I am a master in India

Chapter 57: Sky Village
What appeared before Ron and the others were two towering buildings. They had not yet been completed and were still under construction.

"Is this the Sky Village you were talking about?"

"Isn't it spectacular?" Anand shook his head proudly.

The massive twin towers stood at the edge of the slums, concrete poured to three-quarters of their height. The buildings had no windows, doors, or any equipment.

There is no glittering or reflective glass decoration, only a gray and heavy texture that swallows up the light and eliminates it, making it an inconspicuous silo.

Through the reserved window holes, you can see boys and girls walking up and down each floor like ants, busy with their work.

On the ground, there was a heart-wrenching symphony: the angry screams of generators, the cries of hammers hitting metal, and the incessant wail of drills and grinders.

Indian women in saris, carrying plates of gravel on their heads, formed a winding queue across the construction site and headed straight for the gaping cement mixer.

Women were also working, their soft bodies wrapped in colorful silk clothes, but it was a bit out of place to be on the noisy construction site where people were doing heavy work.

But this is a slum, and everyone has to work hard to survive, including the children who are busy running up and down the building.

Also behind Ron and the others, there was a group of children walking in a group wearing freshly washed T-shirts and dresses. They were also there to attend the lunch party.

"The Sky Village is up there." Anand pointed up at the building. "It's up there. We're dining on the 23rd floor."

"Up there?" Mary looked a little scared.

"That's all right, Miss Mary. We're not walking up, we're going first class."

Following the direction Anand pointed, Ron saw the freight elevator in the yellow steel frame outside the building.

The metal cage, carrying people and equipment, was pulled by thick cables. With a sudden jolt, the elevator began to clang upward.

"Oh, that looks safer than walking up there," Mary breathed. "I think I'll give it a try."

"Don't worry, it's stronger than anything else. We have to hurry and take the next one." Anand led the way.

"When will these two buildings be completed?" Ron asked.

“I don’t know,” Anand replied cheerfully, “They estimated three years, but we’ve already been building for five years, so there’s probably another three years of construction left, maybe longer.

But no one is sure what will happen after the building is built. At least in theory, the slum will be demolished."

"Tear down the slums?!" Ron and Mary asked in surprise.

"Yes, this place will disappear completely." Anand turned his head and looked at the large number of small houses behind him, sighing.

"So the people in the slums are the workers here?" Ron guessed.

"It was like that at first, but as soon as the barbed wire was put up, it started to attract more and more people."

With Anand's explanation, Ron and Mary learned for the first time how slums were formed.

Many of Mumbai's slums were created to accommodate construction sites. For example, the area around them was created to accommodate the twin towers in front of them.

Constructing such a building requires a large number of technicians, artisans and laborers, and these people need a place to stay.

Most of them are migrant workers, going wherever there is work. Their hometowns may be hundreds of kilometers away. In addition to the housing provided by their employers, most of the local workers in Mumbai have no homes.

It just so happens that Indian law requires construction companies to provide land and huts to house workers. Construction companies are not opposed to this policy and even welcome it.

Because this is also of great benefit to the company. When workers come together and develop family-like relationships, they will become more united and loyal to the company.

In addition, by placing workers near the construction site, they do not have to waste time on transportation to and from work, which is greatly beneficial to employers.

At the same time, workers' relatives and friends also provide a labor force, serving as a ready-made pool of personnel, on call daily and ready to go at a moment's notice. Crucially, family-based workers are very stable, generally obedient, and easier to manage and control.

When the two buildings in front of us were first planned, a large piece of land was cleared and divided into more than 500 small-sized plots of land.

Once a worker is hired and signed a contract, he will be given a piece of land and money to buy bamboo poles, reed mats, hemp ropes, and scrap wood.

Each worker, with the help of friends and family, then built his own shelter. These huts expanded outwards without restraint, like the roots of a tree weaving a dense network.

Workers dug large wells to supply water to the entire settlement and used bulldozers to level the land, creating crude alleys and walkways.

Finally, a tall barbed wire fence was erected around the entire gathering area to prevent outsiders from entering without permission, and a legal slum was born.

However, these workers who received regular wages had to pay for daily expenses and needed more fresh water. Soon, vendors followed and settled outside the barbed wire.

These were the first residents of the peripheral slums, and in a sense, they were entrepreneurs.

These people set up small shops next to the fence, selling tea and daily necessities. The legal workers inside could bend down and squeeze through the gaps in the barbed wire to make purchases, which was very convenient.

Soon, vegetable stores, tailor shops, and small restaurants appeared one after another, and soon various gray areas followed.

Gradually, the area along the barbed wire fence was completely occupied, and illegal slums began to expand outward, spreading towards the open space around the sea.

A few years later, it took on the appearance it has today, but due to lack of planning, the outskirts appear much more messy than the workers' slums.

"There are now 25,000 people living in this area, which is dozens of times more than the number of workers initially planned." Anand took the two people into the elevator, and the worker operating the freight elevator loudly explained the safety instructions to them.

Ron took a last look behind him. The boundary between legal and illegal slums was blurred, and it was submerged in the vast sea of ​​people.

"Won't the city hall and the construction company object?" Mary asked curiously in the elevator.

"Of course they object and don't allow workers to interact with us. But that's not acceptable. Workers need to live and enjoy themselves, and only we can provide them with that."

"So you want to build your own temporary school?" Ron still hadn't forgotten the reason why Anand invited him.

"That's right," Anand said happily. "The city hall compromised. They were afraid that if the school was built, we would be even more reluctant to leave. But there were so many people, and with the help of other associations, this matter has a good result, although it is temporary."

“I hate politicians,” Mary commented.

“I hate it too,” Anand agreed. “They’re the kind of people who promise you they’ll build a bridge even if there’s no river.”

Ron laughed out loud, and Mary's eyes were also full of laughter.

"We're here." The three of them staggered out of the elevator, and the cold wind from the high altitude made people shiver.

"It's so scary!" Mary grabbed Ron's arm tightly, her black eyes shining. "It's so exciting!"

"Are you afraid of heights?" Ron put his arm around her waist.

"I don't know, but I definitely won't come alone!"

"Come on, Ron, it's about to start." Anand called them from the front.

Stepping onto the concrete floor, the two finally felt more at ease. This place looked empty, but it was actually filled with things.

In addition to various daily necessities, there are even penned poultry. It can be seen that many workers live here. After all, Anand said that people are not allowed to sit in the freight elevator normally, and today is an exception.

Many people gathered in a large open space, with a few reed mats spread out in the middle as tablecloths. On top of them were a rich variety of dishes, served on large banana leaves as plates.

When Ron arrived, everyone looked at him. The girl in the lead was holding a wreath, and she looked nervous but also expectant.

(End of this chapter)