Sites of World-Making

This chapter focuses on three Delhi sites of world-making, each acting as a site of an implicit, largely symbolic politics: the stone quarry workers' children's school, the workers' temple, and the informal sessions of sharing folk tales. It describes the experiences of working class children in the school and examines how this shapes world-making and the workers' perceptions of their living conditions. Although the government implemented a number of welfare schemes at the quarry, the actual benefits were not available to every worker. This always led to an intense competition among the many workers for the limited welfare facility. Some workers engaged in bribery to gain access to the sanctioned loan offered by the banks to the poor. Workers who were able to secure the money were envied by their not so fortunate colleagues. This chapter also looks at the workers' perceptions about ghosts, indebtedness, poverty, and anti-Brahmanism.

Computer Science · Global Maritime and Colonial Histories · Japanese History and Culture