Gulbai Tekra : Unheard Voices of the Slum

Abstract

"The Project focuses on an aspect of trying to give voice and visibility to the residents of Gulbai Tekra who are under a constant threat of displacement. To convey it to the neighbourhood of Gulbai Tekra, the citizens of Ahmedabad and the philanthropic people to sensitize them to the lives of the residents of Gulbai Tekra; about their physical space, their community and their place in the larger context of being citizens in the city of Ahmedabad.

If this place were to be removed, a important part of the history of a city is likely to be erased; an important intangible cultural heritage defined by UNESCO.

The project is a booklet designed as the communication medium to inform and establish a consciousness about Gulbai Tekra to the citizens of Ahmedabad who look upon the place as just another slum that could be demolished in the interest of real estate development or urban beautification. The residents believe that they are not squatters who suddenly came and inhabited a modern city space, in fact the city of Ahmedabad grew around the village they came to inhabit. So they should not be treated as illegal residents.

An attempt of designing this booklet consists of the voices from the field covering the different perspectives of women, men-young and old, children and of the people who are relocated."