Nangla's Delhi

“There is a rally at Jantar Mantar. Everyone has gone. We hear Nangla will be demolished on the 5^th of this month. Children have dressed up in their school uniform for the rally.” She said this much and then resumed washing utensils.

I stood at the mouth of the lane, wondering if there was any point going further. Nangla was empty today. Everyone had decided they were their own resource and taken themselves to Jantar Mantar.

“Mira, did you send your child to the rally?”

Some people had stayed behind, taking care of their own business.

“No, I didn't send him. The roads are not safe. Even this road that passes from in front of Nangla is not safe. Speeding cars don't spare anyone.”

“Yes, it's better to keep the young ones away from all this. Everything seems laid to waste. Why bring our children into our worries, our anxieties? Sometimes I think we should just let things be the way they are... And yet sometimes I can't help fearing the time when everything will be strewn apart. Anyone knocks at our doors at any hour of the day – or night – and asks for money for some petition or the other. The pradhan's son says their demand is not relocation but that Nangla not
be demolished. But who is to explain to them that our throats have dried making demands repeatedly, filing petitions again and again. We don't ask them for explanations, but who is to explain to them how we eke out the money that is going into filing these petitions. No one cares to ask.”

“Yes, this when we labour the entire day to manage Rs. 40 to 50.”

“Is it enough to even fill our stomachs? My husband and I buy coconut shells for Rs. 40 and make ropes from their outer covering. Try as much as we do – hopping buses, traveling all over the city – we don't manage to sell all that we make, barely managing Rs. 100 a day. If I make
special effort, it takes me days to save Rs. 140. So when they come knocking our doors in the evening and ask for Rs. 100 for a petition, I feel like my breath is being snatched away. But I can't refuse. Does our government see this, and what it's doing to us?”

The conversation continued, as though it would go as far as the rally was traveling. The rally had left behind it's agenda in Nangla, to be discussed by different voices.