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Metres below the busy K.R. Circle in Bangalore, a handful of men, using sign languages, are coordinating the efforts to burrow a tunnel through hard granite rock, moving a few millimetres a minute, a far cry from the fast-paced vehicles zipping above.Remaining patient for most part of their back-breaking shift that runs into almost 12 hours each day, they move about operating the tunnel boring machine that is at work for the Namma Metro from Central College Station to Vidhana Soudha, piercing the rock slowly but steadily.Their sign language, however, is not part of their professional work, but is to break the language barrier, as Thai nationals are working with Indians from across several States, without a common language to communicate. “Most of our communication is through sign language and very little English that we both commonly understand,” said Boonnom Sarachai, an electrical supervisor from Thailand.“If we fail to communicate with sign language or English, we show them the equipment and what to do with it,” he said while stating that they do not interact much with each other apart from work-related issues. Mr. Sarachai is among the 60 people from Thailand who have been working in the East-West underground section of the Namma Metro. “Indian workers, who have been deployed on the site, are mostly helping the Thai workers who are operating the machine,” said R. Balasubramanian, Senior Resident Engineer of BMRCL’s General Consultants. “There have been times when only a few operators, who were certified healthy, were present during the tunnelling work due to compression issues. Changing of discs of the cutter head is quite a skilful job that only the Thais undertake. It requires acclimatisation in the pressure chamber,” he said.

For their part, Indian workers are learning from their Thai counterparts on the nitty-gritty of the tunnel boring machine.