Himadri Das
Tekton
Tekton: Volume 12, Issue 1, June 2025
pp. 80 – 91
Himadri Das is a doctoral candidate and works as a visiting faculty at CEPT University. His research explores micro-entrepreneurs in electronic repair clusters of the city. He is aiming at gaining a deeper understanding of processes that lead to evolution of businesses of repair micro-entrepreneurs in clusters within the Indian city and how they are governed. He is a trustee at Repair Café Bengaluru. Himadri is part of a team of volunteers who help spread the message of repair and re-use domestic items by organizing pop-up workshops in communities.
Himadri.das.phd22@cept.ac.in
ABSTRACT
This study brings forth the voices of the entrepreneurs to highlight their complex and dense network of relationships deployed and how. The study approaches the perception of the cluster and the physical space that it occupies from the perspective of the entrepreneurs thereby allowing life-stories to reveal the opportunities, challenges as well as negotiations made. The research uses a case study methodology to document oral history narratives of entrepreneurs in a cluster. The cluster chosen for the study is that of Nehru-Place in Delhi. The electronics market in Nehru Place which came into being before 1990, is regarded as the largest hub in Asia for electronics repair and reselling. The Nehru Place market is a focal point of movement of used and discarded electronics from the national as well as international networks. Importantly the study highlights the primacy of spontaneous flows, networks and activities that produce space.
KEY WORDS
Electronic Repair Clusters, Nehru Place, Informality, Hybrid City, Bazaar Economy, Oral Histories
