I am recovering from a really bad nervous breakdown. I own these two floors of a house here and I do not know what I was thinking when I decided to renovate the top floor. So from the past one and half months I have been having people walking all over the place trying to do something or the other. Well I could be bitter about the fact most of people seem to be utterly incompetent and tardy when it comes to construction work but let me put this in a better perspective.
What I noticed when I started this home improvement is how untrained the labour is. It seems that there are no standards when it comes to the construction industry in India. No wonder we have bridges that fall, buildings that look shabby and most importantly — they all look the same. The majority of the labour and masonary seems to hail from East-Indian states like UP and Bihar. Not only did I face a problem trying to get work out of them but it seems we also had communication issues. Having said that I must say that they do try their best and work for a pittance. However the problem seems to be that their “Best” is not good enough!
So my small project now is finally moving towards its finalisation, its a different story that the carpenters that I have hired to do some woodwork have not showed up for 3 days and it took 3 days to chase after a glazier to have glass fitted in. No one keeps to commitments and its really frustrating that whatever I conceived at the beginning of the project has in some ways been modified by the workmen because of their inability to follow instructions precisely or rather their lack of precision. I must say that somewhere if this country needs to progress we need to have standards among blue collar workers rather than just some uneducated farm peasants doubling up as construction workers, carpenters etc.
August 14th, 2009 at 4:59 pm
Hey, good to see you back, i thought you had gone into hibernation…
August 14th, 2009 at 10:33 pm
Hey man, good to see your back. Sorry to hear about the nervous breakdown, but I hope your house is renovated and all.
August 15th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Hi am just back too – from very scary traumatic experiences, sorry to learn about your traumatic experiences with the labourers, (at my new place they use up the water in my bathroom and toilet, leaving me to clean up without running water, when I return from school. When I started locking up the bathroom, the landlady asked me to leave!
the horror of Guj is slowly unfolding before my eyes).
anyways, till the time everyone can be in school, we have to suffer the misery resulting from the ignorance of unpad labourers, bus conductors, auto drivers. peace and strength to you, Odzer.
Happy Independence to you
August 15th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
and a hug ((Odzer))
August 16th, 2009 at 7:56 pm
a post after a long time..
and the construction industry in our country must be organised and standardized for sure..
August 18th, 2009 at 11:05 am
A post after a long hiatus! Me too!
Renovating task is never simple – good luck.
August 18th, 2009 at 7:55 pm
@ Aneeta : I had gone in to hibernation in a way!
@ Vikram : Sometimes I still feel depressed but doing way better. My carpenters have still not shown up since the writing of this post.
@ Rolling : Thank you for your kindness. Funnily enough my mother is facing similar problems as you are at her place of residence. Happy Independence day to you as well, and a big hug!
@ Kanagu : Thank you and yes it should be organised sooner rather than later!
@ Kiran : Its not over yet and everyday becomes more interesting
September 7th, 2009 at 8:11 pm
I missed this very important post of yours, and I guess it was because I was on a break at the time and neglected blog reading. Am barely catching up now.
Anyway, I am not surprised at this attitude of the labourers. Indian labour is difficult to handle and there are many complex reasons for this and often I have been wanting to write a post about this. I feel basically that improper training is given to the workers. Why workers, I guess its an all india thing, from labourers to engineers to teachers.