Kitchen Stories by Prishita Kulkarni

Kitchen Stories Gendered practices and experiences of inhabiting the kitchen in diverse housing typologies in Mumbai. Prishita Kulkarni

Kitchen Stories Gendered practices and experiences of inhabiting the kitchen in diverse housing typologies in Mumbai.

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Certificate This is to certify that the dissertation entitled Kitchen Stories: Gendered practices and experiences of inhabiting the kitchen in diverse housing typologies in Mumbai. Is the work of Prishita Kulkarni This is to certify that the document is original work carried out by the Author and is\ not paraphrased, or copied in whole or in parts ( except for those statements and graphics mentioned along with references ) or submitted in any form to any other institution for obtaining an academic degree. The Supervisors whose names and signatures appear below confirm and certify that the above-mentioned dissertation is the original work of the above Author; that is carried out under their supervision; and that the work is of acceptable quality necessary for partial completion of the course to obtain the Bachelor of Architecture Degree. The External Examiners whose names and signatures appear below confirm and certify that: they have evaluated the Author’s work in a Viva - Voce; and, that the work is of acceptable quality necessary for partial completion of the course to obtain the Bachelor of Architecture Degree. The Director whose name and signature appear below certifies that the Supervisors and External Examiners are appointed by the School of Environment and Architecture to mentor and evaluate the above-mentioned work. Based on the evaluation of the Supervisors and Examiners, the above work is acceptable for the partial completion of the course to obtain the Bachelor of Architecture Degree from the University of Mumbai.

Author Prishita Kulkarni

Supervisor

Director

Name: Rupali Gupte

Date:

School of Environment and Architecture

External Examiner1

External Examiner 2

Name: Anuradha Chatterjee

Name: Vishwanath Kashikar

Date:

I would like to show my heartfelt gratitude to everyone who played a crucial role in the making of this body of work. To my friends, Atisha Bhutta and Sharvin Jangale, and to the families, who were kind enough to open their homes to me. School of Environment and Architecture, or SEA, for changing the way I understand and perceive the world around me. These past five years have been stimulating, inspiring, and exciting. Thank you for giving me the space to learn, grow, and think critically.

To my friends away from home, Anagha Jyothi Kumar, Anirudhya Yadav, Devasri Baxi, Mahima Lolla, Tanay Gehi and Yash Adwani, for their constant support and encouragement. Lastly, I would like to thank my parents Archana Kulkarni and Abhijeet Kulkarni, and my sister, Priyani, for their moral support and for standing by my side through all of it. This work is dedicated to my mother, who inspired me to write this thesis.

To my mentor, Rupali Gupte, who guided me through the thesis, and encouraged me to explore the topic critically, through various essays, drawing methods, discussions, and references. Thank you for your invaluable guidance and help.

Acknowledgement

The faculty at SEA, particularly Anuj Daga, Apurva Talpade, and Prasad Shetty for their critiques and insights, that helped me understand and enhance my work. All my friends in college, Eesha Pethe, Radhika Malekar, Tanuja Vartak, Janhavi Naik, Shreya Mittal, Krisha Kothari, Rachit Raj Somani, Sakshi Maeen, Radhika Choksi and other classmates, for inspiring me and making me reflect, through the five years. Our conversations and discussions have only added more value to my work, and life. Thank you for creating this space for me. Dhruvi Kachalia and Parth Agrawal for helping me out with my drawings.

Abstract 1: Introduction

Research Question Research Objective Research Aim

2: Literature Review The Great Indian Kitchen

3: Methodology

Research Method Annex Drawing Methodology

4: Field Work

Contents

Pooja Joshi’s Residence Atisha Bhutta’s Residence Mandadini Sapte’s Residence Varad Nagapurkar’s Residence Najeebunissa Momin’s Residence

5: Conclusion Findings

What will the thesis do?

6: Bibliography

Readings and References

How does a specific gender occupy the space of the kitchen? How does the particular spatial configuration of the kitchen influence how different genders move within the house? How does the routine of a person influence how the kitchen is organized? The kitchen is an essential part of a household and is frequently used. Coming from a home of a nuclear family, I have seen my mother working in the kitchen for long hours of the day. While visiting someone’s house during family gatherings, women are expected to help out in the kitchen, serve all the guests, and clean up after everyone has left.

Abstract

The segregation of different user groups based on gender takes place through certain social order. This influences how a particular gender behaves and inhabits a place, thereby creating a specific gendered experience.

Upon analyzing the different cases, the configuration of the kitchen played a large role in how different members of the family contributed to the space of the kitchen, as well as how different classes of people occupied the space. A prominent shift observed was how the size of the kitchen changed to “increase” the efficiency of an individual who occupied the kitchen. A kitchen that is located outside the space of the house as opposed to a restricted kitchen in an apartment type, encourages more social interaction among individuals and their neighbors. In an apartment type, the kitchen becomes a “confinement”, which compels an individual to remain in the space of the kitchen. However, this confinement of the kitchen can also allow one to make the space their own and have some sense of authority over it.

This thesis tries to understand how the space of the kitchen influences the hierarchies in the household, what kind of social spaces get generated, and how the efficiency of a kitchen, in turn, influences an individual and the social spaces that get produced. Through fieldwork and interviews, I was able to map out 5 households of different scales, that belonged to different types, that ranged from a tribal house to an apartment type. These fieldwork cases were selected to understand a genealogical shift in the form of the kitchen, throughout the years, across various types.

My interest in looking at kitchens started during the COVID-19 pandemic, when all of us were forced to stay at our homes. My mother, took it up on herself to try and cook a different variety of food for the family since it was not possible to order takeout or go out to it. During the same time, I decided to assist my mother and took up the responsibility of cooking one meal per day, for some days of the week. This allowed me to spend a few hours in the kitchen, that went into the preparation of the meal.

Introduction

To my surprise, I felt some level of physical discomfort, in the space of the kitchen. It got extremely humid throughout the day, and I had to take breaks to come into the living room, for some air. This made me curious to think about how a very specific group of people, who are involved in handling the kitchen, are subjected to this discomfort daily. My sister and I, are lucky enough, that we aren’t forced to take up such domestic tasks, however, we lend some help, occasionally. This curiosity then made me observe how the kitchen was occupied in households apart from my own. While some had a physical partition between the kitchen and other rooms of the house, some houses had an open kitchen. I observed that in one such house, the open kitchen allowed, or rather invited, all members of the household to take up domestic chores in the kitchen. This involved cooking, segregation of garbage, and arranging the dining table for a meal.

This open kitchen, over the years, also encouraged other members of the family to take an interest in the activities that happened in the kitchen. In this very case, the house help that comes over to assist feels “seen” and awkward in such scenarios. Often they will hold a corner in the kitchen, that is not visible, to carry out their activities. After looking at these cases, one understands that the space of the kitchen produces certain types of relationships between different members of the family and with that of the house help. There is a need to hide the things that happen in the kitchen. Sometimes one doesn’t get the help they require in the kitchen due to lack of interest from other members of the family, or simply because of the patriarchal rules that are set up, where mostly the male member of the household earns, and because he does so he should not participate in these activities. While this may prove to be frustrating to someone who spends their entire day in the kitchen, sometimes it is also possible that this person claims the entire place of the kitchen as their own, where the kitchen functions as more than just a space for cooking but opens up the possibility of it being a prayer room, living room, a place where one can carry out their hobbies. Looking at the typical design for a kitchen, the space is considered for just one person to occupy, and take care of all the tasks, the opinion of this person is rarely taken into consideration while designing the space of the kitchen. In the case of the tribal house, a woman pulls the kitchen outside the house to make it easier for her to cook. But this also allows multiple people to assist her, which is usually not the case in a closed kitchen in an apartment type.

It also allows the woman to interact with her neighbors. The design of the Frankfurt kitchen talks about increasing the efficiency of the “housewife”. This is done so by making the kitchen as compact as possible, to make it easier for a person to reach all the cabinets. However, by reducing the space of the kitchen, it reduces the possibility of having families dine together, or even have people to help. This thesis tries to open up ways in which different kitchens have been configured across various types but also questions the existing norms that go into the design of the kitchen.

1.1

Research

Question:

1.2

Research

Objective:

What are the everyday gendered practices and experiences of inhabiting the kitchen in diverse households and housing typologies? How do particular configurations of space shape social relationships? To establish a relationship between the spatial configuration of a kitchen in a specific typology and the daily life and experiences of the people that inhabit it and to understand the kind of social relations that get generated.

1.3

Research

Aim:

To go beyond the standardized designs of a kitchen, to come up with newer ways of imagining and inhabiting the space of the kitchen, which will create non-hierarchical and dignified social relationships and experiences.

Great

directed

Indian by

Jeo

Kitchen: Baby

The Great Indian Kitchen: The movie revolves around an NRI classical dancer, who gets married into an orthodox and patriarchal family. While being raised in a free environment herself, she experiences a stark difference at her in-law’s place.

Literature Review

Initially, the protagonist helps her mother-in-law with all the domestic chores in the house, where they take up all the cooking tasks. Eventually, all the responsibility of the house is given to the woman, after her mother-in-law leaves. The initial scenes of the movie focus on the different delicacies prepared by the woman for her husband and father-inlaw. As the movie progresses, it is shown that the male members of the household eat before the women in the household, leaving behind their unclean plates. The women are expected to cook, clean, do all the domestic chores, and attend to the needs of their husbands. that is not visible, to carry out their activities. The movie pans from showing the delicacies prepared by the wife, to the kitchen and the cooking conditions that she needs to be in to prepare these dishes. Initially, the kitchen is portrayed as a place to cook where the woman faces issues like stacked up utensils, that she has to clean, the smell of garbage, and a leaking sink. Throughout the movie, the kitchen is seen as a place where the protagonist feels oppressed, where she realizes that all her desires of being a dance instructor, are going down the drain after her husband and father-in-law discourage her from doing an interview for the position of a dance instructor.

The woman repeatedly asks her husband to fix the leaking sink, as she is not able to clean the dirty water that leaks into the kitchen every day, her husband overlooks the matter for months. She starts to experience oppression from the male members of her family and is prohibited from taking up any of the tasks during menstruating, including not entering the kitchen during that period. She is asked to carry out her tasks outside the house, and is asked to cook her food and clean her plate, as she is “impure”. The movie is set during the time of the

Here the kitchen becomes a space for the woman to express her anger and her desire for freedom, where she ultimately throws the dirty water on her husband and father-in-law. The space of the kitchen in the movie is murky, with very low levels of light coming in. One can realize that it affects the group of people who are constantly involved in kitchen activities.

Sabarimala conflict. The family’s views on the issue strongly contradicted those of the protagonist. The movie tries to show various stages of the woman’s frustration, from the sweet initial moments of her marriage to the climax, through the activities happening in the kitchen. Over here the kitchen is seen as a place of confinement, where the woman realizes that she is confined to the social orders of the family that she is married into. Slowly the kitchen becomes a space for realization, where she can build up the courage to argue with her husband and in-laws about the problems she is facing. The climax of the movie is a crucial moment where the woman finally gains the courage to stand up for herself. She is asked to prepare tea for her family and a few guests who have come to visit them. Their opposing views about the conflict is the breaking point for the woman. She serves the leaking water from the sink in a cup, as tea, to the guests, out of frustration.

Research Method: The research method started by trying to look across houses that belonged to different kinds of housing typologies, in the city of Mumbai. This was done to try and understand how the space of the kitchen gets configured across these houses.

Methodology

While conducting the fieldwork across these cases, the residents were interviewed largely about their everyday routine, particularly about their routine involving the kitchen. The fieldwork was documented through interviews, observations, drawings, and photographs. Looking at the routines of the inhabitants, one can get an understanding of the everyday activities, that each house participates in, and how the different genders are involved while doing so. The routine opened up about the responsibilities that are taken up by different members of the household, how these responsibilities get distributed, and who has the decision-making power within the household. While looking at the routine, the form of the kitchen was also looked at, to understand what kind of social space a particular kitchen produces, and what is the form of the kitchen able to afford, spatially. The physical configuration of the kitchen also contributes to the participation of the members of the house, in the kitchen. While some households used the kitchen for it’s primary use, the others used it for various other purposes. In these cases, the meaning of the kitchen extends beyond it’s primary use, and people inhabiting it create their own spaces in it.

The routines also helped to establish the relationship between the different rooms within each household, and the division of labor that happens among different genders, which in turn influences the way they occupy spaces.

Annex: How long have you been living in Mumbai? If you’re married, then when did you move over here, and where did you stay before moving in over here? How long since this house has been built? Has the house been renovated? Do you have any aspirations in making changes to it? What is your daily routine? Do you enjoy cooking? What do you enjoy making the most? At what time do you start preparing meals for yourself/ family/ Do you get enough light and ventilation in the kitchen? What do you do when it gets too hot over here? Do you get any sort of domestic help from the other household members? What kind of food do you prepare daily? How often do you go out to eat? What is your relationship with your neighbors? How do you celebrate festivals? Do you call over people to celebrate and cook food together? Do you have a cook? Or other house help? How many children do you have? When did you first learn how to cook? Is there anything you dislike about your kitchen? How many of your children know/ enjoy cooking?

Drawing Method: The thesis research aims to conduct a genealogical study of kitchens through six cases. The case studies belong to six different housing typologies that emerged historically, in Mumbai. The genealogical study allows one to place these house types chronologically, in a cultural and historical context. This is done by drawing out basic plans (and sections) of these house types, at the same scale, and comparing them, thereby understanding how the form of the house evolves. The comparison here will specifically look at how the form of the kitchen has evolved, what factors contributed to this change, and how the new form, in turn, affects the behavior and movement of the inhabitants in and around the kitchen. It will also look at how the form of the kitchen, and how questions of gender, class, and caste play out in it After this study, the next step to go ahead is to make narrative drawings that tell the stories of the kitchens, through the interviews conducted during the fieldwork. These narratives will be in the form of semi-fictional stories that combine several field observations. The drawing method involves drawing the house in a graphic novel-like form. One of the drawing references is Building Stories by Chris Ware. This particular reference is helpful because it can narrate the stories of people, alongside the built-form that they inhabit. It shows how the built forms affect their routine, movement, and relationships with one another.

One of the drawing references is Building Stories by Chris Ware. This particular reference is helpful because it can narrate the stories of people, alongside the built-form that they inhabit. It shows how the built forms affect their routine, movement, and relationships with one another. Similarly, the drawings of these kitchens will also let the reader understand the narrative through the physical space of the kitchen. The kitchen is drawn in a plan perspective, which helps to show how the kitchen is placed within the house, and how it gets arranged through objects, inhabitants, and the routine of the inhabitants and it also explicitly shows the type of the house. The drawings will also involve specific callouts from the plan perspective, in the form of a ‘comic’. These callouts will narrate the semi-fictional stories of the house, but they will also help to make associations between these objects and routines to their inhabitants. This drawing method makes it possible to open up multiple spaces in the house simultaneously.

Pooja Joshi’s Residence Hiranandani Gardens, Powai

Pooja Joshi resides on the twenty-fourth floor of a building in Hiranandani Gardens. The building is surrounded by corporate offices, manicured grass, other high rises, and high security. The thirty-seven-storey building consists of a large lobby area, that opens up into an open parking space, which is also used by children to play, and for the aged to walk around.

Fieldwork

Each floor of the building consists of four apartments, four lifts, and one service lift. Pooja’s routine starts with waking up at 7:30 AM, to prepare tea and breakfast, for herself, her husband Arun, and her mother. While preparing breakfast, she watches a few YouTube videos or scrolls through Instagram. She has a small phone holder placed on the kitchen counter that allows her to watch videos and prepare food simultaneously. While preparing breakfast, she also prepares lunch, which she packs for her husband. Arun leaves for office, at 9:30 AM. Pooja has a daughter, aged 11 years. After this, Pooja wakes her younger daughter up by 10:30 AM, goes to take a shower, and then does other domestic chores like cleaning the house, putting the clothes in the washing machine, and preparing her younger daughter’s clothes for school. She gets some free time, when she talks to her relatives or watches videos about Numerology and Vastu-Shastra. By the time it is 11 AM, she serves her younger daughter lunch and packs her tiffin for school. They spend this time together talking about what is happening in the school, discipline, and academics.

By 12 PM, Pooja leaves the house to drop her daughter to school. After coming back, she sits at the dining table, to scroll through social media, she goes into the master bedroom, where she has a chat with her mother. She then moves into her bedroom, to clean the bed and folds all the clothes that are dry, and keeps them in their respective places. In the building, all the delivery persons and domestic help are mandated to use the service lift. Pooja’s domestic help, Suman, comes at 1 PM. Suman helps Pooja, with cleaning the house, bathrooms, and utensils. By the time it’s 2 PM, Pooja helps her mother to walk from the master bedroom to the dining table, where she assists her to sit on the chair. She heats up all the food, arranges plates for lunch, and helps her mother by serving her lunch. They talk to each other about their relatives and sometimes Pooja talks about the numerological readings that she has done for her family. Post lunch, Pooja rests for a while and takes a nap in her bedroom. At around 4 PM, she freshens up and starts to prepare the evening tea. She takes her iPad to the kitchen and sets it up on the counter, where she watches a Netflix show. Since the kitchen is closed, and has very little light and ventilation, Pooja occasionally comes and sits in the hall while the tea or food is being prepared. She has evening tea with her mother along with evening snacks. She leaves the house at 5 PM, to pick her daughter up from school. The evening goes into the preparation of dinner. Pooja attends her daily numerology classes from 9 PM to 11 PM, so she prefers to prepare dinner beforehand.

Arun comes home from the office at 9 PM. He freshens up and lies down on the sofa, where he scrolls through his phone or watches the TV. Pooja joins him for a while and they talk, before she leaves for her class. On some days Arun waits for Pooja, and has dinner with her, and on the other days, he has dinner early with his daughter and his mother-inlaw, where he assists her to get food for dinner. Post the class, Pooja has dinner and Arun accompanies her, where they talk to each other about their day.

Atisha Bhutta’s Residence Shimpoli Village, Borivali

Atisha Bhutta resides in a bungalow located in the Shimpoli Village. The colony used to be an SBI Bank colony. A main busy street is connected to the street that consists of various bungalows. It is a fairly quiet street, where upon entering you would encounter large cars of all the residents that live in these bungalows, parked outside. Atisha’s bungalow is a G+3 structure, that is protected by a large main gate. Her family consists of her grandparents, parents, and her brother, all living together. All the floors of the house are connected by a lift or a staircase. Each floor is assigned different functions, which in turn influences the way in which everyone inhabits the house. The ground floor consists of store rooms, a large gathering hall, and a theatre room. The hall is only used when there is a party happening. The family has hired two men as gardeners and one man as their domestic helper. He stays with the family and resides in the gathering hall. The first floor consists of the living room, kitchen, dining room, library, and drafting space. The living room is mostly occupied, only when guests come over. The routine for Atisha’s family starts at 6 AM when every member of the family wakes up. The entire second floor is dedicated to Atisha’s grandparents, and the third floor consists of three bedrooms, one bedroom that her parents occupy and two more that she and her brother occupy. They all meet near the dining space where the family sits and talks together while having tea and breakfast.

Atisha’s father and her grandmother are very fond of cooking, so they prepare the morning tea and breakfast together for everyone in the house. Since the kitchen and dining are just separated by a small island counter, it is easier to serve food for everyone. The family runs three businesses, Atisha’s father and her grandparents work, whereas her mother is a mandala artist, who commissions artwork. Sunita, the family cook, comes over at 9 AM. She helps in the kitchen and prepares lunch for all the members of the family, as well as for the employees of the family business. Usually, since everyone occupies their respective spaces across the house, the living room remains empty. This kind of arrangement allows Sunita to have conversations with the other domestic helpers in the house. Raj, who stays with the family, is responsible for cleaning the house. He usually talks to Sunita, while she is cooking. During lunchtime, Raj and the other helpers sit on the kitchen floor and have the lunch that is prepared. Atisha’s grandparents visit the house at 1 PM during lunch, where her grandmother helps Sunita pack lunch for the employees and Atisha’s father. Post lunch, everyone goes back to their respective places to work. Atisha and her brother attend college, whereas her mother works in the drafting space. Sunita comes to the house again at 6:30 PM, to prepare dinner for the family, where she is assisted by Atisha’s mother. At around 7 PM, everyone gets back home, and they spend time having evening tea together.

Sometimes the family sits in their garden area and spends time together, or they spend that time in their respective bedrooms. The family has dinner in the dining area, where some of them are sitting on the dining table and some on the island counter. Sometimes Atisha’s father and grandfather volunteer to make dinner, as they are fond of cooking. The day ends with all of them sitting in the theatre room, watching a movie together.

Mandadini Sapte’s Residence

Navpada, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali

Mandadini Sapte lives in a tribal house, located in Navpada, Sanjay Gandhi National Park, Borivali. She moved here 2o years ago when she got married. The house that she lives in got renovated recently in order to bring the kitchen inside, to install a gas stove. However, there is a larger functioning kitchen, that is present outside the house, where they have a chula kept, on the ground, next to a large number of wooden logs. Mandadini’s routine starts by waking up at 4 AM. She prepares breakfast and lunch for her family members early in the morning, as she works as a domestic helper at Kajupada. She leaves for work at 7 AM, and comes back by 11 AM, to help her younger daughter get ready for school. She also has an older son, who also works as a domestic helper. Her husband was formerly a gardener, who used to plant trees within the national park. Now she is the sole earner of the family and has invested money in the renovation of the house. She preferred to have the kitchen inside, as it becomes difficult to prepare food in the kitchen outside, during the monsoon season. She prepares dinner at 6 PM, as it becomes difficult to cook when it gets dark. After she gets back from work, Mandadini carries out tasks like purchasing vegetables from the market, catching fish and crabs, and cleaning the house. While cooking in the kitchen, she gets out, and chats with her neighbors. They sometimes go collect wood logs together, or even wash the utensils together. Despite wanting to have her kitchen inside the house, and use the gas, she is scared, as she is more accustomed to using the chula.

The family is often visited by Shama, Mandadini’s sister-in-law, who helps her with domestic chores, they take turns in the kitchen and in the house. They talk about how they used to make the walls of the house using cow- dung, but because of it’s unavailability, they had to move to GI sheets, which make the atmosphere hot in the summers, and cool during the winters. During festival time, the family’s relatives visit them, where they all stay under one roof, and have food from one house. Mandadini mentions, that during earlier times, there used to be a large number of people roaming around at night, without any fear. They would sleep outside their houses, not scared of the animals within the national park. However, the plantation of non-native trees, compelled the tigers to come to the settlements, looking for food and shelter, which eventually led to a decline in the number of people being out of their houses in the night. On asking about the layout of her new house, Madadini replies by saying that the newer kitchen is closed off and too small, making it difficult for her to store the essential items. She uses a small corner of the large living space, as her storage. She plans on adding partitions within the living space to segregate the kitchen. In this way, she also has the freedom to change the layout of her kitchen and make it larger.

Varad Nagapurkar’s Residence Shimpoli Village, Borivali

Varad Nagapurkar and Himanshu Wagh, live in a one-room kitchen apartment, in a cooperative housing society, located on Currey Road, Lower Parel. Varad and Himanshu moved from Nashik and Nagpur respectively to pursue CA. Along with that they also go to work in Lower Parel. The location of the society, near the Currey Road railway station is convenient. Both Varad and Himanshu, use the local trains to get to their office or to meet clients.

Both Varad and Himanshu, use the local trains to get to their office or to meet clients. Their routine starts by waking up at 7 AM, where they spend two hours in the morning, studying. Their room consists of two beds, a clothes hanger, and a study table to place their books. The kitchen is used entirely as a storage space, where the kitchen counter holds all the daily objects. There are some utensils placed on the table, but no gas connection. Due to space constraints, they store their luggage in the kitchen as well.

They head out of the house and have breakfast at the nearby streetside shops. Upon returning, Himanshu gets ready for his office. He reports to the office at 10 AM. Meanwhile, Varad gets two more hours, which he spends studying, after which he leaves for the office. Both of them are provided with lunch at the office. Sometimes if they are to travel, to meet a client, they have lunch outside. Their busy work schedules make it difficult for them to cook food for themselves, and they are also not very keen on cooking.

Both of them usually get back home at 8 PM, and get dinner from a woman who lives upstairs. The weekend goes in trying to clean up the house and organize the objects on the kitchen counter. They also get more time to study for their CA exam, since they do not have to go to work. Sometimes while having dinner together, they watch shows on online streaming platforms. During any festival, they participate in the activities of the society and play cricket with the children. If they are permitted to get a holiday from their respective office, both Himanshu and Varad go to their hometowns to visit their family.

Conclusion

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WWW

Najeebunissa’s Residence Kolsabunder, Daarukhana

One’s journey starts with meandering through a landscape of metal scarps and stocks of newspapers. There are large warehouses of different ship parts, that were used for making large metal sections. Kolsabunder in Darukhana is one of the finger-like projections that open into the water, and it forms an edge that is neither land nor water. On one side of this edge, there’s a vast landscape of boats and smaller ferries that docked for repair. On the other side, there are informal settlements, that form the edge of that land. Najeebunissa, a resident of one of the houses in the informal settlement, lives in a threeroom house with eleven of her family members, including, her in-laws, husband Nizamuddin, and her five children. Nizamuddin’s father had purchased one unit of the house, forty years back for one thousand rupees. They expanded their home by purchasing two more units, where one is adjacent to the first unit and the other is on top of the first unit. One entire unit functions as the kitchen. Najeebunissa and her mother-in-law, spend most of their day over there, to prepare food for their family. When the men of the house leave for work, Najeebunissa gets more space for herself to carry out her tasks. The kitchen is a low and dark place, where the only source of light is the open kitchen door. The common wall between the living and the kitchen has an opening the size of a small window, that is used to serve food directly into the living area. The kitchen is organized by various utensils that are placed on the ground, and on the metal shelf, on the wall.

Most of the ground space of the kitchen is covered by large blue water bins. The women of the family, wake up early to prepare tiffin for their children and husband, as they have to attend school and go to work respectively. Najeebunissa’s two daughters are school-going children, whereas her three sons are working men, and one of them is married and lives away from the family. He occasionally visits them with his wife and child. Being the only person who handles the kitchen in the house, Najebunissa gets exhausted. A chair is placed in the kitchen, to allow her to rest. She talks about wanting to make changes in the kitchen, to make it more comfortable for herself. The changes include getting rid of the water bins, making more space in the kitchen, and adding more shelves to keep the utensils. Despite being the only member of the family, looking after the kitchen and preparing meals, there are times when Najeeunissa’s children, use the kitchen, to prepare their favorite meals.

Findings: 1: The kitchen layout in the apartment type is completely closed off by the partition walls, that keep it away from the living and the rest of the spaces. It is always occupied by the woman of the household, where she spends most of her day. Since the kitchen is closed off, it allows her to completely take over the space of the kitchen, where the other activities start to blend with the activities of the kitchen. While doing domestic chores, she makes space on the kitchen counter, to place her laptop and attend classes, receive phone calls, or watch videos. She arranges the kitchen in a way that it becomes convenient for her to carry out these tasks while doing the daily domestic chores.

Conclusion

2: The kitchen layout in the bungalow, present on the first floor, is that of an open kitchen, that looks into the living space and is separated from the dining, via an island counter. This type of layout allows multiple members of the family to participate in the kitchen. The configuration of the bungalow is such that every person in the family has an individual room/ corner, on different floors. The living area, only gets used when there is a family function, for most of the time, it is empty. The first floor is then largely occupied by domestic help, who help clean the house, and the family cook, who is present only in the afternoon and evening for a short period of time. Most members of the family, are not present in the house for a large part of the day. This allows the space of the first floor, to belong to the cook and the domestic help, where they are able to have a chat, without having anyone hear or see them.

3: The kitchen in a tribal house is placed outside the house, allowing it to have a larger area, than that of the new kitchen inside the house. The larger kitchen allows the woman to sit down and work on the chula, along with all the ingredients and materials that she needs, next to her. It also generates a space to store the wooden logs required for the chula. The kitchen outside the house helps to generate a social space, where the woman is able to get out of the kitchen and interact with her neighbors. Since the space of this kitchen is not so constrained, other women of the family, can come in and help. 4: The kitchen of a one-room-kitchen apartment in a cooperative housing society is used as a storage room. The residents, two bachelor working men, do not get time to cook for themselves and are also not very keen on cooking. The main sources of their meals are the street-side eateries for breakfast. Their respective offices, provide them with lunch daily and they get their everyday dinner from a tiffin service run by their neighbor. This then opens up the idea of the kitchen being in the city, or the city as the kitchen, where one travels through the city, for their daily meals. 5: The kitchen in a slum is one entire unit. When the men of the house leave for work, the house doubles as a kitchen, which allows the space to be taken over completely by the woman, who is largely responsible for all the domestic chores relating to the kitchen.

What will this thesis do?

Looking across various types of households and typologies will allow one to look at different gendered practices, gendered spaces, everyday practices, caste, and how the kitchen plays out in each household. This research will also look at different ways in which the kitchen gets occupied and has a possibility of being used as something apart from it’s utilitarian purpose. It opens up ways of seeing the kitchen as a private space, where one can have their own privacy. It also becomes an extension of the house, allowing one to meander through both of them freely. The configuration of a kitchen makes it capable of becoming a social space, where a large number of people can gather and interact. The city, in so many ways, opens up as a kitchen, for people who commute from their homes to different places.

Baby, Jeo, dir. 15 January 2021. The Great Indian Kitchen. Kerala: Mankind Cinemas, Symmetry Cinemas, and Cinema Cooks. Ankita Dhal. Unscripting the Home: Women Making Space in the City. SEA. 2019- 20 Foram Shah. Women’s Claims: Stories of Domesticities. SEA. 202021 Ware, C. (2012b). Building stories. Hammersley, Martyn. 1992. “On Feminist Methodology.” Sociology Volume 26, no. Issue 2 (May): 187-206. https://www.jstor.org/ stable/42855003.

Bibliography

Massey, Doreen. 1994. “General Introduction.” In Space, Place and Gender, 1-16. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press. https://selforganizedseminar.files. wordpress.com/2011/07/massey_ space_place_gender.pdf.

Prishita Kulkarni School of Environment and Architecture