Shrivardhan,
Raigad, Maharashtra

The village of Kond is adjacent to the small town of Shrivardhan, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra. Along with the town, it forms part of an area whose main economy is dependent on a combination of tourism, the nearby port, fishing, and agriculture. Kond however is populated almost entirely by a tribal community that has recently consolidated its identity into a more mainstream Hindu narrative and now is employed as construction workers in the nearby developments. The village was mapped through the story arcs of five characters (also archetypes) that were encountered there. Each of these was harnessed to induce a particular narration of the story of Kond and each of these offered the opportunity to make maps, details of material and construction of the house form, drawings of routines and calendars of the annual festivals, several interviews, drawings of economic networks, etc. The built form here was primarily a collection of houses made of brick and thatch, with wooden roofs, with a lot of the materials being routinely replaced in part every year after enduring the monsoons and other weathering. The houses typically had porches, small interior spaces for sleeping in, and large kitchens at the back extending into backyards that saw most of the domestic activity. Wealthier homes were more pukka, made of RCC construction. The task of the study was to investigate and present a telling of the transforming village, its socio-political present, its relationship with its geography, and its own aspirations and hopes, through the spatial character of the site. In the study, the five personae that hold together the village are the Nagarsevak/councillor, the shopkeeper, the old woman, the kitten, and Vinchavadevi, the local totemic goddess.