont of money. This is happening every two months. "I think that the rent of (shops at) nehru place is highest in Asia. You know, the guys selling piracy through small counters on the ground floor is paying something around 15000/- a month. If someone is setting his counter on a prime location, he must be giving this amount of money as rent. A cabin of 4'X6' on the first floor costs around 25-30 000/- a month.

	2006.02.08  16.14 Continued ... A Grain Trader Turns to A Computer Stockist Follws the remaining part of yesterday's conversation with Naveen Jain. The smallers companies, who go china and bring items with their lable are infact now become established to some extent. Now, People started believing them and they have 'brand izzat' also. Recalling his past days at nehru place Naveen says that you don't have to invest a huge capital to start your business, The only thing is that you should be honest and careful. Honesty means don't cheat costumesrs, "waise bhi Nehru place mein iska scope nahin hai". The moment you indulge in this kind of activity, you will get a negative image, not within outsiders (costumers) but within the community of shopkeepers/stockists. And after that you will be like untouchable, no body will deal with you. So, Praveen's idea of business is based on the priniple of honesty and faith. The second important thing about the trade is that a large part of the transaction is done on the basis of credit and the "Chhoti line" a very important role in it. Let us have a glimpse of this: I am sitting in front of his table. He is busy in doing so many things, talking to me, listening costumers queries, picking up phones (sometimes attending all the 4 phones simultaneously), a guy comes and asks about samsung usb key boards. Now he asks to his staff dealing with costumers in the next cabin, "Narendra apne pas usb key board hai?" 'Nahin', comes reply. Then he dails a 3-4 digist number and asks madam, "apne pas samsung usb key board hai .... kya rate hai ..., sadhe saat to kuch uchcha ho gaya madam ... nahin na madam, saat ka laga lo na ..., aare nahin madam, hume nehru place chodwaoge kya ...., achchha ladke ko bhejta hun, saat bis to parchi banwa ke bhej dena. Second example: 20/01/06 10.30 am. I just reached with him to his office, got a chair and made myself comfortable. He started tallying the purchase bill. Meanwhile, a guy sitting next to our table, arranging his bag and diary, asks, "sir, USB keyboard rakh liya hai, click mouse wala brochure bhi rakh liya hai, aur kya rakhun?" Then Naveen says, "Intex ka naya wala headphone bhi rakh lo". Then the guy asks rates of different product his has taken for promotion and Naveen searches something on his computer and then says 750, aur agar quantity mein ho to 745, 46 , 47 .. mane 45 se pachas ke bich mein de sakte ho. And this goes on for another 10-15 minutes, till he leaves for the day. After that I asked to Naveen, where is he going, which replied, "Nehru place mein hi shop to shop ghum-ghum kar apne product ke baare mein batayega." Now, the guy will return to the office after 7 pm. Praveenji says that this is the regular and most effective way of sales. And this is the way, atleast his business runs. The moment he enters into his office, he goes through each of the purchase bills of previous day, carefully tallies the bill with his own record and then list it on his computer. New informations and development in computer world, according to him reach to him through sales representative of different companies and E mails. Every trader has atleast one representative to go to every shop at Nehru place and introdue the product, which is new with him. Sometimes traders/stockists get more margine by doing so. He positions himself in his office before 10 o'clock in the morning. The seond most effective way of getting information is E mails of companies to these stockists. Then, I ask him, "You must have 24 hours internet connection and you must be spending enough time on net?" "Connection to hai, lekin time kahan hai apne pas. Apne dekya hi kya halat rahti hai. Hum to phone par hi jankari le lewe hain. Jaise koi client aata hai aur kisi nayi cheez ke baare mein puchhta hai, main use bitha leta hun aur chhoti line par pata kar leta hun. Do-chaar dukan mein puchhne ke baad har cheez aur rate ki puri-puri jankari mil jati hai, costumer ko bata deta hun. Raazi hua to ladka bhej diya nahin to woh apne ghar aur main apne ghar." Other interesting prevlent trade practice is that many of the stockists only do purchasing at nehru place. They spend rs.15-20 thousand simply on the office rent, and another 20-25 thousand on staff and 4-5 thousand on office expence only for purchasing. They have their distribution and sales office in differnt cities. They have their system over their to deal with their clients. He, in a sence gave a rough idea of how trade and transations happens at Nehru Place. And this, really would be a very interesting way to know the space also.

	2006.01.21  16.14 A Grain Trader Turns to A Computer Stockist Follows the summary of a conversation with Naveen Jain of Computer World, Nehru place. I don't know whether the conversation gives us any clue of the trade but the way this happed is very interesting. This guy comes daily up to Sabzi Mandi Station from Gannaur, Sonipat by train, and then from there he reaches to Nehru Place by his car, which he parks every night at Pratappur Metro Parking. Last night we had fixed to meet at pratappur metro parking today at 9 am near his Car no. DL 3C AA 1915. So, according the plan I reached there at 8.45 but unfortunately it was Pul Bangash instead of Pratap Pur and I read the number plate of each and every car parked there, and remain unsuccessful. Finally I called him on his cell phone and thing got fixed once again, this time the meeting point was Gurudwara, Azad Market. I accompained him and our conversation began. As I have already mentioned about him that before coming to Nehru Place he was in Grain trade. This is his family business. But his was not interested in doing the business at Gannaur, he came to Narela Grain Market and started the same business over there. After spending 6-7 years he did not find it according to his choice. "main kuch alag hat ke karna chata tha", says he in his Haryanvi accent. As a result of which came the chemist shop at Lawrence Road, near Wazirpur Industrial Area. The shop was in partnership with a friend of him, and did not go very far due to some confusion. He decided to leave this also. Then he landed up at nehru place as a part timer on his Brother-in-law's shop. 'Koi haath pakadne wala hona chahiye tha, aur mere jijaji the nehru place mein'. He jijaji had a computer hardware shop. He started spending 3 hours daily at the shop till 3 months. During these months he got an idea of hardware, trade and the space. Finally, he hired a shop at 10, 000 rs. per month on the first floor and started his own business with a modest investment of rs. 10 lakh in the year 2000. Those were the days when computer was just started getting momentum, cd roms were comparatively new, and the users were started experiencing watching films and albums on computer screen. That way it was a sort of boom in the computer market. Then people at nehru place used to get more margin than today even after less investment than today they do. He says, "maloom hai kyon tha aisa? Kyonki tab pure hidustan se log yahin aate the hardware ke liye. Ab kya hai ki companies ne jagah-jag distributors khare kar diye hain, wahin se saara transaction hota hai". The distributors at different places making the business at the same rate. Naveen,s margin is same as what he used to get 4-5 years back. Then his monthly turn over was rs. 10 lakh, which is 50 lakh today. He says, "then I used to relax, kam labour karna padta tha, ladke bhi 2-3 the, aur ab aapne dekha na ki raat ke 8 baje bhi kaise band baji rahti hai, 5-5 ladke bhi kam padte hain, aur income wahi hai. Jitna tab ghar le jata tha, utna hi aaj bhi le jata hun." "People are more aware now. They watch ads on TV and newspapers. Internet has made everything accessbile at a click. So that you can't full costumers, lekin pahle ye bhi ho jata tha kabhi-kabhi. Now people come with prior knowledge and enough survery" Almost all the hardware comes from China. He has a shop in Panipat also and he caters the needs of parties from Panipat, sonipat, Yamuna nagar and other surrounding places while his nehru place office and godown deals with local clients and the clients of surrounding areas. In fact, very few shops at nehru place is a full fledged hardware shop. Most of the shops are stockist of 4-5 or 10 items, beyond that all transactions are done through 'chhoti line' (intercom). The smallers companies, who go china and bring items with their lable are infact now become established to some extent. Now, People started believing them and they have 'brand izzat' also. Recalling his past days at nehru place Naveen says that you don't have to invest a huge capital to start your business, The only thing is that you should be honest and careful. Honesty means don't cheat costumesrs, "waise bhi Nehru place mein iska scope nahin hai". The moment you indulge in this kind of activity, you will get a negative image, not within outsiders (costumers) but within the community of shopkeepers/stockists. And after that you will be like untouchable, no body will deal with you. So, Praveen's idea of business is based on the priniple of honesty and faith. The second important thing about the trade is that a large part of the transaction is done on the basis of credit and the "Chhoti line" a very important role in it. Let us have a glimpse of this: I am sitting in front of his table. He is busy in doing so many things, talking to me, listening costumers queries, picking up phones (sometimes attending all the 4 phones simultaneously), a guy comes and asks about samsung usb key boards. Now he asks to his staff dealing with costumers in the next cabin, "Narendra apne pas usb key board hai?" 'Nahin', comes reply. Then he dails a 3-4 digist number and asks madam, "apne pas samsung usb key board hai .... kya rate hai ..., sadhe saat to kuch uchcha ho gaya madam ... nahin na madam, saat ka laga lo na ..., aare nahin madam, hume nehru place chodwaoge kya ...., achchha ladke ko bhejta hun, saat bis to parchi banwa ke bhej dena. Second example: 20/01/06 10.30 am. I just reached with him to his office, got a chair and made myself comfortable. He started tallying the purchase bill. Meanwhile, a guy sitting next to our table, arranging his bag and diary, asks, "sir, USB keyboard rakh liya hai, click mouse wala brochure bhi rakh liya hai, aur kya rakhun?" Then Naveen says, "Intex ka naya wala headphone bhi rakh lo". Then the guy asks rates of different product his has taken for promotion and Naveen searches something on his computer and then says 750, aur agar quantity mein ho to 745, 46 , 47 .. mane 45 se pachas ke bich mein de sakte ho. And this goes on for another 10-15 minutes, till he leaves for the day. After that I asked to Naveen, where is he going, which replied, "Nehru place mein hi shop to shop ghum-ghum kar apne product ke baare mein batayega." Now, the guy will return to the office after 7 pm. Praveenji says that this is the regular and most effective way of sales. And this is the way, atleast his business runs. The moment he enters into his office, he goes through each of the purchase bills of previous day, carefully tallies the bill with his own record and then list it on his computer. New informations and development in computer world, according to him reach to him through sales representative of different companies and E mails. Every trader has atleast one representative to go to every shop at Nehru place and introdue the product, which is new with him. Sometimes traders/stockists get more margine by doing so. He positions himself in his office before 10 o'clock in the morning. The seond most effective way of getting information is E mails of companies to these stockists. Then, I ask him, "You must have 24 hours internet connection and you must be spending enough time on net?" "Connection to hai, lekin time kahan hai apne pas. Apne dekya hi kya halat rahti hai. Hum to phone par hi jankari le lewe hain. Jaise koi client aata hai aur kisi nayi cheez ke baare mein puchhta hai, main use bitha leta hun aur chhoti line par pata kar leta hun. Do-chaar dukan mein puchhne ke baad har cheez aur rate ki puri-puri jankari mil jati hai, costumer ko bata deta hun. Raazi hua to ladka bhej diya nahin to woh apne ghar aur main apne ghar." Other interesting prevlent trade practice is that many of the stockists only do purchasing at nehru place. They spend rs.15-20 thousand simply on the office rent, and another 20-25 thousand on staff and 4-5 thousand on office expence only for purchasing. They have their distribution and sales office in differnt cities. They have their system over their to deal with their clients. He, in a sence gave a rough idea of how trade and transations happens at Nehru Place. And this, really would be a very interesting way to know the space also.

	2005.03.24  21.45 Bihar Samaj Samiti "Jahan na pahunche gari pahunche wahan Bihari Har kshetra mein aage hain yeh kya niji kya sarkari Tab bhi dekh kar bihariyon ki dasha man hua hai bhari" These are the lines from "Bihar Samaj Samiti-Smarika (Souvenier of Bihar Samaj Samiti). Yesterday, The Samiti Launched its Souvenier-2005 in Rajendra Memorial Hall, Delhi. Mr. Oscar Fernandis, Union Minister for Programme Implementation, Mr. Tariq Anwar, General Secretary of Nationalist Congress Party, Lok Sabha MP Mr. Sandeep Dikshit, Formar MP, Lal Bihari Tiwari, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee President, Rambabu Sharma, Chaudhary Matin Ahmad, Member of Legislative Assembaly, Delhi, Zameer Ahmad Munna and Ishwar Chand Goel, Member of MCD were the various types of guests (Chief Guest, Guest of Honour, Ditinguished Guest ....). Entire Rajendra Memorial Hall was full of working class population of Delhi. All, yes all of them from Bihar. Mostly Muslim. At one level the Souvenier launch programme seemed to me an occassion of show of strength. Although 'Bihar Samaj Samiti' has an organisational structure but Mr. Naushad Alam, the General Secretary of 'organisation is all in all of the ogranization. The show was totally organised and managed by him. He was busy enough in getting him photographed as much as he could, from every angle of the dias. But at the same time the programme had another dimension also, which is quite interesting in the context of the aspirations and the dialy needs of the working class in the city. The question of migrants' identity is the most crucil in this respect. Whoever from the audicance got a chance to speak, spoke about their daily experience. Speaking in local Hindi accent, a worker from Navi Kareem (a lane in walled city) said, "Hum thik kaam kare tab bhi aur kharab kam kare tab bhi, lala sala humko bihariye kahta hai." This kind of sense of humiliation was expressed almost by all, who spoke. They were poor, daily wage worker. So, humiliation is one aspect, another is a sense to show one's existance, and for this arise the need of a group of organisation. The ogranisation not only provides the migrants a sense of self being but also it serves as a tool of negotiation with local bureaucracy, civic bodies and dominating political forces. This was evident form the people present on dias, who were from different political streams, and the photographs and stories in the Souvenier. There are photographs of ACP and DCP and other higher officials, photographs of leaders of different political parties as the guests in different functions of Bihar Samaj Samiti. So all what I want to say here is that such kinds of organisations made on the basis of regional identities are the tool to negotiate with various power centers and at the same time it is a kind of claim. Claim to get share at different places. For example, one of the audiances criticised the demolition at Yamuna Pusta and the 'rehabilitation' aftermath and said, "If we are working in the middle of the city then why should we go on the outskirts, and why even staying here for more than 20-30 years we are not considered as a Dilliwallah?" On the other hand it again became evident that the participation of different political leaders and figures in the programme was nothing but a political gimmick. While attending the programme I was continiously thinking that why not a single invited leader afford to be absent from the programme. And finally, now it is clear to me that it is impossible for them to miss such kind of opportunities, because these are directly related to the final outcome. The vote. The banner of the programme was saying "Bihar Samaj Samiti ki Dusari Smarika ka Vimochan aur Bihar Mein Badh ki Vibhishika Par Sangosthi (The Lauch of the Souvenier of Bihar Samaj Samiti and A discussion on Flood in Bihar)" But not a single leader spoke on Badh ki Vibhishika. Instead one extened their best wishes for Holi. Besides, their tone was that they will do everything and anything for their (migrants') emanicipation. If fact some of them given account of what they have done during their tenure, or what they are doing presently. So, Initially when I went to the programme I thought I did a mistake, but after witnessing the enitre programme and going through the souvenier now I think this is a very important phenomenon of emerging urban and this demands attentions from urban researh community.

	2005.02.20  22.13 Updates Though people are in the mood to speak each and every details of their lives in Bhagirath place. Since I am a familier face for many of them as I had been to their (DPU) conference last year at Loni they invite me to their home also, "kamre par aaiye bistar se bataunga apni kahani" This again leads me to another sociological explanation of their work, which I have done a lot. Again their stories are same. Came some 8-10 years back, stayed with villagers or relatives and landed up to the Bhagirath place. So, this again will be boring posting for the list members. Anyway, right now I will write about how the labour network operate within a neighborhood made of Angooribagh, Lajpatrai and Bhagirath place through Ramakant's work. Ramakant, 28-29, a native of Baliya, Utter Pradesh, stays with some of his villagers in Usmanpur. He lives in the same building, where some factory workers of Angooribagh and jhalliwallahs stay. The owner of this builing is also from his village and owns a goods carrier three wheeler. So, Ramakant's work place is not confine any of the above mentioned place. Although he has not any theha (specific place to operate his work), he starts his day from Angooribagh. There is CHABUTARA at Angooribagh, he along with some other fellow jhalliwallahs comes there in the morning, and deliver MALL to different shops at Lajpatrai and Bhagirath place. He mainly works for godowns. The godown owner, for whom he works, have shops in Both the markets. Earlier I had a notion that the BETA (Bhagirath Place Electrical Traders Association) has only electical shops, but now, when I start visiting there came to know that some (very few) electronics shops are also there. According to Ramakant, there is no fixed wage system in Bhagirath place like Lajpatrai market, where CREMA had put up severl notice boards mentioning the wages and other things. In that situation jhalliwallahs work there either on the basis of mutual understanding with the shop/godown owners or simply on their (shopkeeper/godown owners) dictats. Thus according to Ramakant, this is a very unstable place to work. Quite often they have to confront with the owners. I asked to him about a question, which was raised by a Bhagirah Place jhalliwallahs , "Aapko yad hoga pichle conference mein Bhagirath Place ke ek jhalliwalle ne kaha tha ki bahar ke log yahan na aanyen, kyonki humare pas khud hi kaam ki kami rahti hai. To aapko nahin lagta hai ki iski wajah se aap jaise logon ka kam karna unko thik nahin lagata hoga?" He replied negatively. His arguement is that since he has not made any theha in Bhagirath place, and whatever he carries, is not the mall which goes from the market, rather he brings the goods into the market. So, there is no point of contention regarding the work. "Aur yadi kabhi bahar se mall lekar yahan aane par bahar le jane ke liye koi mall milta hai to usko uthane mein kya harz hai, aadmi fir se wapas angooribagh hi ja raha hai to de rupya ka mall le hi jayega to kya ho jayega, haan hum jaan-bujhkar aisa karen tab dikkat aa sakti hai", said he. One interesting thing I came to know after talking to him is that there is not any badge system in Angooribagh. Any badge holder (issued by CREMA or BETA) can work in Angooribagh. Reason behind this is very simple. There is no hue any cry of workers here regarding carrying loads. Factory or Godown owners approach only those perons, who are familiar to them. May be it is true, because I have seen almost all card holders to this place, except the green KURTA WALLAHS (right now I am forgetting their badge). Now something about the struggle of singer in coming Last Sunday I met a young guy named Vyasji at Shiv Sagar's room. Now briefly about what is vyasji. As I know, Vyasji is not a name but a postion which some holds in a music group. Generally in Bihar and Eastern U.P. bhajan-kirtan mandlis and GEET-SANGEET parties perform musical programs with instruments like DHOLAK, HARMONIUM and MANJIRAS. The person who plays HARMONIUM, generally leads the group and the other group memebers call him VYASJI. So I met a vyasji from Shiv Sagar's village. He had come here for recording of his first cassette of Bhojpuri. His stroy is intersting because unlike Bhagwati's new comers he had to pay a huge amount of Rs. 20 000/- to the Rama cassettes, where from he is expeting his cassette to come. He has given the money at one go. He says, "Any newcomer has to pay such amount for getting his first cassette released by any company, and Rama cassette is very renouned one. If one cassette gets released and becomes success then next time not only you don't have to pay but they will pay for the cassette also." Thus he is waiting for a mere release after paying 20000/-. He had went to the studio at Pandavnagar for recording on February 10. He was said that he will get cassette on 14 February. So that he was staying here, but on Monday he was told that it will take some more time, so he had to leave for his village because it was very difficult for him to stay in Delhi without any support. Today Shiv Sagar told me that now the company is saying that the cassette is coming on 20 February. Vyasji is very optimistic about his cassette. He says, "Ek bar cassette aa jaye uske baad uska video banwaunga". So, one can imagine the aspiration of this siger incoming. I did not get chance to talk more with him because he had to go somewhere that day and next to next day means on 15 February he was suppose to return home. He could be a a potential interviewee for Bhagwati. Whenever I get information about his Delhi coming I will pass it to Bhagwati.

	2005.02.07  13.56 From Bhagirath place Now I have started exploring the porters' network in Bhagirath Place, the same bunch of people in red dress, which I have mentioned in some of my earlier postings. In my last posting I had said that Shiv Sagar (the general secretary of DPU) is going to give me the contacts of DPU, but he was not seen in the market last week, probably he not well. Any way I met a guy called Dwivedi, who is a jhalliwallah in Bhagirath Place. Again he is also from the same place in Aara district of Bihar. He would be very interesting chap to converse with, besides all other things, he is the first Brahmin jhalliwallah, I met till now. May the conversation with him would give an idea caste interpretaion of this job. So I will be talking to him in the days to came. Since I have written a lot on space, and this time again I have something on the space, which I will be writing in two-three days.

	2005.02.03  17.09 Production and Migration cycle For the last 10 days or so Amit and his friends are busy in making Amplifiers. Returning home after 11 o'clock in the night has become their routine these days. “Why?” “Because assembly elections are being held in three states, Haryana, Jharkhand and Bihar. And you know, during every election suddenly the demand of amplifiers goes up. And this is the time when a factory owners makes money. These days sometimes we charge Rs. 900/- or 1000/- for 700/- wallah amplifier”, says Amit. He further adds, “And you know, we have general election either for Vidhan sabha or Lok Sabha every year, and this is the only basis of the survival of amplifier business otherwise, cds and digital things have undermined the amplifiers.” Now come to the main part of a very short conversation which I had with Amit yesterday. This is mainly about the production and migration cycle. According to Amit usually the period between November to February-March is the boom in media production, while Feb-March to June-July could be called as lull. Again from July to October boom and October-November is the downfall. The reason behind the downfall between February to June is that the workers go to their villages for festivals like HOLI and other family engagements like marriage. As Holi is one of the biggest north Indian festival and most of the marriages happens in the region during these months they prefer to go home. Another big reason is that this is the season of farming also. March-May is the high time for getting out the wheat form field to home, while June-July is the best time of the paddy seed growing. So for this also they want to be at their home also. Beside these, the workers who live here with their families also want to spend their kids vacation in villages. And it is very difficult for the owners to get new worker. “Aur ekdum naya aadmi se to kam bhi nahin hoga”, says Amit. And the reason of another one month downfall of October-November is Diwali and Dassera. For workers and owners both, this is the month of leisure because workers go to their homes while owners take stack of their business and try to relieve their employee in case they do not find their production and profit up to the mark. Amit says, “Woh isliye bhi larkon ko Diwali se pahle hatate hain kyonki unko bonus-unas ke naam par jo kuch bhi dena parta hai larkon ko who nahin dena padega.” My speculation that being the month of festivals the business would be high in the month of October and November actually proved wrong by Amit, “See, this is right that people purchase household goods during festivals, but they do not buy it from Lajpatrai market. Otherwise also Lajpatrai is the whole-sale market, and almost all our customers are small town shopkeepers, who already keep stock for the festivals. So, from where comes the question of 'achha business' in Diwali?” He adds further, “if really anything happens in the factory during these period then it is some selected repairing works which come as complains for replacements.” What I get to know through his conversation is that there a production cycle of different media products also. Like, as I earlier mentioned that the elections are the high time for amplifier manufacturing. Amit says, “Last year during MP and Delhi state assembly elections and Lok Sabha elections people at Lajpatrai made a good business.” But according to him the Deck business is not so good now because of digital technologies like MP3 and DVDs, while CD (players) are always in demand. However, it is also true that now the assembling of CDs are being done in small towns also.” Now let us move towards migration cycle. Usually form June onwards the migration starts. Usually 75 % of the migrants are the same who go to their villages during Feb-March while 25 % of the migrants come here for the first time. Again one thing to be highlighted here is that 25 % of those who do not return either involve in farming or go to some other cities. Now something about DTH receiver Amit's room met (who is also his fellow worker) says, “This is not successful. Hardly anyone is accessing all channels. Another problem is that it does not catch the channels everywhere. Establishing the DTH is again a big problem. One has to take the help of Cable-wallah. Who in turn takes money somewhere between 500/- to 600/- rupees.” When it was launched in Lajpatrai market its price was 2400/- to 2700/- rupees, but today within a very short span of time the price came as low as 1700-1800/- rupees. According to him this is not being used in cities like Delhi, where cable is easily available, only people from small towns and villages are trying this. “But you know, since it is not working well, its future is not very good. May be there is some problem in its receiver,” says he. According to him the first of DTH receiver, which was landed into the market was Chinese, but now every body in the market is making the DTH receiver.

	2004.12.17  01.25 How Mohan started his workshop “I started this factory in 2001 with my uncle, Before this I working with Ustadji in Angooribagh”, says Mohan a workshop owner in Lajpatrai market. He landed up in Delhi at the age of 15 years, took admission in Modern Technical Training Institute, Bhagirath Place and learned how to make a Radia and TV. But according to him if one want to have practical knowledge, then one has to work in a factory, and that is why he joined the factory in Angooribagh. And he says, “2 saal tak hum 2 ghanta daily class karte the aur fir shaam ko factory me kaam karte the.” Thus he became perfect in assembling of TV. He narrates the story of beginning of his factroy, “Ustadji's main job was assembling TVs on contract, but due to some reason he was willing to change his job and prepare the TV kits. So, he offered me to continue with his previous job and also gave one of his contacts (shop no. 780, Lajpatrai market) to me. The owner of 780 gave me place to set up the workshop on the roof of his shop, and I started working there with my uncle. I worked there till July 2001. In June 2001 I got an offer from shop no. 871 to assemble TVs for them. Then in 2001 I took the roof of 873 on rent and started paying Rs. 6000/- per month. And after that I started assembling TVs for 871. According to Mohan the 871 people have their own registered company called 'Sanora' for TV manufacturing. But Mohan assembles all brands of TVs. However, he pays 6000/- per month to the owner of the space, but since this is not an authorized space, he himself has to tackle MCD, Police and other local authorities. Tackling MCD and Police simply means to bribe the concerned officials. “In the beginning dealing with Police and corporation was very difficult”, says he, “every second day they use to come and ask to stop working on the roof. Then I approached the then local MP of my area (Sheohar, Bihar) to resolve my problem. Next day I went to the local police post with the PA of MP saheb, He asked the 'Chawki Incarge' that why he was harassing me, when every one in the market is doing the illegal job. Then the police wallah replied, “Mujhe laga tha ki iski koi jaan-pahchan nahin hai, kyonki Bihari log to aise hi dhauns dikhane ke liye jhoot bolte hain. Chaliye aab se isko koi dikkat nahin hogi.” And only then the problem resolved. Now he gives Rs. 800/- per month to the local police and Rs. 300/- to the corporation. “Unke mukhbir aake le jate hain paise”. And in return they give him prior information of raid and all other apprehensions. As far as the consumption of electricity is concerned, it is also base on 'Jugad', he regularly bribes the electricity people.” Now something about the current market scenario. According to him gradually the amount of work is decreasing. The reason, he says is the over production and lowering of prices by the standard companies. “Earlier, the company rates were much higher than ours, but now almost all the companies are lowering down the price. And when the companies products is available in low price why people will go for local products”, he says. He further says that when he had started working for the shop no. 871 there were two others who used to work for them, but now forget the two others, even he do not get enough work to do. Other thing he pointed out is that now small towns all have manufacturing units of these media products. According to him now not only the finished products are supplied to small towns but components and bodies are also being supplied. People are sitting at different places and assembling TVs and CDs. “And those products are much cheaper than the products we assemble in Delhi”, he says. He sites an example of booster manufacturing in Patna. He says that the booster which is sold here at the rate of rs. 140-150 per piece, is easily available at 90/- in Patna. Then he argues, “If things are available in such a lower price then why people buy the costlier one. And the biggest thing is that whenever people find any problem or complain, they can solve those very easily. And if anyone buys a product from Lajpatrai, and some complain arise, then he will have to travel Delhi for that complain. So, in all respect people perfer to buy things locally. And this is also a reason of decreasing production in Delhi. The parties who purchase 'mall' from Lajpatrai market have enough knowledge about the product. Sometimes they ask to open a set to inspect before finalising a deal. As far as the information about new technology is concerned, Mohan echos the voice the Jhulelal and also says that watching TVs regularly also helps him. He gets information about technological advancement through different TV programmes also. And once a new variety of CD or TV comes in the market he tries to have a look of that at least once, After that he tries to understand the compositions of the components in it. Mohan says, he always tries to assemble a product which does not attract any complain during warranty period. And for that he use good components in his things. According to him there are two kinds of components are on sale in the market, one which carries warranty and another does not carry any warranty. Obviously, the components with warranty are costlier. “I use only warranty wallah component. If a component carry 10-15 days warranty, and if any problem arises in that, then the shopkeeper does change the component. If fact, if there is no complain in a warrantied component during assembling period, then there is hardly any chance to get a complain about that even after going to the user. However, one cannot trust 100% on an electrical product”, he says. According to him most of the factory owners are from Bihar and Eastern UP, and moreover the number of Muslims are higher; But since the work is not doing well people have started shifting into other things. Mohan himself has strated a repairing “theha”. He has an employee, who does the repairing job at his theha on sharing basis. Mohan takes care of all expences like MCD, Police, rent of the space etc. Now he plans to start making receiver of DTH (direct to Home transmission system). In fact, some people in the market have already started making it, and according to Mohan are earning very good. Since this is new, and company price of such receiver according to him is not less than 4500/-, while the local receivers are being sold at 2000/- to 2500/-; it is in great demand in the market. So most probably next time he will have something to say about his proposed participation in new meida industry.

	2004.11.30  01.25 Media Production at labor rate Sunday, 5.30 pm. I am in the Lajpatrai Market for my field work. The ambience is very pleasant. Exepts some counters and tea stalls most of the shops are close. Those who work in the market, who hardly get time to talk to their friends, are freely roaming around and doing things of their own and attending friends. So, this way the day is very cool. However, some repairing wallahs are busy and attending their costumers. Right now I am out side Mohan's workshop. He has just closed down the shutter of his workshop. He greets me, “aare sir, itne din baad aaye hain aap. Us din jo ek angrej ke saath aaye uske baad aaj hi dikhe hain aap idhar. Sunday ko kaise aana hua aaj idhar.” I reply, “aapse hi milne aaya tha aaj. Lekin ab to aapne apni dukan band kar di” Then he says, “to kya hua” and offers me a stool and himself sits on the table. Now we start chating about our kam-dhandha and his families. All are fine except his kam-dhandha is not running well. Because yet his Chacha has not returned from village. Almost for the last 2 months he is in the village. And only he assembles CD/VCD players in the workshop. According to Mohan, if he involves in CD/VCD, other works will be suffered, especially the TVs. He is taking care of TV assembling with two other guys. Normally the demand of CD/VCD are higher than TV. and that way really his work is suffering. Now, I try to divert the conversation towards other prodcution related things. How the factory owners get any particular order, whether they are paid in advance, etc. Mohan says, “not only in the market but in Angooribagh also people work on labor rate.” The term labor rate makes me concious because recenly I heard this term form a workshop worker in Loni. I request him to explain the term in detail. He says, “Bhai sahab labor rate par agar kaam na ho na to log kaam hi nahin karenge.” According to him very few factory owners invest their own captial for making media products, and shopkeeper (generally, they produce goods for different shops in Lajpatrai market) never give advance unless he has any urgency. Most of the work is done at labor rate. Under labor rate, normally a shopkeeper give the cost of labor in advance for certain number of pieces. It is only after the completion of work, he (shopkeeper) pays to the factory owner. And again he never makes full payment at one go. Similarly, the workshop owner never makes full payment to his worker at one go. Not only this, further the parties, who purchase the products from the market, follow the same pattern and make only part payment while placing the order. So, this is a kind of vicious circle, which every one involved in production and circulation process has to follow. And Mohan says, “ is nothing is wrong in this system, because all are depend to each other.” He says further, “shopkeepers are right when they do not pay at one go. In case any complain comes about a piece then who will look into that! If the factory owner is given full payment, then why he will bother about any complain! That is why it is a good system of check and balance to keep the thing under control.” In fact, this system is in practice for a long time. In the course of coversation on the labor rate system Mohan frequently mentions 'suppliers'. Suppliers according to him are the persons who bring orders from small town/city shopkeepers to Lajpatrai market and in turn supply the required products to them. And again niether the small town shopkeepers give full money to the suppliers and nor the suppliers make full payment to the Lajpatrai shopkeepers. It is not necessary that the supplier will supply only media products, he may supply other commodities also (according to the need of local shopkeepers). They do this work on commisssion basis. I don't have any clue of suppliers and their work pattern, but it would certainly be interesting to have a session with any supplier. I will try to meet one some time later(depends on avaliability). Around it is 6.40 now. A guy has just come to him for some money. Mohan says, “sabjee-ubjee ke liye maan raha tha paisa.” Actually, since his chacha has not here, and all resposibilites of the security of workshop have come to him. That is why instead of going to his falt at Shashtri Park he stays in the workshop at every night. He does his all his daily works in the market only. Moreover, these days he gets the home made food only once in a day, his bhai (a distant realtive, who stays at his flat and work in the market) brings that for him. Otherwise, every night he takes his dinner with some others from his area, who prepare their dinner in the market only. And now he is about to loose his patience after eating rice continiously for almost one month. “lekin kya karen, chacha kutch samajhte hi nahin hain. Aare khana-pina ki baat chhodiye na, kaam kitna suffer kar raha hai, so nahin dekh rahe hain.” This is enough indicatation for me that he is tired and needs some time to relax and do things of his own. I ask him for a longer conversation some time in the next week and start to arrange my bag.

	2004.11.24  16.06 Loni Diary : About new inventions “Aare Rakeshji, na koi phone, na koi khabar, na koi samachar, aur aap aa gaye! Aachha khane ka ber ho raha hai, ihan machhari-bhat (fish curry and rice) bana hai, pahile kha lijiye okra baad aaram se batiaiega.” I am unable to resist Amit's insistance and I am also unable to stop my temptation for the 'machhari-bhaat'. Within few minutes I make myself comfortable at the charpai, lying under the sun. By the time I finish Machhari-Bhhat I wanted to doze off. And this way my field work started yesterday. I had gone to Krihna Nagar, Loni yesterday to have a conversation with the factroy workers. I reached there at Amit's house at 12 o' clock. He along with his room mates (relatives) were busy in finishing their weekend jobs like washing cloths and cleaning house. Two of them were having their lunch, the same 'machhari-bhaat', one was washing cloth at the hand pump and similarly others were busy in doing other works. The person whom I wanted to talk with, had gone for hair cut. He came after 10-15 minutes. I said to him, “main aapse hi milne aaya hun.” And after some time we started our conversation, focussed on how technological information flows among the factories, how they adopt informations and things like that. But before going into information network, let me introduce him. His name is Jhulan. He came here in 1989 and started working in a workshop in Angooribagh. For the first two years he assmbled Two in One audio players and recorders at a workshop. After that he started making Deck and Amplifiers, and Video players. He did this job for 5 years. After that he came into CD/VCD player assembling. Speaking about the nature of the jobs he did in the past he says, “almost all jobs are of similar nature. All the products are colomn based, and the functions of all these products are almost same. so I did not face any problem in changing the job.” Right now he is assembling CD players. Now comes the information about the technological changes. According to him the system of information flow is very simple. The moment a new technology comes or a new foreign product comes in the domestic market, shopkeepers arrange a sample for the factory. Or some time they import the sample and send it to the factory. The process of work on sample is some thing like this. First of all the sample goes to the engineer in the factory, he opens the entire set and sees the components of the sample. If he find himself in position of copying the sample then he further passes it to the fitter in the factory otherwise says no to the shopkeeper. He also makes an estimate that how much it will cost in making the product. If the shopkeeper find the estimated cost genuine and effective, then the engineer sends the sample to the fitter in the factory. And if he finds that the copy can be copied then he says yes to the shopkeeper. After that the sample goes to another factory, which produce cabinet and chesis. Now again the same process starts, firstly it is checked by engineer then by the fitter, and if both say ok, then the next round of work starts. According to Jhulan, from handing over the sample to the factories by th shopkeepers and feedbacks from the factories to the shopkeepers: the entire process takes at least one month time or ever more. The time factor depends upon the paying capacity of the shopkeeper, whether he is able to pay some amount to the Chesis and Cabinet factory or not. If the shopkeeper give something to the factory even then normally it takes one month in giving him the feedback. Jhulan says, “it is not the headache of those factories, who assemble the product to give the final feedback to the shopkeeper. Only the chesis and cabinet people are responsible for that. If they think that their product will do, then they go ahead otherwise respond negatively.” According to Jhulan, earlier all the components of CD/VCD were imported form China, but now some components are being made locally. He says, “Lekin local saman achha nahin hota hai.” Jhulan says that the people had started manufacturing Panel, which is the most important component of CDs locally, but the quality was very bad, the complains started coming in very soon. It is bad in finishing and does not last as long as the foreign one. So that very few factories use such locally made panels. But generally, the factory owners have to invest their own captial to make new products. However, it is also true that sooner or later the factory wallahs get orders and work accordingly. Another trend is that sometimes shopkeepers make advance payment at labor rates to assemble the products. Payment at labor rate means shopkeeper pays only the cost of production to the factory owners as advance. It also happens sometimes that shopkeepers do not make full payment to the factory owners due to adjust the wear and tear, etc. But uncertainty in terms of getting order is the biggest problem to the factory owners, and mainting regular contact with the shopkeepers is the only solution of this porbem. Now, there are two kinds of orders: 1.Normal, and 2.Urgent. Normal orders are those which are placed by the shopkeepers to the factory owners without any time limit of delivery of assembled product. Generally, factroy owners work hassle free under this type of order with an self understood time limit of complition of work. While urgent orders are placed only with a certain time limit and a sence of urgency. Working under this kind of order, the factroy owners also keep the time limit into mind. Sometimes the limits with this kind of orders are like completion of 50 sets in 12 hours or so. But the good thing about this kind of order is that the factory owners like to work under urgent order. And the payment under this kind of order is also made urgently, while the mode of payment under normal order is very casual. Right from shopkeepers to the factory owners and factory workers, all like to work under this kind of order. Jhulan says the concluding line, “Jab malik to paisa milega tabhi na who labour ko dega, isiliye urgent order par kam karna thik hota hai ki iska payment dukandar samay par karta hai.”

	2004.11.24  15.47 Now Ramrayan is is a porter 11years ago when he was coming to Delhi, he has a dream of better employment, at least not of jhalli what he is doing today. "Yahi sochkar aaye the ki koi achha kam-wam milega yahan", says he. Ramnaryan is a native of Saharsam, Bihar, came here with his villagers. But unlike others he is a literate, got eduacation upto class 8 and that is why he was not interested in jhalli's job in the begining. Therefore atleast for 2 months he had literally nothing in his hand. Even for foods he was dependent of his villagers. Finally after 2 months he decided to enter in the market as a jhalli. To start work as jhalli it is necessary to obtain an authorized badge from the CREMA office. So he applied for that with the signature of a old jhalli as a bailee and Rs. 150 as security deposit. Thus he got the badge and got the uniform (blue shirt). He says that it is mandatory for every jhalli to give his attendance in the CREMA booth, “kyonki isase pata chalta hai ki kaun aaya aur kaoun nahin”. His job (badge) has nothing to do with the police, “waise hi dilli police likha hota hai hamare token par”, says he. He does not have any permanent contact with any shop in the market. “Sabka saman uthata hun. Aise hi baitha rahta hun jisko zaroorat hoti hai, aawaj de deta hai” says he. Inspite of high rate of inflation wage of jhallis are still Rs. 3 per round. Weight of goods doesn't matter. Whether it is 5 kg or 50 kg, he gets the same Rs. 3. In case a jhalli demands more than the fixed wage shopkeepers threat him to snatch away his token. One of Ramnarayan colleagues says, “Sunte hain ki Kiran Bedi ne apne haath se kabhi jhalli ko billa diya tha. Lekin CREMA ne usko koi value nahin diya, jab man hota hai chheen leta hai aur jab man hota hai cancle kar deta hai”. In fact they have frequent confrontations with shopkeepers on wage. He has no problem with police and MCD personnel. Sometimes MCD staff takes away the goods from the road, but this is not the headache of jhalli. In such cases the concerned shopkeeper / costumer / supplier has to manage the problem with MCD. Jhallis have no problem with police. Ramnarayan stays Navpul Pusta, a jhuggi basti. He bought a jhuggi for Rs. 12000 in 1997. There are 6-7 other jhallis who are staying in his jhuggi. By 6 o'clock in the morning he comes to this place. Early coming into the market is a part of his well thought planning. “Kya karenge jhuggi me, bail-gai (cow and ox) to hai nahin jisko kutti-pani dena padega. Yahan to chalo yeh ummid hai ki koi gadi-ghoda aayega, khali karenge to 8-10 rupaya kama lenge.” But early coming in the market does not mean that he has any problem in his fooding. “Ek-do aadmi der se aate hain aur khana bana kar le aate hain, isliye dhabe me nahin khana padta hai”. And as far as the dinner is concerned, he jointly makes it with his partners after returning from the market around 10-11 o'clock in the night. His average monthly income is between Rs. 2-3000. And since is the lone bread earner of his family (wife, 3 daughters and a son)so he has to look after the daily needs of his family also. So, he sends money to his money to his family but not regularly. He says, “paisa bhejne ka koi khas niyam nahin banaya hai, jab paise hote hain aur ghar se demand aata hai; bhej dete hain.” But money seldom goes through post / money order. Usually every now and then his villagers go there, so he sends money through them. Again the amount is not fixed, its all based on the need. Sometime 500/- and and sometime 2000/- 'saal me mota-moti 15 000 bhej dete hain'. Its all depends on demand and availability of money. Right now his kids are not school going so that itne paise me kaam chal jata hai. After every 4-5 months he goes to his village maximum for one month except emergencies. But for him going to village means looking after the cultivation work there. “Kosi nadi ke peti me 2 bigha zameen hai, usme se kabhi panch kattha bhans jata hai to kabhi aath kattha. Jo bhi bachta hai usi me kheti-badi hoti hai aur usi se gujar-basar hota hai. Isliye wahan bhi delhna padta hai” says he. From past 11 years he is working in the market and in all these days he never thought of another work, “kya karen shuru me koshish ki thi kam-vam ke liye lekin jab nahin mila tab yeh kam shuru kar diya. Ab kya, ab na to utna paisa hai aur na hi waisa pahunch hai. Ab to jo kar rahe hain wahi karenge.” After a little pause again he starts, “aag lagi, jhuggi jal gayi.2-4 hazaar uski marammat me lag gaya. Aur khana peena bhi usi me hai. Kaise shuru kar sakte hain kisi aur kam ke bare me.” His jhuggi was recently burnt in which he lost his consumer card (ration card) and election identity card. “Vaise to vote owte to girate nahin hain lekin photo pahchan patra hona to chahiye”, says he. Now he repaired his house through plastic sheets and mats. He says that his only source of drinking water is hand pump in the jhuggi. He has alos bored a hand pump of his own. He never goes to the cinema hall. Kirtan-bhajan bahut hai manoranjan ke liye, aapas me mil-baith kar kar lete hain etwar-utwar ko manoranjan says he. He categorically rejects the idea of keeping his family with him, “apna to thikana hi nahin hai, parivar ko kahan rakhenge. Na, parivar ko kabhi nahin layenge. Jhuggi me rahte hain, koi dhang ki jagah to hai nahin, dekh-bhal kaun karega”. He concludes by, “humse baat-cheet kar ke agar aap officer-ufficer ban jayenge to humara kya chala jayega. Hum to chahenge ki aap bada aadmi banen.”

	2004.11.24  15.45 T K ki Dilli “Dilli me mota kam kar ke hi gujara ho sakta hai, naukari karke yahan kutch nahin hone wala hai .......” Tkji's these words really have a meaning for all those migrants, who are working hard and playing an important role in consolidating the economy of the national capital territory. Either it is carrying loads or pulling rickshaw and thela or any other work, all comes under the category of “mota kam'. Tkji further adds mota nahin to aur kya kam hai yeh, gadhe ki tarah kam karna padta hai tab kahin jakar do paise milte hain. But he is very much satisfied with this mota kam because “kisi ki chakri to nahin karni padti hai, time table ki koi bandish to nahin hai hamare upar. Jab man hoga kam karenge aur jab nahin hoga tab nahin karenge” And it is a fact that the same (unskilled ) people when goes to a shop for a job, the shopkeepers do not offer them more than Rs. 1000 in the beginning. So,, in that sense Tkji is very practical. He always suggests his fellow workers not to do a job unless it is of the govt. This is his 24th year in Delhi. His unsuccessful love affair led him to land up into this city. At that time he was the student of matriculation in his village school and his fiancee was also studying in the same class. On a fateful day his affair became public, which resulted into lot of caste based tension because both were of different castes. TK was Turha (a caste which comes under OBCs) while his girlfriend was Brahmin. Anyway the matter was resolved in a joint meeting of both the communities. But inspite of looking the things normal TK was afraid of the pundits, so that he decided to leave the village at least for that moment. So, he came to Delhi with one of his villagers who was working in Bhagirath Place and stayed with him for some days. Later he met with Jawaharji who helped him to get a job in a surgical instrument shop in Lajpatrai markt. He started working there for Rs. 600/- per month. Since Rs. 600 was far less to meet his requirements, so that he decided to leave that job. Once again he came to Jawaharji, who was growing as an independent trolley contractor. Jawaharji assigned him the 'likha-padhi wallah kam. “Lekin main apne kism ka aadmi hum, kisi ka rob-dab nahin bardast kar sakta huun. Isliye humne do saal me hi Jawaharji ka saath chodkar Raju (another trolley contractor ke saath kam karna shuru kar diya”, says Tkji. His association with Raju was substantially long, he worked with him from 1986 to 1998. And during that period he stayed with Raju in his house. But over ambitiousness led him to start his own work. Since he already had a knowledge and experience of the market and contractors' job, he already had established contact with some shopkeepers in the market, so that it wasn't difficult for him to start his own work. So by the the end of 1998 he was a full fledged contractor with 5-6 persons working under him. Only problem he had to face then was his name “Tarkeshwar Prasad Gupta” This was so long that people couldn't pronounce it easily. And the another confusion which arisen due to his long association with Raju. Market people used to call him Raju. So that he has to overcome this problem which he did by inventing a new nickname 'TK' which was the small, easy to pronounce and 'pyara' also. “Ab log mujhe market me Tkji ke nam se hi jante hain, aap agar Tarkeshwar puchenge to koi batayega bhi nahi”, that is what he says regarding his name game. Anyway now he has 8-10 shops into his contact and he works for them but as the same time he says that if one comes and offers the same service in less than 2 rupees, the shopkeepers will assign work to him. Of course he also has the I card issued by Delhi Thela Mazdoor Sangh. He speaks of the difficulties which every newcomer has to face in the market. According to him it is very difficult for a newcomer to get any kind of job not only in this market but anywhere else. Getting a job means a kind of acquaintance with the market. So without any contact it is simply no (this part is in regard to Sadanji's query about the kind of support network among the workers for getting job). Although there are approximately 100 trolley contractors in the market but according to Tkji there is not any sub contracting type of system in the market (Ritika was interested to know about the backward – forward relationship among the contractors in the market), every one is independent and working for his own. He admits that in recent days the competition has increased in his field also like any other field. Biharis goes to the shops and offer to do work merely on Rs. 10 per carton. And he is feared of eroding the base of his unity due to such kind of mischief. As far as booking of mall is concerned, the contractors are responsible only for delivery of goods to the transporters and handing over the receipts of those to the shopkeepers. Their another important responsibility is make sure the timely payment of trolley-men are done by the shopkeepers. Otherwise, it is the shopkeepers who decide that through which transport the goods will be send to parties at different places. About the changes in market he has nothing more to say except few things. “Jinke pas rat ke barah-barah baje tak kam karte the unki dukanen bik gayi. Badlav aisa hua ki logon ko khane tak ke lale padne lage”. And the reason behind such changed in his opinion is that people started cassette business. Some shopkeepers have their own studios and production units. Anticipating the boom in cassette market they produced cassettes of some particular numbers in bulk but unfortunately that film or number flopped and within a few days those particular shopkeepers turned into men of road. And according to him the number of such shopkeepers are very high, who even hardly have 'bohney' but their daily expenditure is not less than 5-600 rs. per day. Therefore he has apprehensive about their work and he thinks that they might be indulged in some wrong doings. Another important change which he speaks of is “sabkutch badla lekin humari mazdoori nahin badli, jo mazdoori tab milti thi wahi ab bhi milti hai”. Like other contractors he also admits that the contractors are harassed by the MCD, but his idea of facing the MCD is quite different from others. He says, “Hum nahin sudhrenge” hi humara style hai jaise hi mcd walle aate hain hum apna saman lekar bhag jate hain aur jab who log chale jate hain tab fir hum wapas aa jate hain” But with police he has to manage with some fix amount monthly. Since most of his family members are in village, Police station Bansdih, Baliya district UP, he sends money to them. But not regularly but according to the need and demand. His eldest son (who is 19 and married two years back and having a son) is residing here with him. He is also working with Tkji in the market. The his youngest girl is also living here with his father and brother. Tkji brought him for his education, but she does each and every family work except preparing the morning meal because she goes to school in the morning. And Tkji's plan is that ab saas bahu me se koi ek yahan rahegi aur koi ek gaon me kyonki wahan babuji ki dekhbhal karne wallah bhi koi hona chahiye na.

	2004.11.24  15.41 Story of a Packager After spending 13 years in Delhi he has his own house and some fixed income, but reaching to this stage he passed across several ups and down. He recalls the day, "ghar ki halat bahut kharab thi, amadni ka koi his-kitab nahin tha, isiliye Dilli aa gaya." Thus at the age of 13 he came here with is villagers, who were working in Delh: most of them were in Lajpatrai market and Bhagirath place. Anyway he did not wanted to join him as a labourer in the beginning, so that he extensively roamed around the city for a 'good job'. But he did not get any even after 6 years. It was his villagers who helped him in sustaining here those days, they kept him with them in Usmanpur and looked after his fooding. So finally he thought to do any kind of job and joined a speaker manufacturing unit in Usmanpur, in the trans Yamuna area. He started working there on a mere salary of Rs. 300 per month. The nature of work were not very hard but the working hour was too long. Sometimes it goes like 14-15 hours a day. And according to him, "kam ke lihaz se paise bahut kam milte the". But since there was not any other option he worked there almost for one and half years. And the highest salary he got there was Rs. 700/-. It was becoming difficult for him to sustain himself and look after his family in his village so he dicided to leave the speaker manufacturing job. This time his destination was Lajpatrai market. This time he has not any option but has to start anything. So that within 2-3 days he bought the packaging tools and started the packaging work with a contractor on the basis of Rs. 20 daily. Regarding the packaging training he says, "isme kya training? dekhte-dekhte kam seekh jata hai aadmi. Bas saman le aaya chawari bazaar se khareed kar aur kam shuru kar diya thikedar ke saath". he did the packaging work with contractor for 2 two months and after that joined another contractor. And gradually his income increased. Now he earns rs. 8-900 per week. He got married 5 years ago. "Hum logon me jaldi shadi ho jati hai, ghar wale ko dukhi to nahin kiya ja sakta hain na", that is what he says for his early marriage. Presently there are total six members in his family. All are in the village. He sends money for them, but not regularly. it all depends on the demand, needs and availability. Actually now after 13 years of earning he managed to get some land in the village. But again that is not enough for the sustainance of his family. His brother was also worked with him for 2-3 years but after getting marraied he is living in the village. For this he argues "wahan bhi to koin dekhne wallah chahiye na, ma-babuji aur hum donon ka parivar: sab wahin hai". Although he wants to bring his family here but due to his low income he find it difficult, "Amdani kam hai, yadi parivar ko yahan rakhne lagenge to ghar par kya bhejenge. Dekhna to aakhir ghar walon ko bhi hai." Few years ago he bought a plot of 25 square yard land in Loni, the Delhi-UP boarder. Now he has paid all the installments, which was around rs. 22000. Right now he has build only one room there. He resides there with his 5-6 friends but he does not asks any rent from them because, "sab gaon ke hi sangi-sathi hai." He comes to the market 10 o'clock in the morning and returns by 10-11 in the night. After that he cooks meal togethr with his room partners. So by the time he goes to sleep it becomes 12-30. "kya karen aur koi upay bhi to nahin hai}, says he. Although he thinks about a better work but right now he does not find any suitable. "Kai bar koshish bhi kiya lekin badhiya nahin mila, kuch jagah to 10-10 din kam karke chod diya" So, he is always in search of a better option. As far as the market situation is concerned, "kam manda chal raha hai". And according to him the main reason behind the slump he says is that now the shopkeepers dispatch their mall from the factory only. "And if malls do not come to the market how can we people get wok", says he.

	2004.11.24  15.33 Satyanarayan's Lajpatrai Bazaar Satyanarayan's Lajpatrai Bazaar "Bees sal pahile rojgar ke chakkar me gaon ke logan ke sath Dilli aini, kutch din jhalligiri kaini aaur okre baad se theli chalawe lagni, aaur aaj ta rauua dekhate baani ki ka kar rahal bani hum (I came to Delhi in search of job twenty years ago, after doing jhalli's work for some time I started running trolley and its all in front of you that what I am doing today)" Satyanarayan Bin alias Lallan alias Thekedar (47) Satyanarayan, the only son of an ex army personnel who had fought the war of 1962,is an inter pass theli-wallah in Lajpatrai market. He belongs to the same Baliya, UP from where former prime minister Chandrashekhar comes. He recalls the day: 'sal 1983, tareekh 10 October' when he landed up in Delhi. For the last twenty years his daily routine is to carry loads on his theli. By 8 o'clock he comes to market and leaves the place by 10-11 in the night. As far as his fooding is concerned he takes his lunch from the dhaba and prepare the dinner himself in his jhuggi. And by the time he goes to sleep usually it becomes 1-2 o'clock in the night. This is what he says. He starts narrating his past history, “hum bahut hi gareeb parivar se hain, babuji military me the, unke pas kewal dedh bigha zameen thi. Usi se parivar ka gujar-basar hota tha. Ek bar maan ki tabiyat kharab ho gayi thi babuji chhutti lekar aaye the lekin bahut dino tak ghar par hi rah gaye. Unko naukri se discharge kar diya. Fir 1962 me ladai ke samay urgent call aaya, babuji gaye. Is baar gaye to 1967 tak seva kiye. Fir unka time pura ho gaya. Unko ritirement mil gaya, lekin sarkar ka niyam tha ki 15 saal se kam naukari wale ko pension nahin milega; isliye babuji ko pension nahin mila.” Actually at the time of retirement his father had got some money and with that he bought a rickshaw. Now the rickshaw was the only source of his family's income. One day his father was standing in front of the soldier board office, Baliya with his rickshaw. One officer saw him and asked, “yeh wardi kahan se laye ho?” His father replied that he was in the army but now after retirement he drives rickshaw to sustain his family. Then the officer asked him to stay with him and offered him a job of peon on temporary basis. which he accepted. Satyanarayan says, “wahin se kama kar hamare ghar parivar aur hamari shiksha ka kharcha uthate the babuji.” When his father was working in the soldier board he passed the matriculation examination. “Main akela ladka tha jisko first division aaya tha matric me”, says satyanarayan. After matricualtion he continued his study and done intermidiate. When he passed intermidiate then the officer in soldier board asked his father, 'isko BTC (basic teacher certificate) ka course karwa do'. So he filled the BTC form in 1976 and got selected for the training and did training for two years from Rajkiya Diksha Vidyalaya, Pakwa Inar, Baliya. But by the time his father became so old that he was unable to work any more. It became difficult for him to met his family needs by one and half bigha zameen. “Mastri bhi samay par nahin mila. Wahin Bahraich me kutch din lakdi ka kam kiya aur uske bad char-paanch sal idhar udhar mazdoori karne ke bad Dilli aa gaye”, he says. Lajpatrai market was the his first destination in Delhi. He met several people, 'saathi-sangi se kam ke liye bola, koi bhi mehnat mazdoori wallah yah likha-padhi ke'. Two days passed, his request did not get any attention. It was difficult for him to even get the food. Finallay he opted Jhalligiri. Did the work for two days. First day earned Rs. 2.25 and 75 paise on the second day. 'Teesary din kisi ne mera jhalli hi chura liya. After that he worked with several contractors. But there was problem with contractors, whenever their older people come they ask him to leave. Thus it was very difficult for him to get a sustainable work. Meanwhile he came in touch with a theli wallah from Madhya Pradesh. That theli wallah offered him to work with him, “jab tak kar sakte ho hamare sath kam karo”. And thus he got an asra (help). Satyanarayan started working with him. He worked with for long time. After few years one of his (M. P. walle ka) relatives came and started working with them. And with that again a problem of job came before him. This time he asked his partner (the MP guy) to give him a shop (contact), ''mujhko bhi ek dukan de do jisase hum bhi jeete-khate rahen.” His partner obliged him by giving the shop no. 570 to him. And till now he is working for the same shop. Although he got some more shops as contact but 570 number is still his main source of income. After coming Delhi he never tried for another job not even for the teacher job, for which he has done BTC course. Although he got a letter from the same teacher training school from, where he has done BTC but he did not go even for the interview because, “humne socha ki training karne ke bad itne dinon tak to baithe hi rahe, koi kam nahin mila tab aur abhi jo kam kar rahe hain yadi usko chod kar gaye to yeh bhi chala jayega aur who milega ki nahin pata nahin. Isiliye dusare kam ke liye kabhi bhaga daudi nahin kiya” Now he earns approximately rs. 200-250 daily. 'Mera kam saman ko transporteron ke pas pahunchaan hai', says he. He takes round of New lajpatrai market, Naya bazaar, Kutub road and Khanna market with his theli. Shokeepers pay at the rate of 20 rs per nag (box). And the jhallis, who load the boxes take rs. 5 per box from this 20 rs. and in case the theli gets over loaded and it becomes difficult to carry then he takes support mans according to the need and pays them equally. Police and MCD personals are also there to ask their share. “Waise to police walon ka kutch nahin banta hai lekin mahine me 1000 rupaye wo lete hi hain. Achha MCD wale kabhi aate hain aur mal sadak par rakha rahta hai to wo utha kar chale jate hain, fir committee me jakar usko chuda kar lana padta hai. Wahan bhi hazaar rupaye ki parchi katati hai, aur yeh bhi hume hi dena hota hai, dukaandar nahin dete hain” says he. He named Udayhbihari, who takes money on behalf of police. 'Udaybihari police ka dalal hai, wahi paisa le ja jata hai.' In the last 20 years he has increased his kheti-badi in the village. He has bought a 50 square yards plot also in a jhuggi basti in Shriram Colony near Yamuna vihar in trans yamuna, which has recently been regularised. Before that he used to stay in the same colony but on rent. And at that time the rent was 500 rs. monthly which he used to pay jointly with four other persons. But now there are 4-5 other persons who stay in his jhuggi but he never charges money form them for this stay. Today he is also known as thekedar in the market, “jiske saath do-char log hote hain usko thekedar kahne lagte hain yahan, hamare saath bhi char-chhe log hain isliye humko bhi thekedar kahte hain”, says he.

	2004.11.24  15.32 Vaijnath's journery to Lajpat Rai market This is again a summary of old conversation, which I had with a group of factory workers of Angooribagh and Lajpatrai market during my last visit to Loni. I met with Rajesh, Hare Ram and some of his villagers, who are doing different kinds of laboring job in above-mentioned places at Amit’s (a packager, whom I have interviewed earlier) house. In fact I had not gone to interview them, but after knowing their jobs, I simply had a brief chat with them about their societal networks and the process of their Delhi coming and co-oping with the jobs and etting up of a factory. Rajesh, the younger brother of Amit is working in a factory for the last 2 years. He landed up at Angooribagh with his brother, but according to him most the workers come here either with close relatives, or villagers or with the people from their area. And this is why; people from a particular village or locality are engaged in specific job, with some exceptions. And this exception is related to the age group and to some extent to their educational background. For example, generally the younger ones are either school dropouts or have qualification upto intermidiate or in some cases upto college degrees. And these people do not want to do the same job which his elders are/were doing. Moreover they want to learn some skill so that they could start their ‘own work’ some day. Speaking about their Delhi coming, Rajesh said that generally whenever a guy working in Delhi goes to his village, the youngsters in the village say to him “humko bhi Dilli le chalo, koi kam-wam pakdwa dena”, and thus they reach here. And if the person, who brings them to Delhi, works in a factory, then 99 % chance is that the person, who has accompanied him, will get a work in the factory only. Another thing, came out in the conversation is that the people who are coming now to Delhi are not simply landless or poor. The financial conditions of their families are not as bad as the jhalliwallahs. If necessary, some of them are in a position to invest small capital also. So that after discussing with them my conclusion is that they do not come here merely for earning their bread but they want to set up some thing of their own. But this is also true that they are less paid during working in factories. Not only they get low salary but have to work overtime also with many other constraints like the problems of shelters and uncertainty of jobs. Another thing, which Rajesh said, is important that they are less bothered about caste and community. In fact two guys from different caste (Kumhar) stay in his house. Rajesh said, “There is caste differentiation in the village, but that differentiation is again limited to the upper and lower castes. While living or working in Delhi that differentiation also does not matter, because several other things, like school or village friendship or local caste and community equations, etc also matter. Pardesh mein to waisahiye aadmi ko aadmi nahin milta hai, aur usme bhi uper se is tarah ka soch rakh kar aadmi kahan tak kama kha payega.” Hare Ram said that his factory owner is from Lucknow side. He is not sure about his caste, may be he is Shukla, Pandit, or Bhumihar. But he has an idea that the guy is running the factory for the last 15 years or more. One of his group member sitting besides me said, “He ran away form his home and started jhadu-pochha at a shop in Angooribagh.” According to him his father was in service, probably in the Army and his relation with his father was not good. When he returned his home after 6-7 years his mother gave him 30 000/- rupees, with that he started the factory 15 years ago. And today he is one of the big factory wallahs in Angooribagh, having 3 deck factories and one factory of deck chesis. His is the order-based production. Most of his goods are supplied locally (to the shop no 538, Lajpatrai market), very few goes to other places such as Bombay, and Bhusawal, but again only on order. According to Hare Ram, he does not have time to think of manufacturing decks for out stations.

	2004.11.24  15.27 Workers' Community Network This is again a summary of old conversation, which I had with a group of factory workers of Angooribagh and Lajpatrai market during my last visit to Loni. I met with Rajesh, Hare Ram and some of his villagers, who are doing different kinds of laboring job in above-mentioned places at Amit’s (a packager, whom I have interviewed earlier) house. In fact I had not gone to interview them, but after knowing their jobs, I simply had a brief chat with them about their societal networks and the process of their Delhi coming and co-oping with the jobs and etting up of a factory. Rajesh, the younger brother of Amit is working in a factory for the last 2 years. He landed up at Angooribagh with his brother, but according to him most the workers come here either with close relatives, or villagers or with the people from their area. And this is why; people from a particular village or locality are engaged in specific job, with some exceptions. And this exception is related to the age group and to some extent to their educational background. For example, generally the younger ones are either school dropouts or have qualification upto intermidiate or in some cases upto college degrees. And these people do not want to do the same job which his elders are/were doing. Moreover they want to learn some skill so that they could start their ‘own work’ some day. Speaking about their Delhi coming, Rajesh said that generally whenever a guy working in Delhi goes to his village, the youngsters in the village say to him “humko bhi Dilli le chalo, koi kam-wam pakdwa dena”, and thus they reach here. And if the person, who brings them to Delhi, works in a factory, then 99 % chance is that the person, who has accompanied him, will get a work in the factory only. Another thing, came out in the conversation is that the people who are coming now to Delhi are not simply landless or poor. The financial conditions of their families are not as bad as the jhalliwallahs. If necessary, some of them are in a position to invest small capital also. So that after discussing with them my conclusion is that they do not come here merely for earning their bread but they want to set up some thing of their own. But this is also true that they are less paid during working in factories. Not only they get low salary but have to work overtime also with many other constraints like the problems of shelters and uncertainty of jobs. Another thing, which Rajesh said, is important that they are less bothered about caste and community. In fact two guys from different caste (Kumhar) stay in his house. Rajesh said, “There is caste differentiation in the village, but that differentiation is again limited to the upper and lower castes. While living or working in Delhi that differentiation also does not matter, because several other things, like school or village friendship or local caste and community equations, etc also matter. Pardesh mein to waisahiye aadmi ko aadmi nahin milta hai, aur usme bhi uper se is tarah ka soch rakh kar aadmi kahan tak kama kha payega.” Hare Ram said that his factory owner is from Lucknow side. He is not sure about his caste, may be he is Shukla, Pandit, or Bhumihar. But he has an idea that the guy is running the factory for the last 15 years or more. One of his group member sitting besides me said, “He ran away form his home and started jhadu-pochha at a shop in Angooribagh.” According to him his father was in service, probably in the Army and his relation with his father was not good. When he returned his home after 6-7 years his mother gave him 30 000/- rupees, with that he started the factory 15 years ago. And today he is one of the big factory wallahs in Angooribagh, having 3 deck factories and one factory of deck chesis. His is the order-based production. Most of his goods are supplied locally (to the shop no 538, Lajpatrai market), very few goes to other places such as Bombay, and Bhusawal, but again only on order. According to Hare Ram, he does not have time to think of manufacturing decks for out stations.

	2004.11.24  15.25 Community of Workers This is in continuance of Amit’s conversation, which I have posted earlier. He is working in a manufacturing unit of CD/VCD players and amplifiers. According to him very few workers in the factory are from his area, i.e., eastern UP. Most of the workers are from Aligarh, Bulandshahar, Merrut and this part of UP. Amit says, “if I bring people from my side to work in the factory, the locals (people from western UP) harass them in several ways.” “The first thing is that our language and culture is quite different from them, and secondly, no body wants to loose their space”, says he. But this is not always true. People, who are keen to learn the job or earn livelihood have to settle in an atmosphere, be it favorable or not. According to Amit MAZBOORI AADMI KO KAHIN PAR BHI RAHNA SIKHA DETA HAI. After joining his present job Amit brought his two villagers and his own younger brother to work in the same factory. Although he has knowledge of every problem, which one has to face as a beginner, even then he tries his best to accommodate his acquaintances in the factory. And according to him the ‘kam ki kami’ is the only reason of doing this. Amit is a Brahmin and the people to whom he brought with him are not necessarily Brahmins only. “Nahin isme humlog jati-pati ka khyal nahin karte hain. Jo bhi jarooratmand gaon mein kahta hai kaam dilwa dene ke liye, usko apne saath le aate hain”, says he. Last time when I went to his local shelter in Usmanpur, I found the atmosphere really amazing. It was like a commune. 9-10 of them resides there in two rooms. And the most interesting thing is that they are of different age groups and castes. But culturally they are from the same Bhojpuri background. Now, something about the treatment, which newcomers have to face. None of the freshers get money in the beginning. Almost all of them start working there as learners. Once they learn how to make a CD/VCD player or something else and show a complete specimen of that to the owner, only then the owner owner does fix the salary and the terms & conditions of work for them. Now it varies from individual to individual that how quickly he learns the work. If someone has a prior interest in electronics then he can learn the work in 15 days also, otherwise people have to spend 2-3 months simply in recognizing the components and its diagram. And another problem is the no body wants to give chance to the new comers. No body wants to leave his desk for him. And in that way a newcomer hardly get maximum 2 hrs in a day to practice the things. “Lunch me ya fir yadi koi kahin gaya hai to uski jagah par baith gaya”, says Amit. Till now this is it. I have got a very solid contact in Mangolpuri, West Delhi. Devender has his small tuner manufacturing unit there. I had a very small telephonic chat with him yesterday night. If I remain ok this week (because my stomach is not well, I am suffering from Diarrhoea form the last Sunday and still struggling to get out of it), I will try to contact this person. May be then able to get any interesting clue of his job and the network operating in the west Delhi area.

	2004.11.24  15.19 The conference of Delhi Porters' Union I had been to the conference of Delhi Porters' Union held in Krishnanagar. It was a well attended conference. 500 porters from Lajpatrai market, Medicine market and cycle market Bhagirath Place and Angooribagh participated in the same. Although the conference began 2 hours late from its scheduled time i e 10 am. due to heavy rain of previous night, it ran very well and systematically. Let me introduce the conference venue first, and why it was chosen. It was held in the middle of a newly settled working class village Krishnanagar. This village is situated at 2-3 kilometer east of Noli Railway station. Almost all the residents of this village are working in diffent markets of Old Delhi and are the natives of Eastern UP and Bihar. So, the concentration of large no. of porters was the only reason behind organising the conference in this colony. And the anticipation of the organizers stood true. But the participants were not only the local residents but a large number of porters from Shashtri Park, Khajuri, Usmanpur, and other working class localities form East Delhi also participated in the same. The conference was inaugrated by an old trade union leader Baljor Singh Chauhan, the founding president of DPU. Mr. Chauhan was associated with various trade union movements including the All India Newspapers Employees Federation. Highlighting the history of DPU Mr. Chauhan said how it was easy fot the shopkeepers to harass the workers, how every day a worker was called 'chor' and his token was snatched away by the shopkeepers. He praised the role of Shiv Sagar in organising the workers, first in Lajpartai market and then in the adjecent market. Next came on the mick was another old trade uniouist Jamilurrahman. He was the honourary vice president of the DPU. Mr. Rahman given an account of the struggles undertaken by the DPU for the interest of the workers in Lajpatrai market under the guidance of AITUC. The Delhi State President of of President of All India Youth Federation, Mr. Mahesh Rathi was the third speaker. He mainly spoke about the the role of Left in the UPA govt. He said that to supporting the UPA govt. at the centre does not mean that the left front will not question the anti people policies of Manmohan Singh Govt. He attacked the former NDA govt. for framing and implementing the anti people anti poor anti labour policies during its rule. His speech was full of left rethorics. He narrated several stories on how the flag of workers became reg and viz-a-viz. After that Shiv Sagar presented a report on the work of previous union. Copies of the same three page report were distributed among the workers also. The workers oppression by the Shopkeepers and CRMA, and the struggle of Workers were prominently dealt in the report. The high handedness of newly appointed Chairperson of wage committee of the market Mr. Atul Sharma and DPU's protest against him was pormintly mentioned in the report. According to the report Atul Sharma had announced that the will not be revised in any condition. He also announced that if any jhalliwallah asks more than rs. 3 per round, his token would be taken away by CREMA. But it was the struggle of DPU and the workers' unity that not only forced Sharma to take back his words but had to increase the wage of workers also. Now it is rs. 4 per round. But the report says that we will not stop until our demand of rs. 5 per round is meet. The report systematically gives the struggles of DPU. After the presentation of report delegates were asked to give their suggestions on comments. After 2-3 repeated announcements some of them came to express their views on the report or otherwise expressed their opinion on DPU's functiong and the misdeads of CREMA and the shopkeepers in the market. Expressing their views they seemed very angry towards the high handedness of shopkeepers, especially to some particular (big) shop owners. After that they unanimously passed the report. After that the Chief guest, Mr. Jitendra Sharma the Secretary of Ghaziabad District Committee of Communist Party of India, was invited to deliver his lecture. Actually the conference was supposedly inaugurated by him, but he did not turn at time so it was done by Mr. Baljor Singh Chauhan. Mr. Sharma spoke at length about the vulnerability of workers and the anti worker policies of governments at Lucknow as well as Delhi. He explained how once the industrial city of Ghaziabad has turned into the city of goons and lumpens. How the people of other parts of country get afraid after hearing the name of Ghaziabad. He said that one the one hand the closure and shifting of industrial units have snatch away the employments of workers. And the govt. who has ordered all these closures and shifting has no plan for generating alternative employment for the workers. While the increased crime has created fear among the general people in the city. He also spoke that the suburb like Krishnanagar, in spite of being situated on the road side has no electricity and water. There is no civic facilities for its residents. Addressing the delegates he said that you should not restrict your struggle only to the market, but you should fight for your civic amenities at your place of residence also. He said that the communist parties are fighting for workers right all over the world, and his party is commited to struggle for their rights also. “Whenever, you feel, you can call me. I am always available for you”, he said to the workers. After that the elections for the new (huge) executive committee and the office bearers of the DPU were held. Once again the mode of election was the same as I have seen in some other mass fronts of the communit parties. Shiv Sagar has a list in his hand and he was calling the names one by one, and people were coming on the dias. It was huge executive committee. People from Lajpatrai market, Bha