We are counting nights....6 more to go, and then we will move to an area which hopefully is quieter than here.
Here we have been living in the middle of contstruction sites for the past 6 months, and the noise is driving us crazy.
As with any emerging economy, in India the economy is growing and there is money...money to be invested in the construction of new buildings and money to be made of the gigantic rents the landlords are charging.
3 lakh rupees per month (app 5000 € or 6700 $) is not an exception, and for that one can get a three bedroom apartment in an old building; obviously with old fashioned bathrooms (and, as in our case, clogged waterpipes so half the bathrooms are not functioning), sockets that crackle and kitchencupboards that won't open (or close) because the hinges are rusting....and not to forget the annual monsoon-related wet spots on the walls. In other words, crap.
But there are brand-new apartments to be had as well for that kind of money. They have new kitchens and bathrooms, build in airconditioning, and fancy lamps. But the sockets still crackle because the wiring that is being used is too thin, drains of airco's stop in mid-wall so leaking does not only occur during the monsson season and I have even heard the story of someone's pipes melting because they could not withstand the hot water coming through!
And this all because the landlords smell money and the rents are mafia-controlled, so it is said.
In our area there is an agreement that construction work can be done from monday to saturday, 8 am to 8 pm. That would at least insure quiet nights and one day a week without constant hammering, grinding and polishing of marble, pouring of concrete, throwing with metal pipes, wood, and stones, and shouting of workmen who all work without ear protection and are totally deaf. Obviously, half the work is carried out during the night because the city of Delhi has this totally rediculous rule that trucks can only enter the city after 10.30 pm!
It will not come as a surprise that no one stick to that agreement.
The workers don't care because they work 19 hours a day for 80 rupees.... 1,80 $ or 1,30 €. Uninsured, of course. The owners don't care because they live in their fancy houses, FAR away from the noise, and their tenants have had to pay a whole year's rent in advance so they can't move out...and the supervisors don't care because they have the task of finishing the work on time, and planning is not their strongest asset.
One could argue that at least these workers HAVE jobs, instead of roaming the streets as beggars. But for that amount per day they can barely survive, with food inflation declining (!!!) to 13% in february. And for that they flock from Rajasthan, are sleeping in tents alongside the roads or in the construction sites, and keep their children out of school. And for that they will ruin their health and die around the age of, what....40?
T and I try to block the noise out of our minds, but every once in a while we have reached our limit (usually after an entire day of marble grinding which has that high irritating pitch one remembers from the dentist's office), and then T goes out to shout at the supervisors, after which they usually stop. I hardly ever go...I do not make an impression because I am a woman....unless I threaten to kill people, which lately I have started doing (threaten, not kill...I would not stoop that low).
But what REALLY pisses us off is the fact that at the huge plot right across our street, they really don't give a shit, no matter what we do. For nothing and noone, not even for the chairman of the neighbourhood association, an influential Indian lawyer. Why?
Simple...because the plot, rumour has it, belongs to a minister from Uttar Pradesh. Left wing, defending the poor and powerless.....and in the meantime, employing boys that look like they are barely 16 (below that age it is considered childlabour) for probably not even 80 rupees per day. Boys that should be in school instead of breaking their backs so they won't make it past 40.
And this minister is untouchable. Not in caste, but in power...the police don't even bother coming.
I guess the will to defend poor and powerless is not interesting if it means adapting one's own standards. These are only rumours, of course.....but where there is smoke, there is fire.
So we have called it quits.
No point in continuing a battle that is already lost. If you can't beat them... move out and move on. Luckily our lease was ending and we ARE able to move out....6 more nights!
