Jahangirpuri: Where Waste And A Dumpyard Nurture 'Little Dreams'

In the Jahangirpuri area of Delhi, children and youngsters have dreams but they have been stuck in the mire of garbage since childhood. They have dreams to open a mobile shop, an internet café, be a driver or an electrician but all of them earn a living from picking garbage. On one hand they feel stigmatized while feeling a sense of pride on the other with the fact that they keep the national capital clean. As Khurshid said :“Without us (waste collectors) it would have been difficult for Delhi to maintain its cleanliness. We hope for a better life where we can feel equal to the rest of society.”

Close friends Hasbul and Malik are going to sell waste material they have collected from the road. They study in class 2. They go to school between 7 a.m. to 12 p.m. After school they collect waste from road and the surrounding area.

Every day waste collection earns Hasbul and Malik around Rs. 100 to have their ‘party’ in the evening with egg roll, mango shake, nahari (stew), chowmein and the like.

Hasbul and Malik (in green T-shirts) along with other friends during a break after collecting waste. Malik says ‘I will continue with this job even after I grow up. How else do i earn’. Malik’s father is mentally differently abled. He is looked after by his mother. She works in waste segregation at a junk dealer shop.

Majida Biwi, Malik’s mother is a waste segregation worker at a warehouse. She is the sole breadwinner of the family and earns Rs 7,500 per month. 

Sameer (L) studies in class 2 and joins Hasbul and Malik for rag picking. Here they pose for the camera. 

Rihana, 12, works with her brother - in - law to support her family by earning Rs 200 a day.

Jahangir, 12, dropped out after class 2 and works with his parents and segregates cartons by sizes.

15-year-old Maqsuuda returns after collecting waste from roads and colonies.

Maqsuuda says “I have never been to school. I have been working since I was five. Pet paalna hai. School jaane ka time kahan hai (I need to earn for our survival. There is no time to go to school).” Her father is unemployed and addicted to alcohol, and ends up taking money for it from Maqsuuda. She, along with her 10-year-old brother Happyzul earns around Rs 15000 per month. Sometimes, her mother goes along with them for collecting waste.

Aarfa (L) and Arjuman are friends in the neighbourhood studying in class 8. Aarfa is fond of painting and Arjuman wants to learn English. Arjuman says ‘I will be lucky if my father sends me to college after school’. After school they help in chores.

Bilal, Kareem, Ruleema and Asmat study in the 7^th standard. Sometimes, they collect waste from a sewer. Eid-Ul-Fitr is one of those occasions when they can buy new clothes and go for a movie. They collect bottles, plastics, metal items and sell these to the local waste seller. If they get a lucky break, they get their hands on a wallet with money or a mobile phone while collecting waste from the roads.  

Bilal (C), Kareem (R) and Noor (L) fooling around. 

Bilal wants to become an electrician because his father knows one who earns good money. Noor and Kareem want to open their own mobile shop.

Pawan, 15, dropped out after the 9^th standard, and left his parents’ home in fit of rage. He says he likes this work because it gets him Rs 6000 per month. He works from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.

Hameeda, 17, supports her parents in segregating waste that her parents collect from homes in middle class localities. ‘I miss going to school’ she says, but 'I have to look after my three younger siblings when parents go to work’. Hameeda is fond of reading and writing, so she borrows books from her friend and reads them in her free time.

10-month-old Moina, is sleeping in a cradle. She is the youngest of Hameeda's four siblings 6-year-old Habiba and 10-year-old Saleem.

Six-year-old Habeeba, the younger sister of Hameeda, plays with a doll she found in the waste her parents collected from houses.

17-year-old Akbar Ali says “this is a dirty job, but there is money in this line of work”. He wants to get married but fears he will not be accepted as his job is Kabaad ka Kaam (working with junk). He never went to school because his mother passed away when he was a just a child. His father was a rickshaw puller and an alcoholic who was not concerned about his family. Earlier, he used to collect waste from roads but he  recounts that the job was dangerous as sometimes people or the police mistook him for a thief. He now has a 12-hour job with junk dealers and earns Rs 9000 per month.

20-year-old Saajan wanted to study during childhood but could not as he needed to support his family. ‘I do not like this waste segregation work; it stinks, but I have no other option’ he says.

20-year-old Haleema was married at 12. Though she never went to school, her younger sister has taught her reading and writing. She separated from her husband and lives with her 5-year-old daughter.

I have spent days understanding and documenting the lifestyle of young waste collectors in Jahangirpuri area of New Delhi. Their parents or grandparents largely migrated from West Bengal to Delhi in search of a better livelihood. They end up being an ‘urban waste collector’ who earn just about enough to survive. As Khurshid says, “Life is good if one ignores the stench of garbage.”

Rohit Jain is a Freelance Photographer. Contact him at rohitjain217@gmail.com

This piece was first published on Daji.org