Tuesday 10 November 2009

A Brick Off The Old Block

Yesterday I went literally shopping for bricks with Pastor Shay and a church brother.
A large section of our church wall has fallen down due to aging and
heavy rainfall,.
So we have to fortify ourselves again.


A group of trustworthy workers are available '
we are arranging our supply of sand , bricks and cement.
We cannot afford a contractor, so we are doing
all the extra groundwork, and its taking
a long time.
This is a truck load of sand.
Sheeba admiring it, or maybe
counting its grains.. On the way to the kiln , about 40 kms outside the city.,
we passed a road repaving crew.


These are the un-baked bricks formed
with mud quarried from the surrounding area.
I saw some young children making the bricks. Its illegal
to employ children. But poverty forces people to do this.


There were blocks of bricks everywhere.
They had Grade A,B &C.
We want the top quality A grade bricks although they are the most expensive,
they are meant to last.


Pastor Shay examined the bricks.

This little donkey sat in the dirt.
He had just finished a dust bath,
kicking up quite a dust storm.
I reckon they use the donkeys to transport
mud or bricks.
No fuel needed.They are grazing on scrub grass.
They are not allowed in the city.

This is the coal generated oven chimney.

The entrance of the kiln.

This door was open.
Could have baked my apple pie in there.
The kiln owners are very wealthy people, although
they keep a low profile.
But the kiln workers are underpaid.
These are they shabby huts.

These children of the workers came around to say hello.
They should have been in school, but they were not.
I asked them about school and the eldest gave
me some kind of an evasive answer.

The kiln owner drives around in a nice SUV.


We went to a second kiln and saw
a different kind of oven.
The quality of their bricks were better, but
costlier.



Bricks stacked at the side



Behind the bricks you can see
the coal which is used as fuel.
Couldn 't help thinking of how
we are like clay in the hands of the Master Potter.
God forms each one of us uniquely and then
to mature us places us in the fiery furnace sometimes'
The blast of trials strengthens our faith,
and we can be used as the building blocks of God.


The chimneys in the distance made me recall
the fiery trial of Sadrach, Meshach anbd Abednego
in the book of Daniel.

On our way back I took photos of little hamlets.
This a shop with quilts, mattresses and plastic ware

These steel trunks ideal for storage.



On the way to school

A smart girl on her way to college.
Very good colleges and educational institutions are
mushrooming in the suburbs
as rural estate is cheaper.
Students either live in dorms etc.
or commute from the city.
Here is a video of the rural countryside.
I have some pictures and videos
which i will post later.


15 Fertilize my soul:

Felisol said...

Dear Amrita,
thank you for this interesting report from the Allahabad countryside.
Clay bricks were also manufactured many places in my county Rogaland as late as four decades ago.
Now import from Asia comes cheaper and the factories are shut down.
It's a sad thing when a country stop to produce but continue to consume in the large scale we are doing it.
Some days soon we may have to learn the various skills all over again.
Oh, the children are so lovely. It's a shame they aren't allowed to go to school.
From Felisol

Olde Dame Penniwig said...

Amrita, I am somewhat of a brick fanatic, having spent countless hours helping my father find many thousands of antique bricks buried in the mud alongside the Mississippi. It required going over the levee and down into the little area along the side of the river, when the river was low. There we would search for rippled mud, indicating bricks beneath. I was so weak and ill a child that I could carry only a few brick at a time. My heart goes out to those little children. Working children is so very wrong, yet many do it. I know the poorest of the poor must, or perish.

Kathryn said...

Thank you, Amrita, for sharing part of your life. Your culture is so very different from what many of us are used to. It is so interesting to get a glimpse of life in India thru your eyes.

NAK and The Residents of The Khottage Now With KhattleDog! said...

Thanks for sharing that -

I used to work in a brick plant although bricks were not used to build houses but they were probably used to line the kiln that you saw -

It is always sad to see the owners have so much when their workers have so little -

That is all part of what is wrong with the world -

Thanks for all your good works!

Amrita said...

Thank you dear friends. I was afraid I might bore you with my picures.
I have some more.

Khyra dear, welcome to my blog.
Your dogs are so handsome. I would love to make friends with them and doggie-sit them.

Annie K said...

Amrita, reading your blog makes me want to go to your country. I love the pictures and you make me think about the things I take for granted here in the US.

You tell an amazing story with your pictures my friend.

Paresh Palicha said...

We have kilns for roofing tiles here, we can see them we travel by train. Sorry for the long absence from here. I was reading everything you wrote, but didn't comment.:(

Amrita said...

Hi Annie good to see you. How are you doing?

Paresh, my busy writer brother good to see you drop by. How is the novel coming along?

It is pathetic to see the plight of the toiers. Social organizations are working among them to aid them in their problems. Some have been found to be bonded labourers and have set liberated. All that was happening illegally.

Grayquill said...

Your posts are always so interesting. Every time I learn something new. I loved the pictures of the bricks. A person driving a small SUV is a symobol of being very rich?

Margie said...

I stopped by because i wanted to tell you that i looked at the picture that posts when you make a comment... B-E-A-U-T-F-U-L!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and I love the pics of your church rebuilding, its gorgeous, may God give His servants in your church strength to complete this task!

Amrita said...

Hi Grayquill, I lovbe the real life stories you share on your blog, your writing makes a deep impression on me.

Hello Margie, thank you for your visit. May the Lord reward your great faith and trust.

Amrita said...

Hi Grayquill, One has to be well to do in order to own a car or SUV. People of the low income group cannot afford one, or even if they have one they can 't use them very freely, as fuel and maintanence is costly.

I sold my Dad 's car as we could not afford to run it.

Amrita said...

Our petrol or gas is more than $ 1 a litre - that is costly.

Dick said...

Interesting, the bricks look the same as here.

Terry said...

dear amrita..the video wouldn't open but that is ok because i was really interested in finding out about the repairs to you church.
it is always nice that everyone works together in the job.
i think that this really pleases the lord. of course, i know that it will save money but those of you who are doing the work freely for the lord are laying up treasure in heaven!
you are so lucky seeing all of this cute animals..the goats and the donkeys and best of all sheeba.
i am sorry amrita but sheeba is my second most favourite dog in the world..adi is first, and then that darling sheeba is second!
hahahaha..i love them all and grandpaw ron's princess too!.....love terry