Poverty and Community

Interview with laborers
Indira Gandhi Camp, New Delhi

[The interview took place in a small community of families living in closely-packed houses in the alleyways of a busy market area in Delhi. The tiny houses, which were not much taller than the people, were surprisingly equipped with electricity, and with several public taps. The roofs were covered with plastic sheets and pieces of metal, held down by rocks. The houses formed a wall of doorways and the lanes between them were quite narrow (5 to 8 feet wide) with a sewage drain running down one side. The two gentlemen we interviewed were seated in a string cot at the juncture of three lanes when we approached them. A small group of people gathered to listen to the following. After the interview, we were served chai and biscuits.]

[“S” begins.] I have lived here for about ten years now. My wife and I have five children. I used to work for an Australian company called SGP, but it closed down two years ago. Now I do odd jobs, such as painting and any type of occasional labor. The people who live here are of all kinds, but there aren’t any people who come and go. Mainly we see only residents. My father used to work in the American Embassy. He retired after 45 years of service. I was born in the city of Aligarh in Uttar Pradesh. These big boys standing here are my sons. We do all kinds of labor work to support our family. We do cleaning work, painting work, and any other work we can find. My wife and my daughters stay at home. I have a certificate from the company where I worked before, so I go and show this wherever work is available. If they like it, they hire me to do work for them. I hear about the work through others, just through word of mouth.

[“K”, a Nepali gentleman speaks.] There are about 330 families here with a total population of about 2,500.

[S] There is a man who claims to be a leader of our camp and he lives at the corner up the lane. But we don’t pay much attention to him. When we want to make group decisions concerning our camp, it usually happens spontaneously. We all get together to talk and decide. The actual leader of this camp is named Subhash Babu. He is an appointed leader.

[K] He was appointed by a government committee and he is our representative to present any problem or complaint to the government, such as problems with water or electricity. We are poor people, so if we go ourselves, no one is going to listen to us. But when Subhash goes, the government listens and we get some satisfaction. When big, big people give donations for the poor, Subhash has been able to get some of those things for us. So he has been a help to us. When missions donate things for the poor, Subhash has made sure that we are able to get some of that.

[S] He has helped us with our water and electricity problems.

[K] Religion, of course, is something that everybody here follows.

[S] Yes, whatever each person’s religion is, definitely he or she will follow that religion. It’s like this. If you feel like doing it, then you can go and offer some water, or light some incense in the temple. As far as organized religion here, there isn’t very much, though there are some people here who have some connection with more organized religious practices.

[K] But their leaders come from the outside. They don’t live here in our camp. Each person does a little, as and when he can. You see a temple down the lane over there. It was built some time ago. There used to be a pujari there, but he’s gone now. No religious leader is involved when people in our camp get together during religious festivals. For example, during Janmashthami, people got together and collected money to buy flowers and prasad to offer to the gods. There was no pressure to contribute. If one wanted to, that was fine, and if not, that was fine too.

[S] I am a Hindu. That’s my religious background. The whole world follows bhagvan. Some follow Allah, others follow a different bhagvan. There are many different gods, like Shri Krishna, Shri Ram and many others. I follow them all. There’s no special bhagvan for me.

[K] They all follow something. Some follow Shiva, some follow Krishna, and some follow a devi. They all follow some deity. There is a tradition here. Whichever tradition exists, that’s what we follow, whether it has many gods or not. We follow the whole tradition.

[S, concerning poverty.] This country is of course my country. I have to live here and follow the ways of this land. This is part of my life. Poverty is nothing special; it’s everywhere. Every country has poverty.

[K] The poor man dreams and longs to be a prosperous merchant-type person. We all want to be like that, but it never happens, so what can we do? [A few in the crowd responded to this comment with friendly chuckles.] I receive joy when there is good provision in terms of eating, drinking and living. Otherwise, there is sorrow and suffering, both in my body and in my heart. The effect of poverty on a person is that he has to cry. He really has to cry. What else can one do? Even in poverty, when you follow religion, you should do pious things that will bring you rewards. Do you really think that by doing sins we will get help in our poverty? Our whole camp knows that I have been close to death a couple of times in my life. During those times I prayed to some devi and I was able to escape from death. Three children have even been born to my wife and I. The sickness was there in my bones. I was sick for 32 months. I had to take medicines for that long. I prayed to the gods of my ancestral household. It wasn’t puja, it was prayer.

[When asked if they have ambitions of escaping poverty, one man in the crowd replied:] When we don’t get work, and the needs of our children and our families are not met, then how can we make plans? Just living from day to day is what concerns us. We just hope that we’ll be able to get a good job and move forward in that way. We just live and try to provide for our families, and then we die. What else is there?

[K] If your life is full of good luck and provision is made for your needs, then your life’s goal is achieved. There is no other goal for life than that.

[S] Every human being thinks simply this, that “my children and my family should live decently and have their needs met.” There are all kinds of problems we face. And no one is there to solve these problems for us. We have to solve our own problems, as long as we have life in these bodies of ours. We have to depend on ourselves. For example, I may have a problem where I would like to construct a building or make something, or do some other kind of work. And it doesn’t happen. So, there are all kinds of problems in life. Or the problem might be that we have to raise our children, we have to work, we need to build a house for ourselves. So these are the sorts of problems that come up in our daily living. As far as basic facilities, we have no problems. There is electricity and water, and government hospitals have been built for poor people. We don’t have to spend a lot of money when we are sick. The hospital will tell us what medicine to get and we will get it. So, in that way, there aren’t any major problems.