Infrastructure of life: public address, listening and crowds in the Delhi metro and Kumbh

Abstract

Through an ethnographic study of the Delhi metro and Kumbh fair, this article explores the public address system as an infrastructure of life in urban India. Amplified sound is the singular means to address crowds during emergencies which makes it significant for understanding mass mediation and public safety. Since millions of people travel in the Delhi metro every day, and the Kumbh fair is the largest human gathering in the world, human density and scale as a predominant Southern reality is the premise of this research. It offers an intersubjective understanding of crowds through empathy and care, and reveals the life-saving potentiality of infrastructures when the masses are at risk.