The Big Metropolitan Dream

I started working as a counsellor for ‘street connected’ children living in a shelter home, erected on the narrow lanes of Kashmere Gate, Delhi. The narratives of my young clients in a compact room, compelled me to pen down the stories I witnessed at the nascent stage of my professional journey.  It was an ephemeral but impactful experience. I will not focus on solutions, or what is right or wrong; I will narrate a story of life on the streets of Delhi. 

Often, we associate urban living with terms such as  modernization, comfort and vertical mobility. The other veracity to it is the life on the streets farther from the comfort of a condo or even a concrete shelter. My interactions with children, living on the streets of a metropolitan city; victims of untold countless atrocities persuaded me to revisit the true meanings of security and protection. Honestly, I vicariously lived their lives! 

Sonia (name changed) age 10, was living with her older sister Fatima (name changed) age 12 at that time in the shelter home for almost two years. She was a dark rough-skin girl with entangled and poorly cut hair, big beautiful eyes, running nose and an infectious smile- I could see her molars each time she smiled. They were found by the field worker at Jama Masjid - a mosque constructed using red sandstone and white marble on the lanes of Old Delhi, built by the Moghul Emperor Shah Jahan. If you walk on the narrow lane leading to the mosque, you will encounter many like Sonia begging for money from the sightseers; for food from the vendors, and clothes from field workers of nonprofits.  

I vividly remember our first interaction - her constant stare at the white wall behind me, not uttering a word, not letting her emotions flow, and that perpetual smile! We did nothing that day, other than learning each other’s names. As our sessions continued- breaking the rules of counselling- sometimes under a tree; sometimes strolling in the garden, and sometimes in that compact room, I started discovering her life and goals. These included- “I saw my parents being run over by a truck, I saw my grandmother raping my younger brother, I have also met men who wanted to buy me from my grandmother, I have been beaten up by a policeman, I came to this shelter home to have better life, I want to be a teacher, I don’t like the school I go to...” Gaining the trust of a child is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life.

There were many like her in that shelter home desiring for that one opportunity that can turn their lives - bringing them closer to their aspirations.  My job was to encourage them, give them confidence but I also knew the reality - not all of them would be able to live their dreams. The nurturing environment essential for one’s development was missing from these girls' lives. And I knew that,  even they were aware of it! The broken education system for the underserved population in India makes it impossible for children like Sonia to live their dreams. The absence of a support system restricts them from expressing their true emotions. The presence of perils results in their vulnerability. Is this the urban life they dreamt of?  Their families migrated to big cities in search for an improved life. Are they living it? Living without a concrete shelter, begging for money, being physically and emotionally abused, traumatized and defending for their protection and their rights is the daily life of any child living on the streets. 

I visited the shelter home 6 years ago. Sonia was 14 years old, in the school she abhorred because teachers were always absent; she didn’t learn anything!  She felt stuck, trying to break free, aspiring to be a teacher! Her sister Fatima who was 16, was married to a man living in the same lane of Jama Masjid.  

Corroborating my initial advocacy on downfall of migration is Sonia’s story. Fighting a new battle everyday- with strangers; with law-abiding officials; with law-breaking goons; with their inhibitions, desires and necessities are the daily activities of these children.  Their nerve-wracking varied experiences makes us all wonder- whether a city is genuinely a secure land of opportunities, a land to accomplish the Big Metropolitan Dream?