See this manhole cover, right here
in the middle of Mission Street in San Francisco?
I want to replace it with one of my own design.
So, I took a train across India for 30 hours
to see if I could do it.
And I totally failed.
But I saw some interesting stuff along the way.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
After I went to bed last night, about 11:30 PM,
all hell broke loose.
A family of like seven or eight people
showed up in the three bunks surrounding me
in the little compartment, so that was just total chaos.
Anyway, I ended up switching to a bunk
in another part of the train, an aisle bunk, which I thought
would be a good thing and I think it was a good move
to escape the chaos.
I ended up in a bunk that is going along the corridor,
and my feet touch one wall at my head touches the other wall.
It is literally as small as it can
be while still being big enough for me
to lay out completely flat.
And I can't sit up anywhere straight in this train
or anywhere in that compartment.
So it's been a little challenging to find a place
to edit or work.
It's all right, I've only got six more hours, maybe?
Something like that.
I can do six more hours, no problem.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Nearing the end of the trip here,
and people are starting to get off the train.
So, I finally have a seat I can sit in, upright.
Which is the first time I've sat upright in a long time.
The sun is about to go down here.
And we're getting close to Calcutta,
so I'm excited and nervous.
Hoping I'm going to be able to get in
to see some of these foundries.
And to start calling them tomorrow
and make sure they're going to be on board with that.
I hope so.
Across the river from Calcutta is the city of Howrah.
Which is known for its metal work
and specifically its cast iron, including manhole covers.
I got the idea for this project after watching
the trailer for a short film called "Caste in India."
It's totally cool, check out the link in the description
to go watch it.
The idea was that this story would culminate
in the middle of the night with a guerrilla operation
to swap out the manhole cover with reflective vests,
and road cones, and a white pickup
truck with a yellow hazard light on top.
While I was on the train, I even sent out a few friends
in the middle of the night, with a measuring tape
out in the middle of the road to get me measurements.
Howrah was amazing, but things didn't go quite
according to plan.
So I headed to Burrabazar, which is one of the larger markets
here in Calcutta.
And I'm hoping to find an area of the market that
sells cast iron products, so hopefully I
can connect with some cast-iron foundries.
We'll see.
Supposedly you can find anything there,
it's just a matter of finding it.
[BEEPING]
This may not look much like a market,
but behind the flood of people, there
is actually stuff for sale.
[CHATTER]
[BEEPING]
What a total fail.
I spent an entire afternoon walking around the market,
and I didn't see a single thing made out of cast iron,
nor did I meet anybody who might know a foundry.
There's just so many people here,
it's been a lot to take in.
I've traveled a lot of places in the world
and this one's definitely, I'm finding, overwhelming.
So there was really only one thing left to do.
And that was to go where I thought
the foundries were as best I could tell from Google Maps.
Hope to meet somebody.
[BEEPING]
[MACHINES RUNNING]
It's like stepping into a whole new world here.
I have yet to see a lathe with built-in power.
It's all built takeoff.
I haven't really figured out where the central motor is
for these built takeoffs, but somewhere in the building.
Just around every corner is a little tiny workshop
or a foundry, or a scrapyard.
When I finally got up the courage
to go and talk to a few foundry bosses,
I was really surprised by the reaction I got.
They were pretty perplexed by me, which I expected.
But I didn't expect that they would
think I was an industrial spy.
They think you steal away.
Their old-some some ideas is different.
You can say.
I understand.
Like that one you have gone?
They all are, "not my permission?"
How you take shots.
Because they have, you know--
They're worried about.
Right, I want to show that Howrah is interesting and--
You help people, your idea is good.
But the thinkers, they--
I have to convince them.
[LAUGHTER]
Their idea is because you are come from different country,
you know Indians are different thinkers.
Yeah.
If they think you are good, then--
--then it's OK.
OK.
Like me too, no one understands English,
so no one understands you.
It's hard to explain, yeah.
That's why.
This is Amant.
He was one of the few people in Howrah
that wasn't completely suspicious of me.
He also clued me into another problem
that I didn't know I was having, which
was that I'd come during festival season,
so a lot of the foundries were closed
for at least a few weeks.
Workers still come, but not raw materials
Ah, OK.
When do you think it will start again?
Maybe in one week?
Two weeks?
Three weeks?
Maybe.
So, you're just waiting for work?
Yeah.
He runs a small forging factory, and was
happy to let me come in and film.
India Forging.
India Forging, is the name of your company?
[FOUNDRY MACHINE NOISES]
A small factory, very not so earn livelihood.
50 to 100 companies like most.
So it's a lot of competition?
Companies a lot, and cuts all rates.
Very tough you can say almost, not a huge profit,
but they earn their livelihood.
We're buying coal, electricity, their and me.
How many workers do you have?
Four workers.
Four.
So, small.
Past year there were eight, but not so work.
That's why one machine is running.
Now after half-an-hour, you start--
Oh, you'll start today?
Yeah.
Oh, well then I'll stay around.
It's lunch break.
Yeah, OK, no problem.
I understand, I thought you weren't working today.
OK.
[MACHINE NOISES]
So you're checking sizes here with a gauge,
Yeah, yes.
In order to make sure that everything's the same size.
Everything OK.
After a hot tip, you can't enter.
Then all wastage is there.
Then you have a problem.
Coal waste is there.
Ah, OK.
So you don't want to waste coal.
Yeah.
I understand.
Yeah.
That makes a lot of sense.
25 rupees kg hard coke.
Yeah, of course.
You can't imagine, 1 jahl, 1 jahl we use,
so 10 to 30 kgs almost waste.
1 kg also, you should not waste.
Per rod, yeah, yeah.
That makes sense.
I hadn't thought about that.
One is a fire man, one is a mystery, head mystery.
He knows how to press, set up dies, dies [INAUDIBLE]..
Like the foreman, maybe?
Yeah, or mystery, you say, local language.
Mystery?
Mystery.
And one is pulling to this metal.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We give them drawing, the length they put,
they finish that, their length accurate sizes.
And they give it up.
Send away, yeah.
So these are quotations here,
C-S-K. [INAUDIBLE].
Yeah, OK.
So this is what--
It's [? wire. ?] It's [? wire ?] bolt.
How are these made?
Do you draw these?
Yeah.
You draw these?
Yeah.
So someone comes here--
From hand drawing,
Oh, so you receive a drawing?
This is a hex bolt drawing.
Yeah
You can say this--
Yeah.
And so someone sends this to you,
and then you make a hand drawing to do the quotation.
Sorry, will you tell me again what they are making?
Nib bolts.
They are making nib bolts.
Nib bolts.
For-- for what?
Refractories, coal plants.
I just want to say thank you.
For your hospitality and for showing me your factory.
You have a very nice factory.
Very nice to you also and to your country also.
Yeah, thank you very much.
Yeah, you've been very welcoming in showing me
your forging operation.
And, I think people will be very interested to see
what you do here.
And, please thank your workers for me as well,
Yes, yes.
I can't speak to them because I don't know the language, but.
I am thanking you
Please do, yeah.
Please do.
I hit three main barriers on this project.
The first was that everybody thought
I was an industrial spy.
And the second was that everything was closed
because it was festival season.
But the third, well, the third is
that I'm not sure I'm comfortable replacing
a San Francisco manhole cover with one I made myself.
After I did more research.
These things are designed to have buses drive over them,
and they're designed by real engineers,
with like licenses and things.
And while I was kind of comfortable with the idea
of stealing a San Francisco manhole cover.
I'm not sure I'm ready to have the conversation about what
engineer signed off on the design
and why a bus isn't going to fall through it.
Could I design one that would withstand a bus?
I think so.
Could I convince a city official of that?
I'm not so sure.
So this Bell Labs manhole cover, it'll
stay right where it is for now.
Will I go back and try again?
I'm not sure.
I still really want to learn more about cast iron,
but I clearly need to rethink my approach both in India and here
in the US.
Incidentally, if you know anybody
that has a foundry that wants to work with me on this,
I'd love to hear from you.
Either way, definitely going back to India.
Until then, I'm Scotty with Strange Parts.
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And stay tuned for more adventures.