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Narratives
Series of narratives emerging from the inter-species social arrangement are evidently present in the urban. This intricate relationship of dependency thrives on the existence of certain ‘enablers’, being shared commodities, spaces, resources, activities. Overlapping of human programs and animal territories allows for said arrangement, being a product of interactions.
These narratives were first sketched along with the context which serves as a 'stage' for the interactions to manifest and be 'performed'.
A layer of highlighting was introduced to mark varying objects which serve as 'enablers' for the social arrangement to thrive.
Isolating the highlight layer gives a pattern of enablers, helping a human define a palette of enablers for a given context.
The narratives are divided into 4 catagories: Animals depending on businesses on the street, depending on tools used by humans parked/placed on the street, depending on human interventions and friendships, and ones depending on spaces of reject.
Narratives Introduction
Business Narratives
Business Narratives
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Narrative 1
​A young man strategically sets up his business on the pavement at the point where the Haji Ali promenade widens.
He is accompanied by a pup who lives off the promenade. A couple of cats from across the street who dwell in the subway close by sit with him multiple times through the day.
The business, of debatable legality, proves to be an 'enabler' ALLOWING interactions between the man and the animals from the surroundings.
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Narrative 2
​A shopkeeper in Chor Bazaar (Thief’s
Market) sets up his shop on the footpath
on a busy street. His friends and he also
take care of and feed a few street animals
in the vicinity. The animals are usually
occupying areas around the stall set up,
occupying spaces under the stall, next to
the shopkeeper’s chair, under handcarts
and such.
There is a relationship of ‘friendship’ that
emerges amongst the street animals and
the shopkeeper and his friends, where
the space the shopkeeper occupies in
turn becomes a territory for these street
animals to live.
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Narrative 3
​A petrol pump near Reay Road station is
the home for Rocky, a street dog who is
cared for by the pump operators. Rocky
had turned up one day at the petrol
station as a pump, and has been raised
by the operators ever since. He considers
the station his territory, occupying
spaces which are not travelled or used
by humans. Since he has been raised in
a space that is frequented constantly by
strangers (the pump’s customers), his
instincts seem distorted when compared
to the general territorial instincts of street
animals, where he is either laying around
indi fferent to people coming and going,
or is following the operators and greeting
the customers or inquisitively sniffing their
vehicles.
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Narrative 4
​Coal Bunder is a jetty-like projection
from Mumbai’s east coast, inhabited by
warehouses which have a lot of massive
trucks frequenting the space. The handcart
and truck drivers who lay a piece of cloth
or newspaper on the floor to sit and eat
together are visited by street dogs who
come to scavenge the leftovers. Over
time, having built trust in these humans,
the street animals occupy spaces around
these humans, mostly under or around
their hand carts and trucks.
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Narrative 5
​One of the lanes in Saat Rasta are
populated with small street stalls during
business hours, fisherpersons during the
wee hours of the day. The smell of the fish
attracts several cats from the area during
these times. They tend to occupy spaces
around and under the stalls to scavenge
any leftovers or fish that falls from the
stall or bags. During the other times of
the day they occupy various spaces within
the area. The space is acknowledged as
their territory because of the availability
of food. Several fisherpersons end up
developing a friend-like relationship
with these cats who are persistent and
do not leave when shoo-ed. Ashok, the
fisherperson in the picture, distributes all
his leftovers amongst the cats in the lane.
Tool Narratives
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Narrative 1
​Early mornings and late evenings are quieter when compared to the cacophonous working hours at Coal Bunder. Trucks speeding leaving dirt trails, people moving around with goods, children from the nearby basti playing. During hours of peace, the animals of Coal Bunder start occupying the tools parked after use. The handcarts, boxes, beds and tables, all provide a 'sleeping tone' for the animals to occupy and take shelter in/on/under.
Tools Narratives
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Narrative 2
​The owner of a small dairy and grocery
shop near Kemps Corner resides across
the road on the footpath. He narrates
that a few years ago a street kitten had
wandered into his shop whom he fed and
raised. The cat, during business hours,
is seen in his shop sitting either under
his stool inside or on top of the shop on
the roof in an obsolete box. During the
afternoon when the shopkeeper rests in
his home and at night, the cat occupies
the shelves in his house, sharing the space
between each other.
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Narrative 3
​Coal Bundar is also occupied by
individuals who came from South India
looking for work. Their homes are
informal, which extend beyond the
footprint of the land, cantilevering above
the waterbody. The space under these
houses is sti lted, having a very awkward
space, di fficult to occupy by humans.
Street animals tend to occupy this space.
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Narrative 4
​The street cats from this building in
Worli spend their time around the flat
on the ground floor where a caregiver
resides. His family and he feed the cats
and look after them. The air condi tioning
unit outside their home becomes warm
when operating. As understood from the
theoretical base, street animals would
ideally find a comfortable, warm space
rather than digging and making one
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Narrative 5
​The homes in a slum near Marol Naka have
narrow but lively streets. Since the houses
are small , the occupants spend majority
of their day outside in the lanes or near
open fields and grounds. Very often the
cats in the area sneak into these houses
since they are warmer and dry. Majority
of the cats here are very timid and usually
occupy higher levels than the lanes or the
floor. The items stacked outside homes or
the furniture in them is usually occupied
by these cats.
Human Intervention Narratives
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Narrative 1
​The bastis at Coal Bunder are bustling with people during the evenings. Men bring out beds, and play cards outside their home, women gather in groups, children run around. Once our conditioned anthropomorphising is removed from the equation, one can notice spaces a human may find it difficult to occupy/will be reluctant to occupy. These 'stray' spaces allow a 'resting tone' for the animal. Regardless of the relationship with the specific human and animal, the space allows for an indirect interaction where all species are able to occupy the same space.
Human Interventon Narratives
Narrative 2
​Construction sites, with their constant
movements and cacophony are the most
unfriendly spaces for street animals.
One such site in Worli, Marina Bay, has
street dogs who have grown to become
extremely timid. They do not approach or
let any human approach, are constantly
alert and scared. The only individual they
let approach is a construction worker at
the site who feeds them after his duty
hours. He purchases biscuits from a local
shop for them, and they in turn share their
territory outside on the street with him.
One of the dogs had a gashing cut on
his head when he had tried to pass from
under a metal corrugated sheet. Catching
him for treatment was a nightmare, but
after a li ttle bit of asking around, I came
across this individual, who was the sole
human the animals allowed to come close.
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Narrative 3
​Another such timid animal is Raju, a
cat who lives under a home in Coal
Bundar. Raju, the caregivers say, never
got along well with the other cats, nor
the caregivers’ neighbours, but was only
friendly with the caregivers who fed him
a couple of times everyday. Because of
his timid nature, he would occupy spaces
around the house, but niches where he
would remain hidden throughout the day,
like a gap between steps, between two
tables and such.
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Narrative 4
​The godowns in Lakda Bandar are operational for very few hours when the trucks arrive to pick up or drop the goods. Beyond these hours they are fairly unoccupied but open. Being a cooler and shaded space, very often, cats sneak into these warehouses and find niches inside or near the gate. The spaces seem to be strategically such, so that they might not get spotted by a human, but even if they do, they have a clear path to flee.
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Narrative 5
​Similar narrative to the scrap dealers in
Lakda Bandar, the truckers who frequent
the space take care of the street dogs
in the area. In turn, the street animals
assume the truck and the space around
it as their territory, resting under and
around the trucks. During the day when
the trucks are not present, the street dogs
sti ll occupy the same area, waiting for the
truckers to return to feed them.
Rejected Spaces Narratives
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Rejected Spaces Narratives
Narrative 1
​A wall, unsympathetically blocking the indoors, and a gutter channel warding off humans. A female and her kitten seek refuge in the thin patch in between. Spaces of 'reject', 'stray' spaces are of paramount importance to the street animal, where it is able to negotiate its existence within the urban.
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Narrative 2
​Kalu is a street dog from BKC who is
extremely timid. He used to reside in an
open ground for many years until he was
dispaced after construction commenced
on the ground.
He now resides, for the majority of the
day, on the divider between the streets
amongst the plants. The space is secure
with respect to moving cars and humans
on the pavements, and a perfect vantage
point for him to wait for Deepak, a feeder
who frequents the area on a scooter to
feed the street animals.
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Narrative 3
​Another cat from Lakda Bandar, extremely
timid and unfriendly with humans. The
slums in the area are extremely congested,
leaving bare minimum space to move
around. Being a timid cat, he does not
occupy spaces in homes or on stacked
objects on the street, but spends majority
of his time on rooftops, while frequently
coming down near the shore to scavenge
for food in the garbage.
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Narrative 4
​In a slum in Marol Naka, there is an
awkward space between two houses
through which a massive sewer pipeline
runes. The space is also informally a
dumping ground where people dispose
their garbage from homes. The street
animals depend on the organic waste
produced by households, hence
transforming this dumping space as a
‘kitchen’, so as to say, for the animals.
Behind the space is a dingy area under a
flyover which has a few temporary homes
made by construction workers from the
neighbouring site.
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Narrative 5
​Outside Kharghar Station is a plywood
dealer’s shop. The shopfront is used as a
space to store most of the goods, covered
by a tarpaulin sheet. The goods are moved
once a week or a fortnight, and otherwise
remain untouched.
Two street dogs in the lane outside the
station started to frequent the shop after
the people from the shop started feeding
them. The space is perfect since there is
no footfall since it is a storage space, and
it also elevates the dog to the level of a
human, making them more comfortable
when interacting with one.
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