Bhimrao Laxman Mangalvedekar
Remembering Pune’s Construction workers
Bhimrao Laxman Mangalvedekar was born in 1940 and studied at a Marathi school near Nanawada until the 8th grade. He left school at the age of 14 to help his mother care for his five brothers and one sister.
His grandfather first came to Poona from Tulsi Giri in Karnataka in 1929 to work on the Modern High School buildings. Balasaheb Jadhav, a “petty contractor” (subcontractor) from the Wadar community provided work. Whenever there were large works, such as the bridges on Poona– Nashik road undertaken by the Kenjales, the family used to live on the worksite.
Bhimrao Mangalvedekar gained his first experience on the construction site of the Government Polytechnic Poona (1958), where he learned stone dressing on the job from his friend Maruti Naru Dongre and earned 8 annas a week. In return, he taught his friend how to read and understand drawings.
After training on the job for 7-8 months he started as an independent stoneworker at the age of 18. He then worked on hostel buildings on the campus of Pune’s Agriculture college.
By the 1980s, Bhimrao had gained enough experience to take on small subcontracts. He proudly states that he was the first stone worker in Pune to use a steel blade grinder: After seeing someone use one for cutting steel at a site in Lonavla in 1972, he saved up and bought one for himself in Mumbai.
More recently, Bhimrao Mangalvadekar worked on restoration projects including the restoration of Shaniwarwada and the repair of sculptural spouts on the Saint Paul church’s tower. In 2008, he worked on Mumbai’s famous old Taj hotel.
Image credits:
PWD archives, Pune region