Neighbourhood- Streets- Assemblages

moomal shekhawat

We at SEA believe that the pandemic has a granularity of meta, non-linear narratives that become useful in making sense of the relational complexities of the pandemic and society. Thus, we set out to collect stories of fears, joys, agilities, fragilities, friendships, networks, collectives, home, work, infrastructures, entrepreneurship, privileges, marginalizations, migrations, desperation, gender, equity, etc. The glossary as a method became useful to reflect on this granularity of experiences and account for slippages during these times. These spatio-temporal stories, when read together or as individual instances produce a new sense of the emergent contemporary. This framework also allows us to speculate on the kind of world we will inhabit once the storm has passed. We draw on multiple readings to bring out the nuances and patterns of social life produced in a pandemic. This we hope would allow us to collectively reflect on the restructured ideas of the self, the collective, society, space, and time. Individual micro-curated expositions are linked together for www.covidglossary.net in order to generate non-linear readings of the pandemic.

With the onset of COVID-19 people were confined to their own space, public gatherings were restricted. I made plans to go out on ‘Sunday’.I went there during my vacation so it wouldn't matter to me which day it was,but as soon as I reached there I had few expectations build up about that place. When I reached,there was absolutely no place for any other activity other than cricket. The whole beach was occupied by the people playing cricket. It felt as if the birds were left free from their cage, it was crazy how the boundaries on the sand were overlapping and there was no inch of spare land. The next day I visited the same beach again and I could see the whole beach empty as usual, that beach had never been crowded as it was on that Sunday. Sundays seem to be a break day for corporates and students. Since travelling is at halt,the places are being crowded locally.

Living in a metropolitan city like Mumbai since my birth,

I had always heard that Mumbai doesn't sleep,

Mumbai doesn't take a break. but it was a pleasing experience to see Mumbai sleeping.

I used to always wonder when we will be able to take a break, as a city.

I think I have got an answer.

For me, I wouldn't socialise with people in person, it was risky but more than thatI simply wouldn’t want to. I was convinced that I would survive without any human contact other than my family.

sunday monday

Road construction of one lane stopped due to lockdown and so this half-built road became a new marketplace for local vendors and temporary shops. Forming plaza-like spaces bounded by road’s divider and small shops.

(lockdown)

As the pandemic started growing the outreach to certain locations was restricted. As the outreach was not possible it also reduced the scope of gatherings, engaging in outdoor activities, socializing etc for a particular time. After a certain time, the need for these activities showed a rise due to the stagnation of lifestyle. There was a sudden realization that as the outreach was reduced there was a sudden increase in the availability of resources in the neighbourhood. Suddenly there was an optimum use of the resources that were to be found out in the neighbourhood. For example: Whenever I went to a beach I always ended up visiting Juhu beach but due to the restrictions I started visiting Versova beach which is walking 5 mins from my house. There were social gatherings that started happening with my friends in the nearby parks and gardens which I haven’t visited since my childhood. The need to go into nearby cafeterias and restaurants started, which did not happen previously. The rise to exploring the neighbourhood started emerging and optimum utilization of nearby resources was seen.

UTILITARIAN TO COMPLETELY NON UTILITARIAN SPACES

The spaces of daily transit and daily transaction completely turned into a space of zero footfalls.

This picture is clicked outside Milap Cinemas, Kandivali. There are a lot of apartments along the S.V. Road that don't have gardens/open spaces. This area is mostly accessed by the residents of these buildings and the joggers who need some shaded resting space between their jogs.

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