Brick Clamps.
Brick clamps are quite possibly the oldest and most rudimentary method of firing bricks. The first photograph shows a large scale brick plant with an old looking man trudging back to work. Inside tonnes of sand can be seen; this is most likely river sand and often has to be stolen in the middle of the night, which is not replenished, having a detrimental impact on river ecosystems. The other photos show the raw materials being kept by the road side before use and brick stores where bricks are kept after firing. The photos were taken from the car window as it’s not the best idea to hang around these sorts of places. We saw smaller scale brick clamps during the process, but were unable to get out and take a photo.
Modern construction in India is predominantly concrete post and beam, with fired brick infill. To satisfy the demand for the mass quantities of brick needed, they have to be produced en masse and as cheap as possible to ensure maximum profit. Brick clamps most often spring up in rural areas were villagers can be used as cheap labour and their land can be taken advantage of. Large areas of land are deforested and the earth is removed, these are both used in the brick-making process and are often ill-gotten gains. The removed earth is used to make the bricks and the clamp itself, the unfired bricks are stacked in a specific fashion and then covered in a mud plaster before the cut down trees are loaded inside to aid the firing process.
The damage to the local environmental and its people shouldn’t be overlooked, the removal of trees can have a significant impact to soil erosion and the local climate, the removed earth may have a massive consequence for the future growth of trees and crops (on what is predominantly arable land), as the top 6 inches of soil is often the most fertile. If that wasn’t impact enough, then consider that during the firing process the land beneath the clamp becomes scorched beyond lifetimes and lifetimes of repair. And what about socially? What about the health and safety of the workers? What about the impact on the local communities? What happens to the villagers when the resource is gone and no more bricks can be produced? Well, firstly there is no health and safety for the workers, who will, undeniably, make a short term profit for their work. Although secondly, in the long term when the resource is gone, companies will move on, they’ll find more fertile land and other small communities, elsewhere, which they can exploit, potentially leaving behind a lot of irreparable damage.
![Tamil Nadu Trip [DAY 4]
We returned to the (A) Meenakshi Temple in the morning to see its colourful gopurams by daylight and to venture inside for a look around. Afterwards we took a long walk, through Madaurai, back towards the hotel. After lunch we loaded our sutff back into the car we set off towards (B) Trichy (Tiruchirappalli). On the way we some beautiful scenery, coco palm coated hills and stretching rice paddies. We arrived to see the Sri Ranganathaswamy Temple, on Srirangam Island, which is in the middle of the Cauvery (Kaveri) river. After exploring this vast town-sized temple we piled back into the car one last time and set off back for Pondicherry, passing numerous huge Engineering Colleges, often in the middle of nowhere, as we drove.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lypc4cLCCr1r4bfkfo1_1280.jpg)
