Life on the Streets: A Bitter Reality

One of the qualities that separate human beings from other living and non-living entities is the notion of identity. It is deeply rooted in mankind to such an extent that it’s difficult to imagine a world sans identities. It’s one of the biggest gifts every human being has in this world. Yet in this amazing little journey of life, one never realizes that there are thousands of people for whom this identity has no meanings, not because they don’t have one but because even after all these years, they still don’t know who they really are.

Maangilal is one of them. One of the first questions which I asked him was about his name and age to which he replied, “Everyone calls me Maangilal but I don’t know how old I am.” I was shocked at first and was about to ask him again, when suddenly he smiled and said calmly, “How would you know your age when you don’t know who were your parents?” And deep inside me, I felt a sudden jolt of anxiety and fear!

Maangilal hails from a small village near Abu Road in Rajasthan. Long back (he does not even remember the year!) when he was a small kid, his elder brother took him to Surat, where he spent his early childhood days. They had no relatives in Surat, and they never knew anyone else in the city. In an unknown city among unknown people, they had to struggle for life. His brother worked as daily worker doing different jobs as and when he found it but also never let him alone. Slowly as he grew and began to understand the world better, he started to move out and experience the city life. On many days, he used to run from his house to Surat railway station and nearby areas to live there for 1 or 2 days with other kids and afterwards return to his brother house. This was a routine which followed for many years until one day; he decided to take a train to Ahmedabad after which everything changed in his life.

He still can’t forget that day when he first came to Ahmedabad. As he was hungry, he started looking for free food and searched many areas but all in vain. Later on the same day, when he was roaming around the city, he met an old man (name Kaadir) sleeping at the road side. He does not remember what happened, but somehow Kaadir took pity on his condition and gave him food and thus started a new phase of his life. Kaadir took him along to places wherever he went and showed the city. He told him about the places where he would get free or cheap food and showed the markets where he could earn money by working as a daily wager. “Kaadir bhai took great care of me, and I still owe him a lot. Had I not met him at the road side, I would not have survived in this city,” he said with a deep heart and I could see the glow in his eyes even before he said that to me.

Sitting next to him was his wife Laxmi who was quietly listening to our conversation.  Maangilal told me that he got married to this lady quite a few years back and had five kids. To my utter surprise, he told me that she is a Tamil girl. Originally from Madras, Laxmi family lives in Sabarmati in their old railway quarter. Her mother and sisters still live there, though she hardly remembers her last meet with them. She met Maangilal in Ahmedabad when she first came to live with her aunt in the city. She recounts her daily meeting with him near markets, mosques and other places. Soon they decided to get married but never got approval of their families. So she left her house and ran away   with him. Marriage for them is not about hosting big ceremonies or performing old rituals in the temple. In fact, they never married in the temple. Maangilal said, “We married on the street without any traditional rituals and priests. We believed in God and prayed to Him to strengthen our lifelong bond. So our marriage is a secret between us, and we understand each other feelings.”

Soon after he married, Maangilal went to his brother’s house in Surat where he spent his early days. As his brother’s family came to know about his marriage with a Tamil girl of different caste, they rejected him and told him to leave the house. Maangilal somehow seem to know this beforehand, but even then, his brother disapproval left him dejected. With no choice, they both returned to Ahmedabad to start their new life on the streets near Teen Darwaja in old city. It’s been more than 7-8 years since they started living near Teen Darwaja which also serves as a home to thousands of other homeless people.

Life on the streets is hard to imagine. Maangilal owns a pedal cart which is the only property they have till now. He goes to market each morning with his cart and takes vegetable, rice or wheat bags and other things from one place to another to earn his livelihood. Back home, his wife and kids start their journey to roam around the city in search of food and money. At night when they meet, Maangilal buys food from whatever he earns during that day, and together they share their food. With no roof over their head, the whole family sleeps on the pedal cart besides the road. In winter and rainy seasons, they make some temporary plastic arrangements or move to places where they find a roof to hide their bodies (under bus stops, shops extended roof, open garages etc.).

Maangilal explains what it means to be poor in this country. They don’t have any identity documents like voter and ration card and thus even buying basic utilities is hard for them. On some days, when they get enough money, they buy kerosene oil at exorbitant prices (Rs 50 – 60 per litre!) and other food items, but rarely prepare their own food. When I questioned them about not preparing their own food on the street, they replied, “Not only money and kerosene, but also people are problem for us.” Laxmi further explained, “Whenever we prepare our food on stoves, other people on the streets come to us and start asking for food. If we refuse, they abuse us which provokes my husband to start quarrel with them. It has happened to us so many times that we have stopped preparing our own food. Who does not want to cook their own food? But I do not want my husband to fight again and go to jail.”

Maangilal explained how he was convicted for an unintentional murder and spent 4 years of his life in jail. It was a small quarrel during which he hit the other person with a stone, and the person later died in a local hospital. He recounts his jail experience where he met a number of criminals and gang members. This incident happened before his marriage but even then, he had the maturity to understand good and bad people and he never ever came under their influence. He remembers how a new Jail Superintendent improved the whole jail administration and introduced new provisions for them. He even learned to play volleyball in those days which till date he has not forgotten. “I used to be a good volleyball player in jail, and I can play again,” he remarks and looks proudly towards Laxmi.

As the conversation moved ahead, two small girls came near to our place and sat beside me. I enquired about them and pat came the reply, “They are my daughters – I have 3 daughters; we left one at home (Teen Darwaja) as she did not want to come here.” I spoke to the elder girl named Sonu. Sonu goes to nearby municipal school in Jamalpur area and studies in 1^st class. She gets mid-day meal in school and loves her class friends. She likes school as she gets free food, meets her friends and plays different games with them during school hours. When she comes back, she joins her mother and other siblings to go to different localities in search for food and money. Maangilal explains how difficult it was to admit Sonu in the municipal school without any identity documents, and finally he had to show his pedal cart bill to get her registered. Now both his daughters go to the same municipal school which makes him feel proud of them.

Even after numerous troubles, they have no regrets from their life which they enjoy in their own ways. They watch new movies in the open theatre on every Friday night. Sometimes, he takes his family on a cart ride to different parts of the city. At hard times, they all stuck together and provide support to each other. There have been many days when he and his wife had to sleep without any food, but they never let it happen to their kids. “We can sleep hungry but we never let our children sleep hungry. We first give them food and then eat ourselves,” he replied to one of my questions. It made me realize that as parents, they are hardly different from any other parents in the world. At the end of our talk, I wanted to know about his future plans for his children and so I asked him, “Have you thought about your children and their future? Do you want them to continue living in the same way in future?” Maangilal remained silent for sometime and looking at me, he replied, “We want them to study and become big in life. We do not want them to spend the rest of their life on the streets like us. But deep within our heart, we don’t know what to do and how to make that happen.”

Conclusion

As I was wrapping up my conversation with them, 3 things happened which shook me from inside and made me feel proud of them. It made me realize that often during this rat race of life; we tend to forget our basic human values. We crib about petty issues and often get distraught with small failures. But until you meet these people on the streets, you don’t realize how hard it is to live in that way for all your life. Amid all their problems, which are far bigger than we can ever imagine, they have not lost their dignity and their ability to empathize with others. Facing difficulties at every corner of their life, they have made themselves so strong externally that they never show their grief in front of others. Yet somewhere deep inside, it hurts them and they know it, but they take life as it comes while enjoying all its colors.

First instance happened when we were having food together. We arranged food for them on that night. They all assembled and took their plates and offered me one too. But even on that day, the family had collected some food from neighboring localities. So after they ate the dinner with us, they gave their collected food to 2-3 street boys whom they seem to know before. One of the boy said, “They treat us better than my own family; I do not get so much care even in my family”.  I looked at Laxmi and she smiled & said, “Since we already had food with you, there’s no point in wasting our collected food. Therefore, we give it to other people so that they also sleep with something in their stomach.” These words hit me hard and I went numb for some time. If people living under such abysmal conditions have so much grace in their behavior, what has happened to rest of the people like us who do not even acknowledge them as part of our society? Today, the basic human values of caring, helping and empathizing with others is nowhere seen in so called rich and middle class societies. I wondered “Are they really poor or should we be called poor instead of them?”

Second instance happened minutes before I was about to leave. Once during our conversation, Maangilal mentioned about his 5 kids. As I was about to leave, I thought of meeting all the kids together. I asked him and he called his kids to come near us. I was surprised as only 3 kids came (he already mentioned about the 4^th girl at home). I asked him about the fifth kid to which he replied, “He is no more with us. He died 4-5 years ago due to some infection. I took him to many doctors, and they asked me to pay Rs. 10000 for injections. When I told them that I could not pay that huge amount & could only manage Rs. 1000 – 2000 at max, they refused to treat my child and told me to go to government hospital. I went there too, but they could not do much about it and finally we lost him. Sometimes, I feel bad that my boy died because of me. I feel sorry for him and for my wife.” He looked at me and then turned his face away towards the bustling streets. No tears came from those eyes. After all these years of hard life, he perhaps has learned to hide his feelings within himself.

Finally it was the time for us to depart and that’s when third instance happened. I thanked Maangilal and his wife for this inspiring conversation. As they were about to leave, Kishore bhai (who organized this meeting) asked me, “Do you know about Maangilal’s background?” to which I replied in affirmation. But then he said, “Maangilal belongs to Nat caste and these people used to be great dancers in old times. Traditionally considered as entertainers, they were praised by many kingdoms for their dancing skills.” I turned to Maangilal and asked, “Do you dance?” Suddenly everyone started laughing including his whole family. Finally he said, “No, I don’t know how to dance.” I smiled and requested him to pose for a photograph along with his family. He agreed and called everyone to come together. As I was about to take their photograph, he called someone and a boy arrived on the scene. I was surprised as I had not met him before when we were interacting. Upon my enquiry, Maangilal replied, “He is like a son to us. We adopted him, and he means a lot to me. His name is Rohit.” I looked at the boy and signaled him to join the family. As I looked at their smiling faces, my respect and regard for them increased by leaps and bounds. I asked them to keep smiling and at last took some happy family photographs.

I thanked them again for sharing their life story with me. As the family departed, I thought about the whole incidence. These last few hours with Maangilal and his family taught me many things. Beyond my expectations, I realized how amazing these people are. Even while living in difficult circumstances, they have not let their problems affect their smile. Life for them is not only about sustaining themselves with food or money, it’s also about enjoying each and every moment of it in the way they can. The words of wisdom that they told me would remain with me for many years to come. But one thing which amazed me the most was the way they cared and empathized with others in need, something which our society has long forgotten. As I sat alone after their departure, I looked at the sky and closed my eyes.

May God bless them and give them the strength to deal with this life!