Rain came down hard as we sheltered beneath the layers of tarpaulin that formed the roof of a small jhopdi (a makeshift hut made from inexpensive or scrap materials like wood, metal sheets and plastic) in one of Bengaluru’s informal settlements. Bengaluru, the capital city of Karnataka in southern India, is home to numerous such settlements where migrant construction workers live and work. After days of oppressive heat in August, it finally rained, and within minutes rivulets formed along the mud pathways between the jhopdis. I was accompanied by Radha, a grassroots worker involved in housing and labour rights advocacy for migrant workers, who often assists me with translations in the field. We were visiting the settlement on a Sunday, a rajja day for our regular follow-up conversations. Rajja means a day off, and while rajja can be any designated day of the week depending on the workers’ schedules and employment arrangements, in this particular settlement Sunday served as rajja day. This settlement is one of the several field sites I continue to visit as part of my ongoing doctoral fieldwork with migrant construction workers in Bengaluru. (read more...)