23rd August, 1942. The German 6th Army launched perhaps the bloodiest of battles WW2 has seen till then…by attacking Stalingrad. Through intense air raids aided by the Luftwaffe, the city of Stalingrad was reduced to a rubble within weeks, so much so that by mid of November, Soviet hold over the city was in just a few blocks along the course of Volga. Body count was close to a million.
Sitting in 2020 its hard to imagine the burden on the shoulder of the commanding officer of the Red Army in Stalingrad (in this case General Georgy Zhukov) tasked with the ominous task of defending the city at any cost, while the German artillery and air raids pilloried any standing structure. What he came up with is now matter of folklore – use the city rubble as your new fort. Put in snipers at every nook and corner of the bombed out buildings, inside caved basements, cracked rooftops, make every pile of broken bricks a hiding ground for the hunting marksmen. The slow grinding bloody battle worn out the Germans and ultimately resulted in the first surrender of Hitler’s forces in WW2.
But why am I talking of a war fought so long ago? Because IMO what Zhukov did was to re-purpose an already available asset. The asset was nearly destroyed but in the hands of a capable strategist, it was put to use in an effective alternative form.
So why am I interested in a story of broken buildings?
A house is probably one of the most valuable “tangible” asset that most of us possess. In the past 3 months, I have seen, heard and learnt of many a stories of broken households as a consequence of the unprecedented health scare and its cohorts of unemployment, uncertainties and miseries. It makes you think very hard why is it that the uncertain future (which is by definition always uncertain) had suddenly made us so fragile? Why are we so fixated on our current capabilities and processes and so rigid to even consider re-purposing our lives and livelihoods? Why is the thought of starting over again so feared upon?
We as a nation has mainly 3 obsessions, cricket, Bollywood and religion (and for many, the first 2 equates religion). Cricket as a game is simplistically speaking a case of continuous starting over by individuals – which ultimately adds up to the continuity. Starting over should not be an alien concept at all (but I think we all give the game a mare entertainment value and refuse to learn anything from it).
So is there any silver lining in this playbook?
A picture does the job of a hundred words. An ubiquitous last mile mass transport in almost all Indian cities are the quintessential 3 wheeler “tuk-tuk”. Such was their dominance on the Indian roads that even the mighty Uber had to go for a partnership with them instead of competition. COVID had a double whammy on the tuk-tuk owner-drivers as along with health risks ridership has come down to near zero levels in most tier 1 and 2 cities. But instead of laying down their arms they decided to re-purpose their vehicles and livelihood. Off goes the roof and the tuk-tuks gets converted to vegetable carts.
In Maharashtra’s Jalgaon, due to frequent power cuts, life moves in halts as operating any electrical machine without breaks becomes difficult. Jahangir Painter though of re-purposing his old scooter to a washing machine, a flour mill, a mobile spray painting units and more.
Closer home, and in much smaller amounts may be, we have re-purposed our households too! The dining table is now our de-facto work-desk, the TV a monitor of our laptops. The kids have re-purposed bedrooms into their school rooms (and the chatter of the whole class from 930-1230, you can imagine!).
Even previously we did re-purpose our lives. Focusing on just 1 out of the 6 letters in the word “Family” – “I”. As March progressed into July, so have the realization of how much separated we have become from our loved ones to pursue our individual goals. Rewinding is definitely not a bad idea from here!
One More Week 