The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Welded to their work

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Thursday, Apr 14, 2011
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Welded to their work

Vasudha Venugopal

— Photo: R. Ravindran

Welder Mohan Raj at his shop in Triplicane on Tuesday.

CHENNAI: Deep in the heart of Triplicane, a narrow lane leads to shanty workshops where accessories for autorickshaws are made. Amid noise of cracking lathes and cutters, these men work on different kinds of metal - welding, cutting, chipping, and grinding - sometimes giving it a shape beyond imagination, and sometimes just melting it into shapes to be used later.

For some it is a livelihood carved out of a compulsion to earn more, for others it is the love for the profession acquired over years that keeps them going. But the tiny little thing that still appeals to all welders of the city alike is the fine balance honed over years of practice that is required to shape a piece of metal.

As Raja, a native of Salem, runs a gas cutter with a bright blue flame over a sheet of iron, he says, “Metal, in its worst form, will also find takers. But you have to be careful as you play with it. It is not ‘kalimannu' that can be restored every time.”

Most welders start as helpers in a sheet metal workshop carrying huge pipes and, gas cylinders and after about two years begin cutting and wielding. “The cutter's work requires a lot of focus. A moment's slip can either blind you, or leave you burnt anywhere,” says Ramu, who prefers carrying tons of iron pipes every hour to cutting metal.

Many welders, mostly from other States complain about being paid only Rs.300 a day while native welders get paid more. Others are resigned to the situation. “All we wait is for the month's leave during Durga Pooja when we rush back home. But by then we are so tired that we hardly have energy to participate in the celebrations,” says Subal from Orissa. While inexperienced welders do the cutting and grinding, a few skilled workers perform tasks with welding machines, including hot spot welding, gas, carbide and electric welding on different materials. Welders begin with working on fabrication metal, mainly railings and staircase and then proceed to sheet metal work, making heavy racks and multi-layered open and closed shelves. “There are different guns. Some can only cut, and some just join and rules of brass and copper are very different from stainless steel,” explains Mohanraj, a welder since the age of 10. Regulating the temperature of an electric cutter is important else your metal will have permanent holes, he adds.

Constant headaches, skin irritation, breathing problems, burns from touching newly welded parts are common among the workers. “My eyes perpetually feel they have sand in them,” says Harischandra (41), a migrant from U.P.

“We are very careful, and in case of accidents, many owners take us to hospitals,” says Marghes (34), as he gets ready to weld another piece of iron rod. Safety helmets, jackets and fire extinguishers are unheard of, but he is proud of wearing the pair of sun glasses he bought from the pavement shop some days ago.

And then there are those with dreams of entrepreneurship such as Mohan Raj who recently experimented with a softy machine with a special lining and proper fitting. “The thing I love about the job is when kids look at the fire and ask me what I am doing. I ask them to first turn their eyes off fire, and then tell them how heat does magic on metal.”

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