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Published: March 16th 2007
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Salaam Balak
Reality Walk promotion poster. A day remains in our trip as we come back from Agra. We decide to sign up for a street walk of Delhi, to get a more in depth look at the lives of street children in the Delhi railway stations. The street walk is offered by two students of Salaam Balak trust, an NGO that worsk with runaway or homeless children in Delhi railway stations. They offer this service to tourists to rais money for theri organizations and keep themselves employed.
We are met by the two young adults we had seen a week and half earlier on our initial visit to Salaam Balak. The two are in their early twenties. The more boisterous of the two, Jared, has aspirations of being a film star, and he apparently has played a small role in a film already. He has stylish hair and dresses with style. The other, whose name now escapes me, is clam and more deliberate; he attends university studying social work. He works with the NGO as a social worker, helping to ease the transition of the run-away children from the railway station to the NGO/shelter.
Jared's cell phone keeps ringing as he parades
Salaam Balak
Adolescent dorm.
Two three boys laying down on the same bed, one sleeping. The other two playing vedio games. They are resting afte their final exams have ended for the year. On the walls your see large paintings and posters of Indian Batman and superman. us long the railway station platform, as they both give a brief account of how they ended up in Salaam Balak and how they left their homes. He then shows an article in a national newspaper featuring himself and Salaam Baalak. The group gets much publicity and they are reportedly also listed in the lonely planet guidebook, for those of us who seek more of a "reality" twist to our India visit.
Then they go on to give details of what life is like as the kids first enter the station; how they eat, where they sleep, how they make thier money. They tell us about gang hierarchy among the railway station children, and how on initial entry gang leaders who offer protection for gang loyalty befriend them. He points to large concrete water tank at the other side of the station where apparently the gang congregates and coordinates their daily affairs.
One major way of survival for typical newly arrived child is to slip into the trains once they stop at the station and take the left over food. They have to be cautious to avoid the many police officers roaming the parked trains and platforms. If
Salaam Balak
Adolescent dorm room,
Mattress piled on each other to save room during the day. they are caught they can be badly beaten. They point out a fruit stand, which has in the past provided shelter for the kids on its roof. The kids cannot be caught sleeping on the platforms. If the kids are harassed, the fruit seller dismisses the cops on the grounds that the children he shelters on the roof work for him. He does this in exchange for left over fruits taken by the children from the passing trains.
Sometimes the kids make money doing chores for shopkeepers, or cleaning the platforms, but rarely they beg. They can earn up to 60 to 80 Rupees per day (2$ US), which they usually spend on the movies. On a typical Saturday, they freshen up, slip into to more socially acceptable clothing, and head to the theater. They see multiple films for the price of one, slipping from room to room to room all day long.
As you one would expect the future prospects are grim for these kids under the circumstances. But understandably the kids resist going back home or joining the shelter, as Jaried points out. They have an amazing degree of freedom on the streets or in the railway station. And they are more than willing to pay the price to live the rough life and maintain that freedom.
Towards the end of the tour, Jared directs us to a man-powered rickshaw that is about to take us to the adolescent shelter. As he bargains to get a better rate for the short ride, my friend and I wonder out loud about this whole affair of placing the life of these kids who face such a grim reality on stage. Granted, Jared is a talented guy, and in a way sublimates the difficulties and pain of his past experience by effectively displaying it on the stage of the railway station platform. He raises awareness, collects money for the NGO, and brings us a bit closer to a way of life in comparison to which we have no frame of reference.
In recent past our Western culture as influenced by television has gone through its major evolution or devolution from regular to reality TV; has this also affected our taste in tourism? Do such visits or the attention we give to the children allow us to feel less guilty for our more frotunate postions? Are we now seeking more thrills in tourism, no longer satisfied with the mundane and insulated experiences we have fancy hotels and typical tourist attractions? Or are we hoping to make human connections which are harder to come by at home? Perhaps it is a combination of all.
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Bruce Radtke
non-member comment
So much to see and absorb
Thanks, Navid, for your commentary about what you experienced in India. Each of us experiences India in unique ways, and I appreciate your comments about what it means to be a tourist, how tourists are received by local people, etc. Personally, I left a piece of my heart, as well as a donation, with the youth at Salaam Balaak. Their efforts to help those vulnerable, feisty kids impresses me. I cannot solve the world's problems, but I am glad to share a little with some smiling youth in New Delhi. Thanks for being there and sharing your responses! Peace, Bruce