Building Bangalore

Rajan Rai is away from home six months a year,cementing the bricks of his future. Like his father before him,he was a farmer,subsisting on the proverbial do bigha zameen in Jalpaiguri,West Bengal,and picking up carpentry skills so he could provide for his wife and his widowed mother in the lean months. In 2001,when Rais first son,Raju,came along,the tin roof over their heads was not good enough. Rai decided it was time to answer the call of the city. Arriving in Bangalore for the first time in May 2002 to work at a site near Majestic,Rai,32,has since returned to the city several times,the latest in March this year,after he heard about the Metro project.

Surrounded by the dust and din of the hard-hat zone on the busy MG Road,Rai is one of the faceless agents shaping the citys new skyline and its biggest dream project. Every morning,after breakfast,he boards a bus from GM Palya,where he lives in a modest lodging provided by the Bangalore Metro Rail Corporation Ltd BMRCL,and by 8 a.m.,he is already at work,building Reach 1 of the Metro line between Byappanahalli and MG Road,to be launched in December. For 12 hours of work a day,Rai gets around Rs 10,000 a month,of which he saves Rs 8,000 to send back home,spending only on chai pani and transport.

Rai speaks a smattering of Hindi,heavily accented with Bengali. My father died 25 years ago. I had to stop studying soon after. I want my children to have an education. They go to the Gidalpara junior high school. Raju is the smartest,he is good at English and Bengali, says the father of threetwo boys and a girl. What does he want them to be? The poor dont dream. We only work for money. My children,I hope,will not have to think this way, he says.

In his absence,his wife Deepa tends to the fieldsthe rice and wheat provide for half a years ration,says Rai. Its not easy for her,but this work isnt easy either. I will work for three more months and then go home, he says. Which means he wont be around to see the launch of the first leg of the 42-km Metro network in December. I have seen the dummy coach on display at the other side of the road. I hope the next time I come to Bangalore,the Metro will be functional, he says. The train,however,reminds him of the journey home,he says. Perhaps,as Rai piles three bags of cement on a lift,he is also reminded of the pukka house he has always wanted.