Gold: Stories of a city by Vivek Vijayan

Gold Stories of a City

Thesis Project 2016-17

N Vivek Vijayan

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

Thesis Project 2016-17 Author: Njanappilly Vivek Vijayan Advisor: Greg Corso Committee members: Lawrence Chua, Joseph Godlewski Thesis Assistants: Oswal Perez, Vanessa Poe

James A Britton Memorial Prize

Gold Stories of a City

Note: The document text and images have been updated since 2017 to include research conducted as part of the Thesis.

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

INTRODUCTION

“To perceive the aura of an object we look at means to invest it with the ability to look at us in return.” Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1935

India imports close to 800-900 tons of gold every year at an approximate cost of 50 billion dollars in annual trade deficits.1 As one of the largest consumers of gold commodities in the world, India’s relationship with the precious metal transcends the definition of a mere obsession. It percolates through traditions and beliefs, extending from mythology to economy, politics to trade, framing gold as both form and signifier, material and language. In this context, the thesis studies the influence of gold on the architectural evolution of urban Kerala, a state with the highest rates of gold consumption in the country. Analyzing Kerala’s history, the thesis maps the complex values of gold ranging from its aura as an object to its reproducibility as an economic commodity2. These values are assessed through five distinct yet interconnected value systems as listed below: • Legal - Commodity or object with defined ownership, monitored and controlled across international borders. • Cultural - Symbolic object based on imagined values, playing a central role in temporal events and festivals. • Religious - Deified object based on sacred beliefs, part of the wealth and property of places of worship. • Commercial - Consumable commodity and valued object, highly profitable products, and symbols of status. • Financial - Global economic commodity, safe-haven asset against the instabilities of the global market system.

1 Gold imports dip 24% to $35 billion in 2022-23, Economic times. indiatimes.com 2 Walter Benjamin, The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction, 1935 4

These manufactured value systems of gold are embodied within architectural typologies that have played a role in shaping the historic and contemporary urban landscape of Kerala. Adapting Vittorio Aureli’s observations on architecture and it’s form as a medium of political, economic, and social engagement within the city3, the thesis analyzes the five architectural typologies listed below: • Ports - Air and seaports monitoring the legal flow of gold in and out of national and regional borders. • Pavilions - Temporary structures symbolizing cultural festivals of gold. • Shrines - Religious institutions enshrining sacred idols and artifacts made of gold. • Stores - Showrooms selling commercial gold jewelry for weddings and events. • Towers - High rise real estate developments financed by gold commodities. Through the lens of gold4, the thesis analyzes the historic evolution of these architectural typologies capturing them within overlaid narrative compositions. These compositions or chapters contain traces of the past, the city of the present and speculative futures. They conflate the diverse urban narratives of the region, presenting them as the stories of a fictional city in Kerala. The five chapters of the thesis are as listed below: • i - Surveillance Ports • ii - Elephant Paths • iii - Temple Vaults • iv - Wedding Stores • v - Investment Islands On the right is a diagrammatic summary of what is described above, breaking down the different value systems and architectural typologies that are analyzed as part of the narrative compositions of the thesis.

3 Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, 2011 4 Swati Chattopadhyay, Unlearning the city, Infrastructure in a new optical field, 2012

VALUE SYSTEMS

ARCHITECTURAL TYPOLOGIES

NARRATIVE COMPOSITIONS

Legal

Ports

i - Surveillance Ports

Gold

Cultural

Pavilions

ii - Elephant Paths

Object + Commodity

Religious

Shrines

iii - Temple Vaults

Commercial

Stores

iv - Wedding Stores

Financial

Towers

v - Investment Islands

Diagrammatic Summary of Thesis Framework

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

i - SURVEILLANCE PORTS

It is estimated that up to one-fourth of the total volume of gold entering India arrives through illicit trade. India imports around 800-900 tons of gold every year while the annual consumption is around 1,000 tons. This suggests that up to 200 tons of gold is being smuggled into the country. This illicit trade represents over $1 billion in value and at least $20 million in lost tax revenue to governments.1 In post-independence India, large imports of gold commodities without any indigenous production of the precious metal resulted in a drastic devaluation of the rupee and a depletion of foreign exchange reserves. This played a role in the central government passing the Customs Act of 1962, imposing stringent import duties on gold commodities entering the country. It however only led to a rise in gold smuggling and the spread of international black markets circumventing import duties while profiting from the ever-rising demand for the precious metal in India.

Today, per World Gold Council statistics, 65-75% of gold smuggled into India comes via air, 20-25% by sea, and 5-10% by land.2 Kerala, currently has a total of four international airports in Thiruvananthapuram, Cochin, Kozhikode and Kannur, mostly catering to its vast immigrant population working in the middle east. Smugglers use innovative ways to bring in gold illegally, melting and hiding it in baggage linings, food items, cloths, electronics, teeth and even within their rectums. They often collaborate with corrupt customs officials, diplomats, or airplane staff to pass through security points unchecked. This combined with the rise in smuggled narcotics, and global terror attacks in the 2000s led to larger deployments of security forces at airports, seaports and the establishment of massive surveillance infrastructures in the form of metal detectors, security cameras and immigrant data tracking systems.

In the state of Kerala between the 1960s-1990s, most smuggled goods entered through the numerous seaports along its coastline, the largest and oldest of which was the Kochi Sea Port that was established in 1928 by the British to facilitate trade with the Gulf States. To mitigate these annual losses of tax revenues due to smuggled gold commodities, the state working with the Customs Marine Organization (established in 1972), enhanced its coast guard security infrastructure and heightened its surveillance of international maritime borders. However, with the expansion of airport infrastructure in Kerala from the late 1980s, most of the illicit gold trade networks shifted from the sea to the air.

Map of international airports and seaports in Kerala. Image source: Tapioca.co.in

1 Dr. S. Maria Immanuvel, Gold Smuggling in India and its effect on Bullion Industry, IGPC conference paper, 2022

2 World Gold Council, India’s gold market: evolution and innovation, p. 60.

Smuggled gold seized from diplomatic baggage at Thiruvananthapuram airport. Image source: english.mathrubumi.com

X-ray image of gold packets weighing 1111.25 g concealed in passenger rectum confisticated at Kochi airport.Image source:filipinotimes.net

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

i - SURVEILLANCE PORTS

This chapter of the thesis traces the evolution of surveillance infrastructure at the ports of entry into the city. It speculates on a new type of surveillance infrastructure built on the Internet of Things (IoT) responding to the ever-growing demands for smuggled gold commodities and ever-worsening terror threats. As visitors enter the invisible threshold of the city, it activates passports that are tracking devices, tied to baggage sensors scanning inner contents, connected by Wi-Fi systems decrypting private communications and synchronized with airplane bridges that are metal scanners. Based in the deep breaches of human privacy, it is a story of Junkspace1 come to life.

Above, Narrative layers of the evolving typology Right, Overlaid composition

1 Rem Koolhaas, Junkspace, 2002 8

To see all narrative layers, click on link below: Portfolio_Overlays_2023

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

ii - ELEPHANT PATHS

“Aanakambam” [Malayalam] “Aana”meaning elephant, “Kambam”meaning craze.

Throughout the city exhibitions are held catering to locals, as well as tourists from all over the world, showing meticulously crafted gold decorated ornaments, umbrellas, and the elephant’s Nettipattams.

King Rama Varma established the modern city of Thrissur in the late 1700s as the capital of the Kingdom of Cochin. The city was designed around the 350-year-old Shiva temple known as the “Vadukunathan”, clearing the teak forest that surrounded it and creating a 65-acre public space known as the “Thekkinkaadu Maidan” (translated “Thekkinkaadu” Teak forest and “Maidan” ground). In 1796, the King established the Thrissur Pooram Festival1, where processions of elephants adorned in gold, carried religious deities from various temples surrounding the city to the Thekkinkaadu Maidan in a grand celebration of color, craftsmanship, music, and fireworks. The elephants caparisoned in gold “Nettipattams” (translated “Netti” forehead and “Pattam” band) were cultural symbols of opulence and prosperity, with each crafted embellishment representing a different religious deity. Over time, the Nettipattams made of pure gold were replaced with copper and covered in gold plating, but the sight of elephants with a sheen of gold still remains an auspicious symbol in Kerala’s cultural history.

Around the festival grounds, numerous temporary businesses and vendors pop up catering to the massive tourist crowds. It all culminates with the two day-long celebration of the festival attracting approximately a million spectators, arriving to witness the grandeur of nearly hundred majestic elephants adorned in gold. The event is one of the main reasons why the city of Thrissur is known as the cultural capital of Kerala. Over the last two decades, as the festival has gained more global popularity, it has also attracted more scrutiny from animal rights organizations. Multiple reports have noted cases of overworked and physically tortured elephants exposed to excessive heat and noise; sometimes culminating in horrific disasters involving elephants trampling Mahouts and larger crowds of bystanders. Repeated calls to stop the use of elephants as part of the festival by animal rights activists have, however, not been heeded by the city, state government or the local court system, owing to a fear of heavy public backlash2.

By the late 1800s, the area surrounding the Thekkinkaadu Maidan became an important cultural, commercial, and religious hub of the region, attracting craftsmen and tradesmen from different religious and geographic backgrounds to establish businesses in the area. The Elephant paths connecting the temples turned into modern roads bustling with cars, buses and rickshaws, all converging at the Swaraj Round: a two-kilometer ring road surrounding the Thekkinkaadu Maidan. Every year however, a few days before the Pooram festival, “Pandals” (pavilions) made of the wood of Areca nut trees and bamboo, decorated with LED lights are erected on the Swaraj Round. The temporary architecture marks a reset of the city itself, reclaiming its roads to celebrate its historic festival with its gold caparisoned elephants. 1 keralatourism.org/event/thirssur-pooram 10

Aerial view of the Thrissur Pooram. Image source: keralapicnicspot.com

2 Abuse of elephants at Pooram: SC seeks report, The Hindu, 2015

Elephants with “Nettipattams” walking through the urban center of the city

“Pandals” in the day and night reclaiming the roads as pedestrian public spaces

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

ii - ELEPHANT PATHS

This chapter of the thesis traces the evolution of the Elephant festival in the city. It speculates that as the festival gains more global fame, it becomes an exponentially profitable tourist attraction. Development of the city however moves farther way from its historic center and in a bid to revitalize the economy of this region it is turned into a permanent elephant tourist destination. The once temporary “Pandals” are turned into permanent “Folies” with viewing galleries, bridges and cable cars looking down at the passing elephants. Revenues gained from such a destination with dedicated facilities for elephants are claimed to improve the living conditions of the animals held in captivity. An urban space for elephants and tourists, an eternal event city.1

Above, Narrative layers of the evolving typology Right, Overlaid composition

1 Bernard Tschumi, Event-cities, 1994 12

To see all narrative layers, click on link below: Portfolio_Overlays_2023

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

iii - TEMPLE VAULTS

God as a Juristic Person The Recognition of Deities as a Juristic person was introduced in India in the British Era. The Britishers conferred on deities the ownership of the wealth of the temple with a guardian or manager only acting as trustee. 1 Throughout Kerala’s history, temples have owned vast amounts of wealth and property. One of the most prominent examples is the Padhmanabaswamy Temple located in Thiruvananthapuram, the capital of the state of Kerala. In 1750, King Marthanda Varma of Travancore donated all of the wealth of the kingdom to the Padhmanabaswamy Temple in an act of political consolidation as well as religious devotion. Announcing himself as merely a servant and guardian of the Lord Padhmanaba himself (The deity of Lord Vishnu enshrined within the temple) in a function known as the “Thrippadi Danam”2. An incalculable amount of gold, diamonds and artifacts were filled into temple vaults hidden and protected from potential invaders and “allies” such as the British colonial forces who were not allowed entry into the temple premises. This was until 2007, when the Kerala high court demanded an audit of the temple vaults revealing close to 20 billion dollars’ worth of wealth buried deep within the vaults hidden behind the sanctum sanctorum.3

These religious beliefs exist within a state with a deep communist history known to oppose the mythologized hegemony of such religious institutions. The question of whether such historic treasures should be evaluated as sacred objects or as economic commodities is a topic of great public debate. Devotees in Kerala, and across India believe that deities made of gold and wealth owned by religious institutions are meant to be respected strictly as sacred objects devoid of monetary value, and therefore should be left alone. Others believe that such wealth amassed and owned by religious institutions under brutal monarchic, feudal and colonial rule should be handed over to the democratic governments of today, and redistributed to a nation of people struggling to meet their most basic needs.

Religious depiction of Lakshmi, goddess of wealth, fortune, power, beauty, fertility and prosperity surrounded by and embellished in gold.

In Kerala, gold is a powerful religious symbol with entire deities forged in the precious metal. The goddess Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and prosperity is often depicted wearing an abundance of gold jewelry and sitting on a pile of gold coins springing from her palms and magical gold pots. Historically, the most valuable donations of the ruling class whether it be monarchs, or feudal landlords have been in the form of coins weighing the donors worth in gold. 1 Vidya Varuthi Tirtha v. Baluswami Ayyer (1921), legalservice india.com 2 ‘Thrippadi danam’ popular at the book fest, timesofindia.com, 2012 3 $20 billion! Temple’s secret vaults yield treasure. nbcnews.com, 2011 14

Gold coin from the Kingdom of Travancore under the rule of Sri Rama Varma, 1881. Image source: mintageworld.com

Photograph of the Padhmanabaswamy temple complex from the late 20th century. Image source: Padmanabhaswamy temple: The fusion of the divine and the dynastic, thehindu.com, 2020

16th century Gold replica of the lord Padhmanaba found within the temple vault. Image source: A One Trillion Dollar Hidden Treasure Chamber is Discovered at India’s Sree Padmanabhaswamy Temple, forbes.com 15

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

iii - TEMPLE VAULTS

This chapter of the thesis traces the story of the city’s historic temple and the treasures hidden within its temple vaults. It speculates that in the future, the treasures are handed over to the government who archive it in a public museum built under the temple grounds. Taxes are levied on the centuries of undisclosed wealth of the temple and used for the development and upkeep of the museum as well as other public development projects. The history of the region forged in gold and gemstones is protected within a public yet labyrinthine architecture, embodying the ancient religious, economic, and political spirit of the city.1

Above, Narrative layers of the evolving typology Right, Overlaid composition

1 Vittorio Aureli, The Possibility of an Absolute Architecture, 2011 16

To see all narrative layers, click on link below: Portfolio_Overlays_2023

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

iv - WEDDING STORES

South India dominates Indian gold jewelery consumption, accounting for 40% of the country’s total jewelery demand... Southern demand remains high due to consumers’ affinity for plain gold jewelery, high per capita incomes and low poverty levels. Those living in states like Kerala have high incomes due to large financial inflows from the Gulf, especially from Keralites who are settled there.1 Gold craftsmen of various religious and ethnic backgrounds have been an integral part of the commercial and cultural history of Kerala. Mostly concentrated in urban centers such as Thrissur, Kochi, Kozhikode and Thuruvananthapuram, these goldsmiths owned small yet highly profitable businesses crafting idols for religious ceremonies, decorations for religious festivals and most commonly jewelry for weddings and other auspicious occasions. Across various cultures and since medieval times, brides have been heavily adorned with gold jewelry on their wedding day. The intent behind such a display has less to do with the deification of the bride herself, and much more to do with symbols of societal status and a transfer of wealth through the dowry system.

Since the 2000s, the establishment of close to 6000 gold jewelry stores across Kerala producing nearly 500 kgs of jewelry every year2, has meant that the state now has the highest rates of gold consumption in the country. This especially reaches a fever pitch during the festive months of Onam, Eid, Diwali and Christmas, all considered to be auspicious occasions when gold can be bought and gifted. Gargantuan multi-story showrooms filled to the brim with gold jewelry protected within glass cabinets are packed with stampedes of customers looking for deals and offers. Advertisements on billboards throughout the state, on TV and the internet, provide numerous reasons to buy jewelry, ranging from traditions of the grand Indian wedding to memories of culture and heritage, from the beauty standards of the idealized woman to symbols of opulence and prosperity. These narratives and trusted brand names only mask the practices of a global industry notorious for tax evasions, smuggling of gold commodities and costing the nation’s economy billions of dollars in luxury import deficits.

In the 1990s, the “liberalization” of India’s economy saw the establishment of mega gold jewelry chains such as Kalyan, Alukkas and Malabar in the state of Kerala, displacing or subsuming smaller jewelry businesses owned by traditional goldsmiths. When they first opened, these mega chains were powered by the wealth of a massive number of Kerala’s NRIs (Non-Resident Indians) working in the Middle East, who considered the purchase of jewelry as both a safe social and economic investment.

Gold jewelry billboard in Thrissur, Kerala

1 Jewelery demand and trade: India gold market series, World gold council , 2023

2 Job migration and exploitative practices, The Hindu, 2007

Busy gold jewelry showroom during festival season Image source: New Indian Express, 2013

Newspaper advertisement for the “brides of India”, catering to NRIs on Independence day

Newspaper advertisement for gold showrooms in Chennai

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

iv - WEDDING STORES

This chapter of the thesis traces the evolution of the gold wedding and jewelry stores in the city. As the profits of these multi-billion-dollar businesses surge, a new typology of wedding store is born out of a culture of hyper-consumption. Entire wedding halls and auditoriums impregnate giant gold showrooms with billboards, capturing the ceremony and projecting it to the rest of the city. Weddings are no longer private events but live reality shows feeding into the hyper-advertised fantasies of traditional womanhood and the great Indian wedding. A type of phantasmagorical architecture1 on steroids.

Above, Narrative layers of the evolving typology Right, Overlaid composition

1 Walter Benjamin, The Arcades Project, 1982 20

To see all narrative layers, click on link below: Portfolio_Overlays_2023

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

v - INVESTMENT ISLANDS

Due to its reputation for being a safe-haven asset, gold tends to perform well during a recession. For example, when the stock market collapsed in 2007, investment demand for gold spiked and continued to rise, and gold doubled in value between 2007 and 2011.1 Throughout the many kingdoms of pre-independence Kerala, gold was accepted as the medium of exchange for both local and global trade. Coins, palatial ornaments, and religious artifacts crafted in gold filled the coffers of many wealthy Kingdoms in south India. Beyond this, gold was an important bedrock asset for the working farmers and peasants in these kingdoms. The smallest amounts of mortgaged gold jewelry being the last financial resort for generations of struggling families. In post-independence India, an economy crippled by two hundred years of British plunder, was further weakened by this reliance and trust in gold, owing to two key factors. One, India produced close to none of the gold that it consumed leading to heavy import trade deficits and two, gold was mostly used as a non-liquid (saved not spent) asset contributing to a highly stagnant economy. In response, the central government passed the Gold Control Act of 1962, only to see a rise in smuggled gold commodities into the country.

population that had migrated to Middle-Eastern countries in the 1970s to join the workforce in a booming oil economy. These immigrants invested heavily in gold bought in Arab nations for lower prices and were now allowed to bring copious amounts of the precious metal back to Kerala, where it was a highly valued commodity. In the 2000s, specifically around the financial crisis, the global value of gold rose significantly as a counterbalance to the waning American dollar and Kerala’s import of gold commodities and the revenues extracted from it was at an all-time high. This wealth significantly altered Kerala’s economic landscape resulting in massive real estate developments seen across the state. What started as a cliché of the typical two story NRI (Non-Resident Indian) family home built in the 1990s and early 2000s, transformed into entire residential and high-rise mixed-use developments and townships across urban Kerala. Some of the largest investors in these projects were the owners of gold jewelry businesses that over a decade, turned into multi-billion dollar publicly traded companies. Many of these companies have now diversified their business interests, in gold loan and banking establishments as well as highly profitable textile, electronics, grocery and supermarket chains.

In 1991, at the brink of financial collapse, the Government of India was forced to airlift 47 tons of gold from its reserves to the Bank of England to pay off its international debt2. Additionally, per World Bank and IMF loan forgiveness mandates, India needed to “liberalize” its economy allowing for foreign direct investments and lower taxes on consumer imports. In Kerala, this coincided with the rise in wealth of its vast immigrant Newspaper article on gold airlift from India to bank of England, 1991 1 Investing in Gold: Is Gold Still Considered a Safe Bet in Uncertain Economic Times?, bloomberg.com 2 India shining, India scraping, The Telegraph, 2009 22

Sobha city, residential development, Thrissur. Image source: Image source: click.in

Muthoot Fincorp, gold loan services, image from website

Above, Bullions sold at Dubai Gold Souk, Image source: CNN.com. Below, Gold ATM atop Burj Khalifa in Dubai. Image source: CNBC.com

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

v - INVESTMENT ISLANDS

This chapter of the thesis traces the evolution of real estate developments in Kerala as a result of the wealth generated from gold as an economic commodity. As the global stock price for gold rises exponentially, an entirely generic and alien architecture based purely on financial logic, develops at the edge of the old city replacing green paddy fields. Gigantic billboard facades project images of skyscrapers from cities across the globe, disconnected from their immediate surroundings and only to be seen and admired from far away. Isolated Islands1 made of the riches of gold for a transitory elite, flying in and out of the city.

Above, Narrative layers of the evolving typology Right, Overlaid composition

1 Mathias Ungers and Rem Koolhass, The City in the City, 1977 24

To see all narrative layers, click on link below: Portfolio_Overlays_2023

Gold: Stories of a City, Syracuse University, 2016-17

THESIS EXHIBITION

The final thesis exhibition was assembled with the help of Oswal Perez and Vanessa Poe. The research conducted as part of the one-year project was projected along with animations of each of the narrative compositions.

The final compositions, printed as layers on 36”x36” translucent sheets were placed on light boxes. Together, the light transmitted through the compositions, revealed the stories of the city.

Thesis Exhibition Layout Light box, Memento & Projection

Exhibition layout

To see all narrative layers, click on link below: Portfolio_Overlays_2023

Final presentation, 25th April, 2017

vvnjanap@gmail.com