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“But those who fear their Lord, for them are gardens underneath which rivers flow, wherein they are to dwell forever, a gift of welcome from their Lord.” (Qur’an 3:198)
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A JOURNEY FROM WALLS TO A home in Nah Ghara through the social lens INTRODUCTION The soul of Shahjahanabad lies in its people and the ties of family and their rich culture. We would be amiss in studying Shahjahanabad without looking into the living layer . As you penetrate the noisy lanes of Kinari Bazaar through Dariba Kalam you come across a silent street regal and rich in its conserved culture. At its termination point lies the home of a Jain family that settled here in the 19th century. I)GENDER ROLES a)FAMILY HIERARCHY: The house we studied belonged to a traditional Jain family and it is that tradition living across generations that made it a home. It was a PATRIARCHAL family setup wherein the male members were the head of the household as well as the Bread Earner. The family line is also carried down through the male members and the son inherits the property from his father. As we observe from the family tree which shows the four generation of the family we can see that it is the sons who have continued to live in the house while the daughters get married off and move out.
FAMILY TREE
IMPORTANT SPACES FOR FATHER
IMPORTANT SPACES FOR GRANDMOTHER
b)FAMILY PATTERN : The family tree also shows us that through time big joint families have broken into an almost nuclear setup. It is the son living with his parent and his children and the siblings have moved out. While the grandmothers of both the families lived in a joint family of 25 members ,they are currently 2 separate families living in different portion of the house like neighbours. c) GENDER SPECIFIC ROLES OF FAMILY MEMBERS : 1. Grandfather and father: Men are the bread earners of the household and responsible for its requirements. They therefore hold the authoritative and decision making power. Family 1 : The 3 sons have started their own wholesale jewellery business as their father was in government employment . We can conclude that employment doesn’t offer the continuity in profession that business does . Family 2: They run their Kinari business in Dariba kalan which has been their ancestral occupation and has been passed down through generation. This also reflects the patriarchal family setup where sons follow their fathers profession
29 37 2. Grandmother and mother: Women are looks upon as nurturing elements of family. Famliy 1: The grandmother doesn’t move out of the house and prefers to stay in her corner of a room as she wasn’t allowed by her own mother in law in the room. The mother loves to travel and has a widespread movement all through Shahjahanabad for different household requirements. She even shops for relatives that request her to bring merchandise from the rich market of Shahjahanabad which gives a sense of pride to her as a resident. Both of them spend most of their time cooking, performing various household chores, taking care of the house and each member. Even though the mother is educated she prefers to spend her time educating her daughter and taking care of the family than getting employed. Family 2: The grandmother is fond of travelling and going to kitty parties as she was given that freedom in her youth by her mother in law. Now she is limited by her health and her friend circle has moved out so she prefers to move out as well. The mother’s favourite place is the kitchen. She spends the majority of her time there and keeps rearranging it to best accommodate the new technologies . This reflects and re-emphasizes the embracing of the maternal element, her role in the house. 3. Children Daughter : the daughter is an introvert and likes spending time at home on the terrace and looking on the street. Her social life is restricted to school. Son: the son is an extrovert who has a large social circle and spends most of his time on his bicycle on the streets. Some of these characteristics maybe an influence of the way of upbringing which is different for a male and female in our society.
IMPORTANT SPACES FOR MOTHER
IMPORTANT SPACES FOR GRANDMOTHER 2
IMPORTANT SPACES FOR SON
IMPORTANT SPACES FOR DAUGHTER
d)GENDER SPECIFIC SPACES AND NOTIONS OF PRIVACY: The ground floor has a semi public quality and is therefore dominated by male members. Even in olden times the houses were designed in terms of degrees of privacy •The outer platform outside houses was meant to deal the lower caste outside the periphery of the house. •The entrance is separated by 2 doors that direct to a baithak without inviting into the private space of the house. •The baithak is a space to seat guests which mostly occupied by the male members and women couldn’t enter without a veil in olden times. •The courtyard is a social centre for family gatherings •The 1st floor had the kitchen adjoined by living rooms which have been the female dominated spaces as defined by activity and domain. It is also more private than the ground floor with regulated access.
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II)TRADITIONS AND CULTURE a)CONSISTENCY OF TRADITION:
SYED BABA KA AALA
•The traditions of the household have persisted through generation. Even the family members that have moved out return to celebrate festivals with the family and do the Diwali puja together. •The position of the kitchen is still the same. Most of the rooms serve the same function with minor changes. •The grandparents still use the 1st floor for sleeping and the children join their grandparents. •The daughter goes to the same school as her mother and before her , her maternal grandmother . •Celebrations and pujas that have been carried down generations for a centaury now and are enforced by strong superstitious beliefs . The daughter in laws also embrace them very seriously and carry it out with the same fervour as the mother in law. Certain examples of this are: 1.Auspicious walls for puja: In both the families there are certain walls in the house with are assigned for the Diwali and Navratre puja and haven’t been changed across generations. 2.Syed baba ka aala: A religious space that was incorporated in the house as a part of Shahjahan’s rule much before this family settled here is respected even today by this jain family and on every Thursday the men of the house light a diya there as is the custom. On every auspicious occasion( birth, marriage) an offering is made in the aala before entering the house as it is placed on the entrance.
MANDIR FOR NAVRATRE PUJA ON KITCHEN WALL
AUSPICIOUS WALLS FOR PUJA
b)FESTIVALS: •Diwali- The diwali puja is always carried out on the right side wall of the house in both families. All members of the extended family gather in the living room space and the men perform the puja. All food is made in the house by the women of the family with special attention to cleanliness to maintain sacredness of ritual . Food preparation starts days in advance (puri sabzi ladoo kheer)and no one is allowed to touch or taste the food till the offering is made to the deity. •Navratre- the navratre puja is carried out in the kitchen on the fixed wall where a small mandir has been made. •Dhan teras- the whole house is washed including doors and windows. No one is allowed to move the Hatdi and sugarcane for 5 days till it is moved on Bhai duj by the youngest male member of the household. Even though it is a Jain family all hindu celebrations and traditions are taken very seriously.
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c) CULTURE •Food: Being a Jain family they only eat vegetarian food without onion. The women eat their dinner by 7 but the men eat late when they return from work •Dress: Bahus (daughter in laws) wear suits and kurtis generally and saris on special occasions. The grandmothers wear saree. Men wear pants and shirts •Language : They all speak in hindi though now the new generation is fluent in English. III)PAST ,PRESENT & FUTURE a)LIBERALISATION OF IDEAS OVERTIME •Attire of women-The grandmother in her youth could not roam around the male member & elder without a veil (ghughat).If they left around the house they had to be covered from head to toe by a saree (dushala). Then, notions of the appropriate dressing for women were very strict .They were considered to be the honour of the household. Now ideas have liberalized and the daughter in law roam in suits &kurtis as she pleases . She has freedom to wear what she want. •Freedom of movement- Women were not allowed to leave the house without a female elder member. They could only visit the temple on the street independently. Now the daughter in law can go where ever she want to go with out any supervision .She travels all over Katra Kushal Rai, Nai Sarak ,Chandni Chowk shopping for groceries & other works independently. This reflects the changing ideas over time in relation to the notion of empowering women and giving them freedom.
MOTHER OF FAMILY2 IN KITCHEN
TRAVELLING RANGE OF MOTHER OF FAMILY1
b)DENSITY OF SPACES OCCUPIED: From a density of 25 member in house of two floors, the density of this house has now changed to 11 members in a house of 4 floors. This is a result of emerging nuclear families and changing notions of privacy. People have forgotten the benefit of a joint family setup. Now lesser people need more space in contrast to a time where everyone would sleep in the same room or on the roof together like a family. Though this house retains a joint family setup where father and son stay together, rest of the extended family has moved out. USE OF SPACE THROUGH TIME
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c)IDEAS OF MODERNIZATION Every one is running after the apartment living and city life. The NCR notions of modernization have a great impact on the psychology of the people living in Shahjahanabad and their idea of an ideal house which makes them overlook the merits of their home and the community feel that is inherent in a space like Shahjahanabad. This is why it is converting from a residential to a mainly commercial space. People are unable to appreciate what they have and the quality of togetherness and neighborhood that cannot be duplicated. They somewhere forget that a child is brought up by a community not in isolated apartment living influenced by technology. d) VALUES There is a nostalgic and ‘used to’ association to the place that makes the people reluctant to leave in spite of lack of transport facilities. They have strong bonds with neighbors which they continue to rely on. The values of people and their ties to their roots are still strong which gives us some hope of rejuvenating the character of Shahjahanabad as community settlement.
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Streets of Shahjahanabad have a typical character of its own, narrow lanes, lined with two to three storey buildings with shops on the ground floor and houses above. Sunlight barely enters these streets making them quite comfortable even during summers. Every street here specializes in a particular commodity. Herein lies the interesting entourages of shops and stalls with parapharenelia ranging from marriage and festive goods to daily usage items. This lit up wonderstreet is a highlight of the age-old settlement. One such street is the Kinari Bazaar famous for kinaris, beeds and other decorative items. Lost amidst these lanes is an 18th Century building broken up into nine parts called the Naughara, literally ‘nine houses’, one of the present-day vestiges of the Jain community, complete with a beautiful marble temple of intricate carving. The alley is lined on both sides with jain havelis having ornate facades and courtayards. And at the end of the street is the jain shwetambar temple. Opposite the temple , is a house hidden in a small side alley of the naughara street,the Amir Nivas. It is one of the few houses in the naughara which is still inhabited and keeps the culture and traditions of the naughara alive.
NAUGHARA ALLEY
ALLEY FACING KINARI BAZAAR
ALLEY FACING THE TEMPLE
DWELLING AND FAMILY
The house belonged to the two sons of a government official under the british raj. Today the house is inhabited by their sons. two of them are permanent residents here ,the rest have moved out to the other parts of delhi and come back here only for diwali , navrathri and dhanteras. Although they belong to the same family and live in the same house, both the families live in different parts of the house as separate families.
OLDEST MEMBER OF THE FAMILY
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First Floor, 1:20
Ground floor, 1:100 Second floor, 1:200
Third floor, 1:200
Roof plan, 1:200
TRANSFOR MATION
FLOOR PLANS IN 1960
The entrance of the house has a room adjoining it which served as the baithak (for guests).From the entrance ,a narrow passage goes into the house, openeing up at a small courtyard where the family used to spend their leisure time . GROUND FLOOR
FIRST FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
FLOOR PLANS AT PRESENT
GROUND FLOOR
SECOND FLOOR
FIRST FLOOR
THIRD FLOOR
With the increase in members of the families , both these spaces have become defunct. The number of floors has been increased for accomodating the expanding families.this blocks sunlight from entering the courtyard. The courtyard today is merely a space divider for the families used for storage and drying clothes. The baithak has been converted to bedroom for visiting family memebers. The other rooms have been subdivided to form separate kitchens , bedrooms and bathrooms for the families.Hence the rooms are very small .However since most of the families have moved out , they are not being used and remain closed for most part of the year . They are opened and used only when the families visit during fesitvals. Apart from the horizontal division , there is a vertical division of space . The ground and the first was constructed initially. The second floor was contructed later on and the third floor is the latest addition. The ground floor is more of a semi private space for common guests. First floor is a very private zone for the family and their personal guests and the remaining floors are usedonly for storage and sleeping.
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COURTYARD
BUILDING SECTION
CHANGES OVERTIME
STREET
The courtyard is an important element of every household in Shahjahanabad. It is an important space in the house from the social and climatic point of view. In the past it was an imporatant social centre for all gatherings, even marriages would happen in the courtyard, day to day activities like washing clothes would also happen here due to the presence of a nalka(water tap) in its centre. Now it is used less frequently as marriages happen in other social centres like Dadabadi.Certain festivals like Holi are still celebrated in the courtyard. The courtyard is like a breath of fresh air in the built.It allows for ventilation due to the venturi (courtyard) effect in a built morphology characterised by arrow streets. It also allows for the sun to come in, However the rising storeys in the house and of the surrounding buildings have diluted its climatic influence over time. But its importance to the household is much more than that. The courtyard unifies all the levels of the house and allows interaction at every level. It is the root on which the values of the joint family still survive. The mother can interact with her daugter studying upstairs or the grandmother can call her daughter in law at the mere call. Therin lies the true influence of courtyard to a home.
VOCABULARY
BEDROOM This is relatively modern concept of space in the household where there is a defined personal space for every individual. Therefore its use is also very minimal in the household. It is only used for sleeping and is far removed from the day to day activities and lies on the second and third floor. In the past all family members would sleep together on Khaats(cots) on the roof in summers or in the living space in winters and rooms were merely for the purpose of storage. This further reinforces the idea of a joint family. LIVING ROOM This is a semi private space in the house that is occupied for most of the day. It is adjacent to the kitchen in both parts of the house. All daily activities like eating, watching TV, playing cards happen in this space. Grandmothers of both families sleeep in this space only and sometimes the grandchildren also join them.
BAITHAK This is the public space where the men conduct their business activities and the guests are invited into. It is adjacent to the coutyard and lies on ground floor so that guests do not penetrate the private zones of the house.In one part of the house the entrance directly channelises one directly into the Baithak without entering into the private zone of the house.
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PLATFORMS IN FRONT OF THE HOUSES
THE COURTYARD
THE TERRACE AS SEEN FROM THE NEXT HOUSE
The platform in front of the houses become the major interactive space connecting the entry of the house to the street.A lot of activities happen on these platforms. They act as resting spaces for the tourists visiting the place. It is also used by people like the chaukidar and the woman who irons cloths as their little personal space.but majorly the ploatforms on both sides brings out the buiklding into the street allowing interaction at the street level. The courtayard was the major interactive space of the house in the private level, however the increase in the number of floors has blocked of the sunlight from entering into the courtyard hence making it defunct. Also with the increase in number of families living within the same house ,every family has developed their own private spaces in their portion of the house. The terrace was the other important space in the house where most of the activities happened .But today however the terrace is not used as an interactive space anymore but is restricted to puposes like drying clothes .
THE CHAUKIDAR
THE LADY IRONING ON THE PLATFORM
COURTYARD USED FOR STORAGE
COURTYARD
ELEMENTAL TIMELAPSE
third floor is the latest addition to the house.
the second floor was added later on
The ground and first floor of the house has remained intact ever since th ehouse was built
The different layers of time that the havelis have gone through is visible in their facades.Only the ground and the first floor were built initially. Hence the elements in these floors like the brackets follow a certain architectural language. the doors and windows are the traditional wooden structures. There are alas (niches) and relief pillars found in these floors. The second floor is a later addition, hence there are no decarative doors or windows happening. The niches and pillars vanish ,and iron girders and doorframes start to appear. The third floor is the latest addition to the house and was built due to lack of space for the family to stay. Hence the contruction is typically modern and minimalistic, with plain walls , meshed windows and polycarbonate roofing. Both the second and the third floors are used only during night time to sleep . major activities in the house continue yo happen in the ground and the first floor.
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bedrooms
baithaks for the two families
baithak for male members and guests courtyard
SECTION THROUGH THE STREET.
The ground floor has only the washrooms and the baithaks and the courtyard, it is used mainly by the guests and the male members of the family. The courtyard is sort of a public space at the family level. The first floor has the female space as it has the baithaks for the separate families ,which becomes the private space for either of the families. The kitchens are attached to the baithaks and the families have food here . The grandmothers of both the families spend their time here alterbating between working in the kitchen and resting in the baithaks. The bedrooms happen in the upper floors which are mostly used only for storage and sleeping at night. During day these are not used.
VOCABULARY AND SPACE
A lot niches are found in the initially constructed portions of the house. some have been attached to the cultural aspects and beliefs of the place and are hence considered sacred . Other have become a storage space for daily items or craft pieces. The other interesting feature found in the initial floors of the house are the columns which appear as decorative pillars in relief. These along with the niches act as decorative elements for the walls which would otherwise be very plain, like those in the newer constructions of the house.
THE NICHE
The threshold is another element found in the house . These are no more found in the houses today, but were a very important element of the traditional indian houses. they force the person to pause before entering into a space hence giving a sense of entering into a certain kind of space. THE PILLAR IN RELIEF
THE THRESHOLD
The concept of having a series of doors on the same wall is the same as having a sliding folding door in the house. It allows us to control the porosity of the wall acoording to the level of privacy that is needed. This has been rightly put to use to connect the courtyard to the rooms. The courtayard acts as the connection between the different floors ,allowing vertical communication along with light and ventilation.
SERIES OF DOORS
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