[Short Story] Life on the Edges

1. Urban Forests

It is the time of the day Hyderabad seems to be dancing at its best. Bursting with energy, glowing with beauty, city moves like a woman in her best of the years. All the places are lit up with bright lights. Whole place is filled with sounds from vehicles. Roads are filled up to the capacity with people returning from office, some people having street food and some people shopping with their friends and family.
             
              Nearby waste land beside the road is a stage for tensions. Pack of dogs and herd of cows have settled on the either sides of it. This they have done by their sheer strength, one with ability to bite and other with the ability to bully. Between them lies an injured cat with neither ability to migrate nor strength to dominate.
            
            This lies in the area of Bharatnagar. Bharatnagar is an area that came up as ad-hoc settlement. 100 families live there in their makeshift homes mostly made with plastic covers. It is so crowded that someone can easily mistake it for a bazaar, if he doesn’t know better about the poorer side of India. The place is held by cold in its jaws during winters. Seasonal outbreaks of Malaria, Dengue are commonplace occurrences. Drainage, roads, electricity and other basic infrastructure is conspicuous by its absence. 
           
            Contradictions are plenty to be found. Houses flood during rains though drinking water is scarce. Area is least visited by any kind of administration, though dire need of it is clear. Area is full of poor, weak, homeless, diseased who can all use some divine intervention but seemingly forgotten by God.
            
            Most of the people make their living as domestic servants, drivers, cooks to the people living in A.C Avenue nearby, which is a huge gated community. Mohan is one of them who works as a driver for the preacher at the local temple.
           
            He is walking home after his day of work. With metro train and other cars greeting him, he is walking on the part of road where footpath is supposed to be found. He sometimes wishes that he could earn enough to own a vehicle of his own. This has remained a wish since the past 20 years. Expenses always seem to grow faster than his income. Walking for some time he reached Bharatnagar. To his surprise, he found municipal officials visiting the place. He was in fact happy that things might start improving. Little did he know that their visit is going turn life of him and people around him upside down.

2. Opportunism

One of the officials started addressing the crowd which was waiting eagerly. The official is in-charge of the area administration since 6 years but it is the first time, he is visiting the slum.

“Land you people built houses upon belongs to the government. Municipality has issued orders for it to be vacated within 7 days. If not vacated, serious action will be taken”

Everyone stood shocked. Among them was Mohan. He mustered up the courage to break the silence.

“We have been living here since past 30 years. How has it become illegal all of a sudden?”

“We cannot condone a mistake just because it is being committed since long. Orders will be implemented ruthlessly”, the official replied.
            All the people were devastated. It looked as if there was no way out. Just as everyone was losing hope, a solution came to Mohan’s mind.
           
            Ramesh was the local leader of the ruling Socialist party. He would gather all the people during elections and talk to them about the missing basic necessities of the area, and make some promises. He was able to get the votes of the people from Bharatnagar for the past few elections. Not only because he provided promises, but because he followed them up with some liquor and money.
  
“Lets meet Ramesh sir and request for help. He will definitely help us”, Mohan said.

Before the faces could be filled with some kind of optimism, there came a counter to this suggestion.

“He will not help us. The reason behind the action of the officials is that politicians want to get hold of the land because of its increased market value. It’s foolish to expect them to help us”, said Kalyan who was another resident of the slum. People describe Kalyan as a pessimist but he describes himself as a realist.

“But let us at least try”, said Mohan. All the people rushed towards the politician’s home like a herd of camels chasing a mirage. They explained the situation to him and requested him for help.

“I cannot support action that is illegal. It is better if at least now you people stop encroaching government’s land”, Ramesh said in a tone of indifference.
                                                     

 3. Hypocrisy

There is a half chance still left for Bharatnagar. A.C Avenue, where many of the people of Bharatnagar work, is inhabited by many rich and influential people. They can exert influence on the administration. Now, people of Bharatnagar are hoping that they will do it for them.

           
            Relationship between Bharatnagar and A.C.Avenue goes back decades. People of Bharatnagar provided very useful services to the people of the gated community. They provided domestic services, when and where needed. They became drivers who could be called upon any time. They became cooks for working mothers, old people and bachelors. They became fruit and vegetable vendors whose prices were very reasonable. Many of the people from Bharatnagar shared even personal friendships, built over years, with people from the gated community. These services were appreciated many a times by the Residents Association of A.C.Avenue. 

            Lately, this dynamic has undergone some change. Most of the goods and services could now be ordered online. Most of the times at a lower cost too. Many people had their incomes reduced while some have lost their jobs altogether. People who lost their and who had their incomes reduced would ask the educated people for a solution to overcome this challenge.
“You should learn to use technology. Market is fair to everyone. But if you are not competitive enough, it will leave you behind”, came the reply.

        This is true. But for the people living hand to mouth, buying and learning technology was prohibitively expensive. Everyone seems to suggest they aren’t moving fast enough. But no one seems to care about their handicapped legs.

            People from Bharatnagar reached A.C.Avenue and requested their help. Residents Association meeting was convened and after a long deliberation, President of the Residents Association came up with the disappointing answer.

 “There is nothing we can do to help”, he said.

“Sir, we are providing our services since long. Our acquaintance is decades old. Please consider those”, pleaded Mohan.

            Now the replies came from members of the Association. One of them said that Bharatnagar being unhygienic was responsible for episodic outbreaks of Malaria. Preacher said it polluted the atmosphere around the temple. Another said it was hub of criminals and troublemakers. Another said that greed of the people was the root of the problem. There were many other reasons as well. But the essence was the same. Bharatnagar and its people have no right to ask for a dignified existence. Only option left for them is to fight out the officials.
            Meanwhile, on the waste land the injured cat, which can neither bite nor bully, was being starved. The place is definitely not for people on the margins.

4. Showdown

Utter chaos has invaded Bharatnagar. People running in all directions in panic, everyone searching to check if their loved ones are safe, toddlers crying when can’t find their mothers, people screaming with fear, people lying on ground with injuries. It was as if the place was visited by a storm.
           
            Stones being thrown at houses, few huts set on fire, constant rhythm of lathi blows and streams of blood from injuries flowing all over the place. The blood seemed redder than normal, as if venting out its anger. The place was visited by something worse than storm. It was police action to maintain ‘law and order’.
           
            After fighting bravely for few hours, people of Bharatnagar had to give up. Nearly 20 people, including Mohan and Kalyan have died while lot more were injured. The cost of putting up a fight was just becoming way too much.
           
              Procession carrying the dead people was moving on the road. It came across meeting by the local politician, Ramesh. He was talking to a crowd that their government exists for the welfare of the poor. 
            Next on road was the school. Principal of the school, who was also the President of Residents Association, was addressing a prayer meeting. He told the students good character is the ultimate aim of the education and kindness is the cornerstone of a good character.
             Next on road was the temple. Preacher was addressing a religious gathering. He said that love and compassion were the message of every religion. 
 
People of Bharatnagar went past all these unaffected.

Politics, education and religion are institutions supposedly for the benefit of the mankind. Even then, qualification of people like Mohan as a human being doesn’t seem enough to have a dignified place in these institutions.

Not so surprisingly, the cat has died of hunger. It was told that it was cat’s fault itself that it can neither bite nor bully and hence has to accept death as fair.
 
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