BUILDING BRICKS AND CORNER STONES

"He's a hard core Gujarati", Meera remarked and I wondered what that might mean....Devendra, who speaks only Gujarati brought his young nephew along as a translator - they were taking me out to see their brickworks.  India is the birth place of brick-making and 50% of all structures are made of this basic material.  Gujarat, being an alluvial plain,  is ideal for the industry, whose history goes back to the Indus Valley Civilisation, some 2500 years BC.

The bricks are hand made and kiln fired - 200 workers make 40 000 per day and are paid per brick.  We were sitting under a 'lean to' sipping 7-up and watching the monsoon rain falling.  The industry comes to an end during the monsoon months, as you cannot make mud bricks in the rain - so it's a cyclical industry.  "We'll reopen at Dussehra, a festival in late October celebrating the triumph of Lord Rama over the demon, Ravana - there'll be a puja and fireworks" explained, Devendra.

"Hand made in India" means just that - every brick is hand made by someone who has been doing it for a lifetime, from a family who have been doing it for a lifetime - the bricks are taken to the kiln for firing by donkey.  But their main revenue comes during the monsoon months, when contractors rely on the stockpile of bricks, to keep the building industry going and then the price goes up five-fold.  Devendra grinned, as he remarked that it is an industry which does not require any education, but it does require start up capital, which many don't have.  Workers have to be paid in advance, or they take their labour elsewhere and regulatory officials, too,  have to be paid....!

The key players of this little business were all present - his father aged 82, who had the foresight to buy the land 20 years ago at a knock down price,  Devendra himself, who manages the show,  Atul, his trusted store keeper and caretaker and Bashir, who provides the labour !  "He beats them if they don't work properly" explained Devendra.  Well I guess you need to have some motivation, apart from a tot of the lethal liquor they make illegally from the Mahuda Tree ?