Harijan Colony

Harijan colony is a housing complex situated along the east-west axis of the town of Orchha, about 400 m west of the Ram Raja Mandir. The Laxmi Road runs along the northern edge of the colony, passing by the Keshav Bhavan, a government school, a hotel and a vegetable mandi which lie on the eastern side of it. A paved road separates the settlement from the latter two structures and its surrounding colonies.

The colony with over one hundred and twenty houses was established in the mid 90’s as a part of the government housing scheme (Indira Awas Yojana) which “provides a grant for the construction of houses to members of Scheduled Caste (SC)/Scheduled Tribes (ST), freed bonded laborers and to non-SC/ST category below the poverty line.”1 Though this scheme is set up to help those in need, it also casts light to the lingering effect of the caste system. Historically, the town was set-up with the upper-casts living closer to the Raja Ram Mandir and the Fort complex, while the rest of the caste groups were spread along the east-west spine at gradual distances, with the hierarchical order of the caste system taking physical form in making the structure of the town.

The built form is laid out in an orthographic grid, consisting of rectangular and long chains of built structures. These modular structures are divided into four to five rooms and each of these rooms house a single family. These units often mirror each other, forming a rhythm in their spatial arrangement. But there’s a dimension of casteism and elitism in this arrangement too. The richer, higher castes live closer to the main road, and have more space inside and outside their houses. The deeper one goes into the village, the space becomes denser and the houses smaller. This binary is gradual, emerging slowly but starkly as one walks down the lanes.

Every house in the village is a load bearing structure with flat roofs, built using bricks, stones and concrete. Cow dung mixed with red soil is layered on the ground to make their flooring, which varies in levels outside the built structures. These plinths take the form of chullahs, toilets, thresholds for the houses and cloth washing volumes. Thatch, tree branches, bamboo, cloth, stones and bricks are used as fences around these houses, creating softer boundaries. Many of these fences have vegetative growth on it, which is inhabited by the many birds and insects, establishing a sense of continuum between the built form and its surroundings.

Initially, these houses had three doors and three windows each, from which the inhabitants had to choose one of each to keep and fill in the rest with bricks or stones, adding a peculiar character to the overall fabric of the settlement.

The inhabitants of the village have extended their spaces by creating gentle, uneven boundaries around these houses in the form of plinths and fences, and the life happens within these in-between spaces.These crafted spaces provide affordance for several activities to happen. Some use them as a place to cook food or as a place where many villagers take baths or wash their clothes, as sheds for their animals and as a space where people gather to talk or share a small warming fire during the chilly season. Sometimes, the roofs of the houses are extended using cloth or thatch over these plinths, making small room-like spaces outside the house, many of which are made into toilets and storage spaces.

Small drains flow like rivulets throughout the colony, formed by the gentle contours of the place, carrying gray water to the main drainage line. These drain lines seem as if they slither from place to place, from between fences, under the plinths and by the edges of the houses.

Bougainvillea, neem, babul and khair are some types of trees commonly found throughout the village. Sometimes, the houses are enveloped by the canopy of trees, hiding it from the view of someone walking on a lane. There are spaces where this tree cover is so dense that one has to walk around another block to reach a house. This interweave of the built and unbuilt produces an interesting experience of the space.

A new concretized road was recently constructed on the south-west edge of the village for easy vehicular access. The colony gets its electric supply from a supply tower which is along the new road. The supply tower receives electricity from the main grid in Jhansi and provides it to the colony and the settlements surrounding it.

Currently, many of the villagers aspire to own bigger homes with better services and have thus bought and applied for houses outside the village or the city, feeling that their lives are monotonous, without any way out of it. At the same time, there are some who are quite content with the way of their lives and are against such decisions. Nevertheless, these people have to find a new place to live as a university is going to be constructed there as a part of the development scheme by the government after five years.

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B

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A

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The section depicts the changing levels of the plinths, which provides affordance for different activities. It shows how the inhabitants have shaped the spaces in and around their houses, merging the outside and the inside.

B

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How these residents inhabit the outdoors can be clearly seen in the section. The usage of trees, walls and fences so as to carry out their daily activities shows us how the life of the residents happens outside their house

C

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This built spaces has grown on its own ,growing out of its standard grid occupying the space around it ,yet leaving just enough for other things to thrive

D

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The section cuts through a series of row of houses which are block type arranged, identical to each other. It shows how the people have made a different life in such small rooms.