Mithilesh Kumar, aka “Kamlesh,” sat squat, handling with ease the metal members urbz needed for the Homegrown Street model series. He’d been working almost continuously for more than a few hours, stopping only for a short lunch and some chai. Luckily, it was a pleasant day, and the balcony's shade offered him a relatively comfortable environment to work in. 

Kamlesh is a 29-year-old welder from Mau, a district in eastern Uttar Pradesh (U.P.), a state in northern India. He speaks Hindi and Bhojpuri at home. His wife, a homemaker, lives in UP with their two children. He visits them for four months in the year. Currently, he lives near Grant Road, having moved to Mumbai in 2018. His portfolio includes metal fabrication work for large commercial projects such as the Breach Candy Hospital and the Trident Hotel (Bandra-Kurla). 

While he didn’t touch upon why he’d moved to Mumbai, he spoke extensively about his history of welding work across India and how he got into the profession. 

He completed his schooling through 9th grade (in U.P.), where English was his favourite subject. After leaving school, one of his friends told him that he could learn to weld in Kerala. He was taught in Kerala by a “Raju Bhai”, who even inspired him with a love for the craft. By 2015, he boasted that he had worked in Gujarat, Goa, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, and Odisha. After that, he moved to Bengaluru for a 2-year stint, which led to a conversation on our shared love for the city’s incredible food scene - Chitranna (lemon rice) and Khuska Kebab (grilled meat) were his favourites. He added that for welding, one must eat meat for the protein, as the work is intense. His workdays begin with food, some jogging, and then long hours of work. 

He is also an ardent cricket fanatic and a Royal Challengers Bangalore fan. He exclaimed that Virat Kohli was his favourite cricketer. Later, he confessed shyly that his love for cricket often interferes with work, in that he takes off to go and watch his favourite teams play. 

While not a Dharavi resident, his work brought him to Dharavi Koliwada. Before coming to Dharavi, he had a perception that it was filled with ‘mob activity’. But now, after having worked here, he doesn’t think that anymore. While working on a project in Dharavi Koliwada, he spoke about how he often left expensive welding equipment lying around during his breaks, and none of the equipment got stolen, not even a single screw. He found that his everyday living expenses reduced during his stint in Dharavi, noting that his fancy for sugar cane juice could be quenched with less money. 

I inquired further about what he hopes for his future. 

He sprang to say that he’d like to work in a business that would allow him to raise his family in a nice house. Unfortunately, welding is an unstable profession, and if he works for 20 days in a month, the other 10 days “ko hum ghoomne padega.” He admitted that his network is weak right now and that, to grow his network and improve his chances of opening his own store, he should move to Pune. He has already done some work there, including the construction of a Military camp in Pune. While unsure of which city he’d like to be in, he said that if it were Mumbai, he would like to stay in Bandra, as he loves spending his free time there.