Living in Mayapuri

Most of my previous posts in Delhi have been about me: how I live and what I do. This post is about how my boys live. The slum is called Mayapuri and, as mentioned, it is an industrial area. The atmosphere is toxic and the people live right on the railway line. The following photo shows how close the trains run to the front of the houses.
Behind the first row of houses, which are right on the train line, lies a second row of houses separated by a narrow lane. There is an open drain down the middle of the lane, but Asha has built a public toilet for use of the people here, so at least it is not raw sewerage any more, as it once was.

Most of the houses consist of a single room, about 2 x 3m, with a dirt floor. Some of them have a second storey above them, which is reached by a ladder. The roof of each house is usually tarpaulin or corrugated iron, weighted down with bricks or car tyres to stop it blowing off in the wind.

The photos above and below are not the best or the worst in the area, but just the homes of my beloved boys whom I teach.
This house belongs to Ranjan and his family. He came from Bihar with his parents when he was 7 years old, but his parents had to return to their village a few years ago, so Ranjan lives with his older sister, her husband and their children. At nights he works in a factory checking the voltage on transformers for mobile phone batteries, and during the daytime he attends university. He hopes to be an accountant. His current job pays Rs 200 per day - about $5. Ranjan is in front of his house and Mananjay (in white) is standing nearby. Mananjay and his family also came from Bihar to Delhi in search of a better life. Mananjay works as a security guard in a factory during the night, earning Rs 100 per day - about $2.50. During the day he studies at university. He is about to complete a BA, and is studying history, politics, English and Hindi. He hopes to commence a B.Ed next year and become a teacher. Mananjay, like Ranjan, is the first person in his family to go to university. This shot shows the inside of Manajay's house, which he shares with his mother, father and younger brother. The photo shows just about everything in the house.

Life in the slums of Delhi is very public - since the houses are so tiny, most people do most of their living outdoors. This photo shows an ordinary scene on an ordinary day, with women and children sitting around chatting, working (rolling up string), checking hair for lice and drying washing.

Finally, here is a photo of the area immediately outside the houses - it is part of the industrial area.
This is the street that leads to my school, which is on the left, just out of shot. The immediate area around the school is devoted to car wrecking. Hundreds of people sit in the middle of the street in wrecked cars, manually bashing the parts out of them. They work 12 hour days for Rs 200 per day (about $5). The work is dirty, dangerous and physically exhausting. As I come to the school every day, I've learnt to recognise the wrecked cars, and I would say that they are dismantled in a day or two, and replaced with new ones. There is no shortage of car wrecks in Delhi, with an average of 7 traffic fatalities per day. I have no idea how many accidents there are - I don't think anyone is counting.