Shailendra Yadav, 20, remembers the first time he hung down the side of a multi-storey building to clean its windows, back in 2016. He felt “a mix of fear and excitement”, he says. A resident of Uttar Pradesh’s Kannauj area, he had only arrived in Gurgaon a year earlier, and was barely accustomed to seeing “buildings that touch the sky”. Now, six days a week, Yadav scales one such structure, a bucket of soapy water hanging from a harness around his body, a wiper in one hand, cleaning the facades of office buildings, hotels and hospitals in the city. Today, he leaves at 8 am from his rented accommodation in Delhi’s Rajokri on his motorcycle for Gurgaon. The building allotted to his team for this fortnight is Vatika City Point, a 14-floor commercial space on M G Road. Taking the service elevator, Yadav goes to the terrace where, against a backdrop of high rises, he is greeted by his co-workers — three other cleaners like himself, and their supervisor. “Our team currently cleans three buildings in the city, all of which belong to Vatika. We spend 15 days on each structure, after which we move on to the next one,” he says, putting on a harness and a helmet, as his colleagues attach a bucket of water, carrying an alkaline ‘degreaser’ mix, to a safety lock at the back of the harness. A couple of wipers and mops lie immersed in the solution. He is also handed a suction pump, meant to anchor him to any spot on the building. Next, Yadav climbs up a parapet and, holding onto a rope, hoists himself to the side of the building. Sticking the suction pump to the glass exterior to stabilise himself, he runs a mop across a small part, soaping the glass. The traffic from the busy M G Road wafts up as a faint, distant sound. Yadav says he followed his elder brother into the trade, after finishing his Class 12 from a government school in Kannauj and trying his hands at other things. The firm he joined, TechoClean, is a ‘facility management company’, and has been outsourced the task of window cleaning by another company. Apart from the three buildings that Yadav’s team cleans, the 55 cleaners associated with TechnoClean maintain the facades of several other structures in Gurgaon, Noida, and Delhi. Pankaj Thakur, a Senior Supervisor at the company, says, “We started with a team of 10, 25 years ago. As Gurgaon and the surrounding areas grew, and the number of highrises rocketed, our team expanded as well.” Before he began work, Yadav says, he underwent one month of intensive training, both in handling technical equipment to descend from buildings as well as safety measures. “After the training, I was made to clean buildings that were not so high, or to clean lower floors of buildings. The first structure I was ever sent to was seven-storey-high. I was very scared when I first dropped from the top, but I also felt very excited. It was overwhelming. In my village in UP, the highest I had ever been to was four floors. Now, I clean the windows and glass walls of buildings as high as 19 floors, and feel no apprehension at all. I got used to the height,” he says. By 9.55 am, Yadav has made his way down to the ground, his first round of cleaning done. Removing his harness and helmet, he takes the elevator back to the terrace, where he hands the equipment to another window cleaner, who will now make his way down another section of the building. Seeking a small shade in a corner to settle down, Yadav says, “Each of us make two trips down the building daily — before lunch and after. It takes around 45 minutes for us to usually complete the task once.” By 12.30 pm, each of the members of Yadav’s team have completed their first round of cleaning. They go down to the sixth floor, which is currently unoccupied, to have their lunch. Before they open their tiffins, they spread out three discarded paperboards to fashion a makeshift mat. “During summers, we usually take a two-hour lunch break. We can’t work in the afternoon heat,” says Yadav. Senior Supervisor Thakur says the company understands the limitations imposed by heat. “Officially, they are supposed to clean 1,500 sq ft daily. But in summers, at most they manage 800-900 sq ft.” Thakur says the weather can also be a factor in the safety of the cleaners. “Monsoon is when we have to be the most cautious. If there is even the slightest chance of rain, work is suspended. It is not just that the men will become wet, problems can arise with equipment. The rope, for example, will get wet and can expand, because of which it can get jammed, making it impossible for our cleaners to manipulate it to descend or ascend.” Leaning back against a wall, Yadav speaks of his family back home, including his parents and wife. They got married only in February this year. While none of the three has ever been to Gurgaon, they have heard of the buildings marking its skyline and fear Yadav will plunge to death during his work. “They keep telling me I should take up some other work. But the money is decent and I do not mind the work. I have no intention of switching as of now,” says Yadav, who earns Rs 10,000 a month. His co-worker Pappu, on the other hand, has told his family back home he works in “security”. “I took up this work around three years ago, after hearing of it from my cousin, who was also a window cleaner at the time. He advised me to not tell my family about my actual job because they would panic and protest,” says the 23-year-old, asserting that like Yadav he has got over the initial nerves. Although both Yadav and Pappu have heard of window cleaners or construction workers suspended from buildings like them falling and getting injured or killed, they claim to be unaware of the recent death of two cleaners in Delhi, when the electronic outdoor lift they were standing on plummeted seven floors down. Says Pappu, “There is a certain amount of danger in every task, even in simply crossing the road. As long as we take precautions, we can protect ourselves. If we stop doing certain jobs because of such fears, we will never be able to provide for our families.” Thakur says that while hiring, safety is paramount for the company, and that it takes into account both the age and weight of workers. “We hire people only up to the age of 40, and prefer those around 25 because the work becomes more difficult with age. In terms of weight, we don’t hire people who weigh more than 55 kg because they won’t be able to get the momentum needed to clean the glass while hanging,” he says. At 2.30 pm, Yadav’s team makes it way back to the terrace, and he is again the first one to be trussed up, for his second and last trip down the building. The bucket contains fresh water and degreaser. By 5.15 pm, the team is done. Next week, another building awaits. (The article appeared in print with the headline: Outside looking in)
