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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

The Lecture Contains:

Activities Undertaken by the Panch

Everyday Life in the Pol

Reference

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

The social activities undertaken by the panch:

● Providing assistance to poor students/members in terms of loans

● Running a vadi (community building)
● Conflict resolution
● Organizing religious/recreational trips/sport activities

The economic responsibilities of the panch:

● Community/pol level organisation like the Yuvak mandal are financed by the panch.
● Provision of relief/assistance during times of calamities.
● Raising funds for the pol.
● Collecting donations from the rich residents.
● The membership fees collected at the pol level.
● Rent obtained by renting out the ''vadi''and other pol property.

The administrative activities undertaken by the panch:

● Formulation of rules/regulations and pol level decision making.

● Appointing watch men /guard for security purposes.
● They worked for the upkeep of public facilities like water and public toilets.

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

The everyday life in the pol is marked by extreme familiarity and a stranger is easily spotted by the pol
dwellers. Different groups would be found at different part of the day in the public areas. Groups of
children and young boys play a vital role as the gate-keepers of the community. They spend a lot of
time in the open spaces. The elders also spend some time in the public spaces, especially visiting
temples. Women assemble in these spaces during noon time—when men are out to work, children at
school and they are free from kitchen duties. The author points out that gossip, criticism and mutual
counseling at the community level contributed towards conflict resolution and acted as a restraining
factor in the community life.

On weddings or other general family events each household was expected to come for the feast and all
the members were expected to attend. Panch also extended financial support for wedding and the
mortuary rituals. Just like the principle of village exogamy the boys and girls can not marry within the
pol.

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

The panch along with other community organizations organized people’s lives outside their professional
context. Along with the panch there was another organization called the Adarsh Mitra Mandal
society that managed many matters of the pol such as the nursery schools and traditional gymnasium
known as akhada. Yuvak mandals along with the mahila mandal of the pol celebrated religious
festivals such as Holi, Navratri, as well as 15th Aug, 26th Jan and community feasts.

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

Selling and buying of pol houses show interesting sociological patterns:

● The price of the houses on the roadside was cheaper and easily available, while the houses in
the interior were not easily available and the prices were very high.

● Buying and selling used to be restricted. A survey done by the author’s team reveals that 86 per
cent of the Jethabhaini pol showed that they were owners and many had inherited since
generations.

● So far as the social composition of the pol is concerned, usually there used to be a single caste
along with a few service castes such as priest, carpenter and barber. Since the 18th century
there are records of communal tensions in the pols and gradually pols acquired a religious
identity over professional identity.

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

● A survey done in 1824 shows that in Khadia pol there were 1524 households, of which 1303
were Hindu households and 221 were Muslim. The Hindu households belonged to upper caste
Hindus: Vaishnavite (58 per cent) and Brahmin (27 per cent). The rest of the population was Jain.

● But as the demand for commercial space increased and commercial units looked for locations for
shops and other establishments—pols gradually came under their influence.

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

● As commercialization intensified, people began moving out, looking for other accommodation.
They began buying apartments elsewhere in the western part of the city. But it was found that
many families continued to stay in their old house even though they had their own apartment is
the suburbs.

● The current changes are primarily coming from the pressure of the commercialization of the inner
city core. Houses are being converted into shops and offices while traditional houses are erased
to pave way for new high rise apartments. Increased commercialization has led to the following
problems:

● traffic volume
● population density
● strained infrastructure resources and capabilities influencing the quality
of physical, social and living environment.

The study shows that the pol system had remained more or less static till early 1970s. The study of a
particular pol called vadvali pol which is supposed to be 250 years old located in Shahpur area—the
central part of the walled city of Ahmeadabad showed the following developments. Initially it was
inhabited by Kadva Patel of North and Central Gujarat. When industrialization began they migrated to
suburban areas selling their houses in the pols. Jains, Vanik, Parikh, Brahmin came to the pol during
this time. The city was growing on the western side. The houses were sold or rented out to families as
well as to small businesses.

A settlement of vagri community of daily wage-earners resided in Nagorivad in front of the pol. When
the pol area was badly affected during the riots of 1984 outmigration took place and two Vagri families
moved into the pol. It was objected by the upper castes but could not be stopped. Again in 1992 curfew
and riots paralyzed the area. More outmigration took place and houses were sold at a cheaper rate to
the Vagris staying in Nagorivad with the help of the two families in the pol. Gradually the social structure
of the pols began to change drastically. As the social characteristics began to change, the new
members did not show any interest in the panch. Social cohesion declined and regular in-fighting began
to take place.

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

One marker of decline in community spirit is lack of respect for the commons. There was rampant
encroachment of open spaces. The residents complained of lack of social interaction among
neighbours. The process of filtering has been taking place whereby property was being passed high
income groups into the hand of low income groups. Now the panch had no income and the amenities
were deteriorating. The following problems were reported:

● alcoholism

● marriage of boys was reported as a problem. The brides do not want to come
and live in the traditional pol.

It was found that the following activities were still going on:

● The chabutara was functioning. The grain was bought with the old passbook. People had
emotional attachment with the place.
● The old mandals were not functioning but some collective activities go on, like organizing bhavai
performance.

Attempts are being made by the municipal bodies and civil society groups to revive the pol areas of
Ahmedabad. The questions at stake are complex and they require a detailed and participatory planning
process to address the issues that are involved in the revival of these traditional neighbourhoods.

A neighbourhood dog in a traditional neighbour hood

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Module 5: Poetics and Politics of Urban Spaces

Lecture 31: The Gemeinschaft in the City: Urban Neighbourhoods

Reference

● Garrioch, David and Mark Peel 2006 “The Social History of Urban Neighborhoods”, Journal of
Urban History 32: 663-676.

● Ray, C. N. (2008). “Changing Pattern of Traditional neighbourhood in Walled City of Ahemdabad;

Case of Vad Vali Pol and Navi Pol”, CEPT University Ahemdabad.

Further Reading

● Cattell, Vicky. 2004. “Having a Laugh and Mucking in Together: Using Social Capital to Explore
Dynamics Between Structure and Agency in the Context of Declining and Regenerated
Neighbourhoods”. In Sociology. Vol. 38, pp. 945-963.

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