Sunday, December 13, 2009

a bridge too far

The Times of India asks if the 100-year-old Reay Road bridge, which was manufactured in the UK and assembled on-site in Mumbai, needs restoration.

The paper states, "Once the solid brick extensions and black plastic sheets covering the structure are removed, the bridge will seem more striking than the common wall of stone it appears to be."

Of course, for more than a generation, the bridge has also been home to hundreds of families. The Times of India calls it "a squatter's paradise."

But there is a history here. "My mother was born and raised on this bridge and now I am married into a family living here as well," one resident tells the paper. It may not be ideal to live in a makeshift shelter on a bridge, but you can't just trash homes people have lived in for generations in the name of historic preservation.

1 comment:

melalessa, piĆ¹ o meno said...

Here you can find the story of another bridge, in Delhi, where homeless children live. Hope you find it interesting in some way. Sorry, it is in Italian, but photos are quire clear to read.
http://www.repubblica.it/esteri/2010/01/26/foto/homeless_india-2081621/1/