The cement mixer grinds and clunks as it rotates. Though the sun is well up, it is not yet visible through the morning's mist and clouds. The rising apartment building - three floors high so far - has a flat and featureless greyness in the half-hearted light. A smell of burning rubber rises from the small fire by which the watchman is warming himself. The construction labourers, mostly women, are standing in a line which stretches from the cement mixer to the building. Flat iron pans are relayed along the line, filled with cement in one direction and empty in the other. On a pile of sand by the cement mixer, three small children are playing with a stray pup while their mothers work.
construction site a scarred dog stakes its claim to the territory
On the road outside the site are parked the contractor's car and a row of cycles. There is little traffic, since it's a national holiday. A late morning walker energetically marches past, arms working like pistons.
Republic Day two little plastic flags on the labourer's cycle
Johannes
2004-01-27
Copyright Johannes Manjrekar, 2004
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