The Economic institution of the dabbawalas is indicative of the tensions between tradition and the pressures of 21^st century neoliberal capitalism.  Again highlighting the conflict between fetishizing poverty and applauding creative economic efforts on the part of slum residents, the dabbawalas represent a highly sophisticated response to the alienation of urban life.  At the same time, they exist in the framework of traditional family values (domestic work being entirely carried out by women) and are a potential hindrance to further social advancements.  While home-cooked food delivered daily on an urban level is a fascinating response to the ravages of the fast food industry, the processes behind that production of food remain basically unaltered.  That is not to say that the work of the dabbawalas is to blame for the social relations in Mumbai but is indicative of the fact that it is dangerous to celebrate creative solutions originating from the slums without calling into question their forced existence in the first place.

Mehrotra’s piece also recognizes the ingenuity of informal urbanism that is situated in static built/social systems.  The Kinetic City is conceived of as an informal urbanism that exists within the static or “real” city of Mumbai and is comprised of informal markets, the flow of people and temporary urban installations surrounding new religious festivals (Burdett and Sudjic 110).  The sheer scale of residents living and working in an informal sense constitutes a living architecture.  The density of residents competes for dominance with static vestiges of colonial architecture.  The real revolutionary quality of the Kinetic City is that the scale and transformability of the population can work to erase a cultural legacy of imperialism through its very existence.  Returning to the example of the dabbawala, a thoroughly urban profession also regenerates more autonomous cultural feelings.  Dabbawalas are typically from the same rural region of India and continue to identify as such, marking Mumbai urbanism with a reignited sense of Indian rural culture (Percot 9).

Conversely, improvised solutions to “problems” have negative consequences.  In Dharavi, one of Mumbai’s main informal settlements, ethnic/religious conflicts in the early 90s were “solved” by literal barriers between communities, eliminating the impression that informal settlements were benign melting pots (Sharma 33).  Informal settlements do not exist outside of larger societal constructions and while there is a certain freedom of movement and a subsequent freedom of identity, informal settlements will not be the site of spontaneous revolutionary change.  One of the important qualities to draw from in the conception of the Kinetic City is the setup’s dynamism and potential for bringing about radical change.  If informal communities can generate new markets and new architecture, they can also potentially alter the political landscape.  Although on a cultural level rural tradition is entering the urban structures of Mumbai, the process of transformation is dialectical and the inhabitants of informal settlements are also exposed to a previously unheard of amount of people, ideas and lifestyles.  Change is never automatic but it is always possible.

Bibliography

Burdett, Richard, and Deyan Sudjic. “The Static and the Kinetic.” Living in the Endless City: The Urban Age Project by the London School of Economics and Deutsche Bank’s Alfred Herrhausen Society. London: Phaidon, 2011.

Percot, Marie. “Dabbawalas, Tiffin Carriers of Mumbai: Answering a Need for Specific Catering.”

Sharma, Kalpana. Rediscovering Dharavi.

The dichotomy between the static and kinetic city is a fight between functionality and history. The historical notion of imperialism which occurred in India has a prominence in the past by the British but has been subconsciously re envisioned by the citizens of India into something new in recent times. Imperialism by new definition has become the overtake of old static structures with new kinetic, temporary places of occupation.

These new kinetic places of occupation become spaces of culture, socialization, and economy. “A city in constant motion where the very physical fabric is characterized by continuous change.”(1) The exciting thing about this format of city as opposed to the typical Western static city is the ability for the character and culture of its people to flourish  and practically explode through the streets. For example during the months of August and and September the Ganesh festival transforms numerous neighborhoods with lights and other decorations. During this time numerous temporary structures are set up to house the idol and those there for the celebration. (2) “Within the Kinetic City, meanings are not stable; spaces get consumed, reinterpreted and recycled  The Kinetic City recycles the Static City to create a new spectacle.”(3)

Since the static city structures have some historic value  preservationist fight the notion of ever changing city. it should be noted that the static city structures intrinsically stay the same in their form while they are continuously reinvented to fit the the needs of those in the city who actually use them. Buildings are for the people to use, why should it be a problem to use the buildings for how the public deems necessary. The culture and necessities of life should influence building’s use, not historical contexts. What the people want should not be fought but instead embraced. That said “The kinetic city is not a design tool but a demand that conceptions of urbanism create and facilitate environments that are versatile and flexible.”(4)

The kinetic city due to its fast paced metabolism is a breeding ground for entrepreneurship. One of these extraordinary entrepreneurial enterprises are the dabbawalas. Coming from the farmlands and coming to the city to make money to feed their families, the dabbawalas have created a monopoly. (5) The dabbawalas job is the definition of kinetic. Their job is to deliver food to the customer’s workplace from the customer’s home. This service allows the customer to get a home-cooked meal from usually their wife while at work. This service does more than just give a tasty meal to the customer. The dabbawalas in addition to delivering tasty meals allow its customers to feel close to home especially when many of their customers are gone from 7 in the morning until 7 at night. In addition, it gives the poor to middle class (their demographic) a chance to know what it feels like to have a servant, the dabbawalas are the closest thing many of them will get to this.(6)

As the imposed static structures of imperialism are overtaken by the kinetic Indian culture, we must let it happen, informality works for India and has sprouted numerous entrepreneurial masterpieces such as the dabbawala system.

(1) “Living in the Endless City”, London School of Economics, pg 110

(2) “Living in the Endless City”, London School of Economics, pg 110

(3) “Living in the Endless City”, London School of Economics, pg 111

(4) “Living in the Endless City”, London School of Economics, pg 115

(5) “Dabbawalas, Tiffin Carriers of Mumbai: Answering a Need for Specific Catering”, Marie Percot, pg 4

(6) “Dabbawalas, Tiffin Carriers of Mumbai: Answering a Need for Specific Catering”, Marie Percot, pg 3-4