There are several historical places where tourists cannot miss in Delhi.
Qutub Minar(next to Ummeed), Safdajung’s Tomb, Birla Temple, Lotus Temple, India Gate and etc. Among them, two of the ‘must go’ places are Red Fort and Jama Majid. They are very close, located just opposite side of the road.
And..there you go,,,between two places, there is one of the most desperate places in Delhi, where a lot of homeless people and addicted people are resident. This is an absolutely ironic place with magnificent backgrounds.
I don’t know how many Indian people know about this place but I am pretty sure that just few foreigners might know it.
Our field visit started from Hanuman Temple area, which is another tourism herb and reached to this old Delhi area next to these breathtaking ancient architectures.
Hanuman Temple is close to ‘Rajiv Chowk’ metro station. There are one of the popular markets for traditional Indian stuffs and also an exporium where foreigners can see all goods from all states of India. Therefore, lots of homeless people are staying here begging money for foreigners and wishing charities from devotees who come for visiting temple.
The temple offers tasty and nutritious meals for 3 times a day to visitors so these homeless people actually have no worries of food. In addition, some devotees and foreigners might give them some dollars which is big money for them so quite many homeless make big money(approximately 500Rs) a day. They spend the whole money rather keep feeling afraid of being stolen.
Now, you guess how they would spend those money,,,
Mostly people spend their all money to buy drugs. You might be able to see most homeless around the area are being intoxicated. The cheep and popular drug is called ‘Solution’. They inhale it putting it on a cloth. Of course, not all the homeless are lucky to get that huge money but regardless of the amount of money they could get, they still buy drugs.
Aman Sathis go this place everyday meeting children and parents to persuade them to send their children to our residential homes where much better secure places for them. Some parents who are afraid of their children getting drugs and addicted are sending their children to our homes.
We headed to old Delhi, the place of irony. Aman Sathis are looking after this area, where is located just between Jama Majid and Red Fort. There are few temporary winter night shelters which protect the homeless people from dread coldness at night.
Aman Sathis are distributing blankets to them and collect them in the morning to keep. People who have places for keeping their own blankets don’t need to return them. However, the problem is that some of them are selling their blankets to buy drugs instead of taking care of their bodies. They don’t feel nor care even though their bodies affect bad.
Some people who might need medical aids got recommendations or treatments by field working doctors.
Meena bazaar which was once a safe entertainment bazaar for women during the mughal times is today one of the most popular places where women are found in pitiable states of despair, abuse and homelessness.
Just next to meena bazaar, you would see this insecure place for girls to live. Again, this is the place where highly addicted people are concentrated in.
When we reached close to Jama Majid, it was beautifully colored by sunset and just in front of it, we could face other despairs.
There are few groups of people who gathered together to protect themselves, many females who lost their voices. Next to them, again people were seeking to get high in their hopeless lives.
You wouldn’t imagine living on the streets without house. It would totally take you out of thinking anything about your future letting you focus on survival. There is no place and time to think of hope but taking care of myself. This makes these homeless people living in hopelessness.
The moment when you find out ugly sides hiding under beautiful ones is the moment when all the changes start. Now is the time when we sense invisible facts and when we start to do what we can do carrying this sense in our everyday lives.
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