Another hot day in Kovalam

1st April, 2008

Women and girls are involved with the work on the construction site. They generally undertake the unskilled tasks such as carrying the mortar in buckets on their heads to where the bricklayers are building the walls.

Today the sun is shining and it's about 30 °C; it will be a tiring day.

The steelworkers have braided steel wires together to be used in making reinforced concrete lintels. The steel gives it extra tensile strength - without it the concrete would be much too brittle. The wires will be placed in the formers above the windows into which concrete will be poured to form supporting beams. In the West these beams would be ready-made but here in India it is cheaper to make them by hand.

Just a few more courses of bricks to go and then we'll be ready for the ceiling.

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