He would have presented a perfect photo-op for Independence Day to any cameraman of the ink or television variety in the national capital. A labourer, he was using the spade he had toiled with through the day, as a tava to make his chapattis over a makeshift fire.

An apt comment on the state of the nation, a world weary ideologue might say. What a design innovation, someone else might exclaim. If asked, the labourer would have said necessity and want. His ingenuity is in line with a tradition of on-the-feet design innovations which constantly seek to circumvent the well-designed inequities of a system by creating a momentary breathing space to exist.

Take the construction worker whose child sleeps in a hammock which multi-tasks as a dupatta for her as well as a blanket. Ever notice the women who — mystifyingly, to observers — hug a compound wall on the road, voluminous ghaghras spread out, to answer nature’s call, in the absence of public toilets?

In this universe, design is a guerilla tactic to survive in hostile conditions. It arises out of a hardy empathy with life. On the other hand is the engine of growth — the manufacturing industry with its mainstream notion of design. Here value addition and obsolescence are different names for neighbour’s envy, that cruel jab under the heart. After all, one of the connotations of independence is the freedom to want more.

So, on Independence Day take your pick — there are air coolers which look like — sorry, are designed as sleek air conditioners. There are fans, cunningly designed with coloured bands on the rotor. You pick according to the colour scheme of your house. Better still, go for that new fan with four blades — it’s a novelty even though three blades is the optimum number needed for maximum air circulation; more blades impede the air flow. But as actor Shah Rukh Khan admonishes consumers in an ad, ‘Don’t be santusht (satisfied), ask for more’.

... contd.