Gated Societies In India: When The Gates Are Broken, All Hell Breaks Loose

Urban Sociologist D Asher Ghertner rightly finds out the driving force that upholds such images of uninterrupted cities. It is aesthetics. Rule by aesthetics means governing through the means of appearance, not through any rational or scientific measure. The view of what a world class city should be though is multi-dimensional, the point of agreement lies in keeping the 바카라�dirty바카라� unaesthetic 바카라�them바카라� outside. The 바카라�them바카라� can be security guards, domestic workers, laundryman or anybody and everybody who stays outside the 바카라�gates바카라� to 바카라�maintain바카라� the 바카라�gated바카라�.  

A hostage, a slap, an outsider 

Five years ago, when the news of a domestic worker, namely Zohra Bibi, being allegedly taken hostage at a Noida Sector 78 gated community stormed the media for all the right reasons, a demographic transition followed. Upon receiving complaints from the Mahagun Moderne Society where Zohra was found in the basement, the police demolished the nearby slums saying they were illegally 바카라�occupying바카라� the government land.  

However, this illegal occupation came to the notice of the administration only when Zohra바카라�s neighbours and family barged into the Mahaguna society and razed down the furniture of the apartment where she allegedly went to bring her two months바카라� salary but never came back. What the entry of those 바카라�violent dirty others바카라� within the peaceful secured compound signified was the breaking of the 바카라�gate바카라� and hence of the prevalent 바카라�aesthetics바카라�.  

The entry of these 'outsiders' within the 바카라�gated바카라� premises is always monitored. The feudal relationship that reproduces the master-slave binary was certainly collapsed by that storming troop. The consequence was a foregone conclusion. While removing the clusters of slums that offered shelters to Zohras, one proud bureaucrat roared, 바카라�We have demolished 60 structures. Encroachment on government land cannot be allowed.바카라�  

It has been five years since the Zohra incident. However, expectedly situation has not changed a bit.  

A few days back a report came from another Noida housing society where a woman professor was found slapping a security guard who allegedly was late in opening the 바카라�gate바카라� of the society. As the Radio Frequency Identification (RIFD) mechanism of the women바카라�s car did not work, the security guard was supposed to rush to open the 바카라�gate바카라�.  

Whatever it may be, the insiders cannot wait at the outside of the 바카라�gate바카라� that they have erected to keep the others at bay! The professor got out of the car and abused and slapped the guard. She was taken by police on a complaint, only to be released by the afternoon for committing a non-cognisable offence.  

These two reported incidents speak of the exploitation of the working people regularly experienced in their gated workspace.  

Segregation: an othering reality  

Redseer, one of the major management consulting firms in India, in its recent reports showed that gated communities are emerging as the most important consumption areas in Indian urban scenario. The consumption across gated communities is poised to more than double to $500 billion by 2026 with a significant $20,000 spend per household. This indicates how more and more urban middle class are preferring gated, secured and green residencies over any other possibility of living.  

On the other hand, several scholars like Marxist Philosopher Zizek have projected a 바카라�Planet of Slums바카라� by 2050 where the number of people currently staying in squatters will be tripled.  

Within this contradictory development of 바카라�Planet of Slums바카라� and the heaven of the gated communities lie a blurred line of dependency. The foundation of gated community always accompanies the constitution of nearby slums. The security guards, drivers, laundrymen, gardeners, domestic workers and the gig workers, precisely, the virulent outsiders stay there. People from mostly marginalised communities 바카라�Dalits, Adivasis, Muslims바카라� occupy these spaces. So, it becomes further easy for the gated residents to demonise them. In the instance of Zohra, it was reported how the people who went on a rampage to find the woman were termed as 바카라�Bangladeshi immigrants바카라� due to their Bengali Muslim identity.   

BR Ambedkar though called the villages 바카라�den of inequity바카라� and asked the Dalits to move to the cities, urbanity hardly had anything dignified in its coterie for them. A study conducted by Pranav Sidhwani, published in Economic and Political Weekly in 2015, showed the most populous 10 cities of India are the most residentially segregated zones. In the receiving end of the segregation always lie Dalits, Muslims and Adivasis. They not only live as the outliers, they hardly have access to the basic infrastructures like water, sewage and for that matter electricity. And interestingly most of these slums are located near the phallic structures of the gated communities.  

A haunting anxiety  

However, it is not to say that Dalits and Adivasis came from their villages and occupied the space. Most of the time, it is the urbanity that expanded and gradually gobbled up the village spaces. In case of New Okhla Industrial Development Authority, popularly known as Noida, several villages had been encroached upon. Losing the agricultural lands, the village people certainly found them surrounded by humongous structures. In the wake of such transition, the insider of the villages became the perennial outsiders 바카라� the drivers to mop their cars or the domestic workers to 바카라�maintain바카라� the aesthetic of the place.  

This proximity of slums with the gated community is what makes the posh upper-caste citizens anxious. This anxiety is reflected through captivity, slapping, termination of jobs, holding of salaries for months and several other means. The presence of those whose place they knowingly occupied continuously haunts them. And when the gates are broken, all hells break loose. The inevitability of the labour of the others does not gel in with the dispensability of the bodies. In this way Zohras become the norm and when any subversion happens, it is responded with demolition of illegal encroachments.  

Zohras are not alone, the casualties of aesthetic development are stretching its hands far beyond the marginalised. It is a not a distant reality when the bulldozer would be norm for a dissenting storm.