Aizawl is the capital of Mizoram and thus replete with government workers. The second major industry appears to be tearing down buildings and putting up new ones in their place. Sometimes it is because they are quite old and sometimes the road has shifted and the buildings are no longer secure.
Buildings are made of miles of rebar and tons of concrete. There are piles of rebar lying all around the campus. There are, amidst the tea shops, sweets stores, and motor bike parts stores on the main drag of town, cement stores with bags and bags of cement piled inside. Every pillar, post, floor, and ceiling is fashioned by hand, cast between boards and manually troweled.
They are building a new conference center here at the college and about 4 workers are involved in the process. They have a cement mixer, although I'm not sure if they're using it. Bamboo ladders and walkways are precariously balanced between the ground and the different levels of the building. There are two other building projects, a new block of apartments and a public toilet. The lavatory crew has no cement mixer. They are mixing the cement by hand with the help of a hoe/mattock looking thing. I found out that the conference center was to have been finished last year, but you can see that all they have is one floor, some pillars and a partial ceiling.
Rebar is always left sticking up from the pillars in case someone might suddenly decide to add another floor to the house.
The construction workers do not go to church. On Sunday they can be seen hanging out their wash on the roof of the incomplete building. Except for long breaks in the class schedule, the workers, who come from different parts of India, live on site.
I don't really have a great picture of the 'side of the hill' aspect yet, but maybe you can get an idea from these photos. Some houses have the lip of the front threshold practically on the edge of the road and the entire house is supported by very long pillars. I'm glad I haven't been invited into one of those.
Buildings are made of miles of rebar and tons of concrete. There are piles of rebar lying all around the campus. There are, amidst the tea shops, sweets stores, and motor bike parts stores on the main drag of town, cement stores with bags and bags of cement piled inside. Every pillar, post, floor, and ceiling is fashioned by hand, cast between boards and manually troweled.
They are building a new conference center here at the college and about 4 workers are involved in the process. They have a cement mixer, although I'm not sure if they're using it. Bamboo ladders and walkways are precariously balanced between the ground and the different levels of the building. There are two other building projects, a new block of apartments and a public toilet. The lavatory crew has no cement mixer. They are mixing the cement by hand with the help of a hoe/mattock looking thing. I found out that the conference center was to have been finished last year, but you can see that all they have is one floor, some pillars and a partial ceiling.
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| New apartments |
The construction workers do not go to church. On Sunday they can be seen hanging out their wash on the roof of the incomplete building. Except for long breaks in the class schedule, the workers, who come from different parts of India, live on site.
I don't really have a great picture of the 'side of the hill' aspect yet, but maybe you can get an idea from these photos. Some houses have the lip of the front threshold practically on the edge of the road and the entire house is supported by very long pillars. I'm glad I haven't been invited into one of those.
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