Winy Maas
The ‘Nalpar’ in Bastar,
Chhatisgarh — public utility
structures built from 2000
onwards and designed by
Rajkumar, Shantibai,
Gessram, Dharmu and
Navjot [Altaf]. Addressing
the unhygienic conditions
of hand-pump sites in an
economical, elegant and
organic manner, Navjot and
her colleagues have
created a concrete
wraparound perforated
screen around each pump
to shield it from garbage
and an outflow for excess
water to drain into a nearby
field, or a watering hole for
animals. I describe these
‘Nalpars’ as ‘wraparound
perforated screens’
advisedly: they are not
enclosures, they do not
corral or hem in the space
around the hand pumps.
More vitally, the
perforations on the screen
allow its users to be both in
and out, in/ out.
The design takes special
note of women’s needs,
including a step where the
pot can be placed before
being hauled head-high.
The wraparound screens,
apart from being
ergonomically designed,
are perforated with
elementary signs: flowing
water, handpumps, taps
and pots. These Nalpar
structures have been
popular enough at the
village level for the
municipality of Kondagaon
to express a desire to
deploy their designs for
future constructions at
hand-pump sites in Bastar.— Nancy Adajania, The
Thirteenth Place:
Positionality as Critique in
the Art of Navjot Altaf;
published by The Guild,
Mumbai (2016)