Delhi City Walk

Today we did something that has been on our list for a while... Salaam Balaak Trust City Walk.  "Salaam" means salute, and "Balaak" means children.  This organization provides a good life for street children who either ran away from home or got lost from their parents (believe it or not, he said this often happens during crowded festival times and children are too young to know their address or where their parents are).  The walk starts near the New Delhi Railway Station, where children arrive every night from their villages hoping to start a new life in the capital city.  Our guide, Satyender, told us some stories of these street children...

(Warning: this is somewhat graphic)

Many children run away from home because they suffer from daily mental, physical, or sexual abuse.  Often their families are too poor to provide food for their family.  Our guide told us many children run away to Delhi because they think they can become a Bollywood star or meet a Bollywood star.  The children that end up here usually end up begging on the streets or finding odd jobs at the railway station (like taking old plastic bottles to recycling centers).  Sometimes adults offer them work and promise them food, clothing, and shelter, but then abuse the children.  Some adults find these street children and cut off hands or feet or make them blind so the children will get pity and earn more money on the streets begging.  The children cannot go to the police because the police will send them back home.  The children who beg or work on the street have to spend all the money they make each day, otherwise the money they made would get stolen from them when they sleep.  Our guide told us that most street children spend their money on drugs, entertainment (movies, etc.), cigarettes, but rarely on food.  That's because the Sikh Temples serve free food to the public daily.  The children found sleeping on the street are beaten by the police because it's illegal (so many children buy movie tickets so they can sleep in the dark theaters).  Many of the children prefer to be beaten occasionally by the police rather than daily in their own homes.  The children often become drug-addicted because their friends tell them it will help them feel less pain when they are beaten by the police or their "caretakers".

Now the good news....

Salaam Balaak Trust (SBT) is an organization that changes the lives of thousands of street and working children in India (about 5,000 children every year).  I asked the guide what he suggests we do when begging children come up to us or our car window (which happens almost every day).  He suggested never giving them money, but instead give them food - a non-packaged food because the children can just sell the packaged food to a vendor for money.  He said if a child seems in distress for any reason we can call "Child Line" a government helpline, and they would come pick up the child and take him/her to a SBT contact center (the number is 1098 from a mobile phone).

The SBT has contact centers where any child can receive breakfast & lunch, play games, and watch TV (only on Fridays).  This is where they gain the children's trust so the children know they won't be abused or mistreated.  Then the child decides if he/she wants to join the SBT center where they live and receive food, shelter, clothing, and they must attend school.  Some children decide to join and some don't (because they like the freedom they have from life on the streets).  Every night people from SBT go to the Railway Station where they look for children in need.  Every night they bring in new children to their centers.

At the end of our walking tour of the streets around the Railway Station, we went to the SBT center where we got to meet and interact with some of the children who just joined the center.  They were delightful and we enjoyed playing hand clapping games, arm wrestling, and even thumb war (remember that game???  1, 2, 3, 4... I declare thumb war).  We speak "tora, tora" Hindi (little, little) and they spoke tora, tora English, but it was fun and we even got some photos with the kids!

Wall with pictures of Hindu gods (cleverly put there so people won't pee on this wall out of respect for the gods).
Good idea!

Our most excellent guide, Satyender.  A former street-child in Delhi himself.

Photos of icons from many religions together in this alley - Hindu, Christian, Buddhist...
Talk about respecting religious diversity!

Tim and Satyender walking along the streets of Paharganj

Fruit-walla along the streets (that papaya looks good!)

I found my namesake guesthouse!  Most people I meet in India think my name is "Karan"... that is my Hindu name.

Tim standing next to the Friday T.V. at the SBT contact point.
Children here can watch T.V. only on Fridays!

The children I arm-wrestled with... of course I let them win!

Group photo!  Some of these kids had been in the center only a few days.

It was nice to hear their stories and find out about a great organization that is making a difference in the lives of these children.  To see some photos that were taken by street children from Salaam Balaak  and shown at an exposition a few years back, click here: Flickr Album

Out of this Universe!

Ximena Navarrete - 2010 Miss Universe

In case you didn't pay attention to the 2010 Miss Universe pageant, Earthling and native of Mexico, Ximena Navarrete,  prevailed by a slight margin over Planet Zetox native, The Great Gazett.  Popularly known throughout the Universe as the great grand daughter of The Great Gazoo (of The Flintstone's fame), The Great Gazett took her rocket ship back to Zetox while Ximena flew to New Delhi to promote her cause.

This past Wednesday, February 2nd, Ximena visited The Convent of Jesus and Mary School, an all girls school,  to promote designer Sanjana Jon's "Celebrate The Girl Child" Campaign.  I photographed this event.  When I arrived at 9:45 am (15 minutes early), I was told she would be arriving at 12:15 (2.5 hours after I was told the previous day).  To kill time and with the schools permission, I walked around the campus and snapped pictures.  Here are just a few images from that day.

Convent of Jesus and Mary School

Time in between classes.

View of St. Peter's Church from the school.

A student walks away from the school office.

Happy girls during tea break.  They were afraid to get their pictures taken at first, but they very quickly got into it!  It took them a while to figure out what I wanted them to do for this picture.  I laid on my back and told them to make a circle around me.  The group got larger and larger after this picture...I had to put my camera down and get up before they all fell on me and broke my camera!

Later, I chose to take pictures from a higher angle!

They all have water bottles with shoulder straps to go along with their book bags!

The students I talked to at this school spoke English very well.  One girl asked me if I liked my president O'bama.  Another one asked where I was from.  I told her "North Carolina" in my strongest Albemarle (don't take this the wrong way) accent and they all laughed.  One said she's been to North Carolina!

Miss Universe arrives with her entourage!

Miss Universe walking to the stage to speak to the girls!  There was a loud roar and a lot of clapping when she walked up!  The students were very excited!

Watching the show the students and faculty put together.

Ximena waving good bye to the auditorium full of girls.

Ximena's view of what she was waving goodbye to!  There were children everywhere!

Ximena did her best to connect personally with the children, but the bombardment takes its toll.  Notice the stern Indian woman telling the children to back away.  It was interesting for me, being a "western" person, to photograph a fellow westerner in India.  I might not be Mister Universe, but I know what she's going through.  Karen and I have had our share of bombardment...not at this scale, but 20 people still feels like 200!  She kept a smile on her face the whole time!

Street Children

Marker mustached street child and entertainer

Seeing begging street children is one of the realities of living in India.  Before moving here, I wondered what I would do and how I would feel when a 7 year old child, holding a 2 year old baby, walked up to me begging for money.

For some reason, the begging children gravitate towards me (Tim).  The most intense experience happened a few weeks ago when Karen and I were leaving a mela, which is a really neat craft/music/gift bazaar.  Outside the main gate, there was a young boy casually talking with a man who looked  to be 45 yrs old.   I saw the boy before he saw me and I knew, damn!, it's about to go down. When Karen and I reached the gate, the boy, who looked to be about 10 years old, noticed us and hopped towards me at a startling pace. His hop was due to the fact that half of his left leg was missing. He latched onto my arm and made his way down to my hand, grasping my right pointer finger and pinkie. I stopped to comprehend this situation and the strength of his wrestler-like grip. He motioned with his eyes for me to look at his gnarled leg that ended just below his knee.  Pleading "please, please, sir," he put one of his hands to his mouth expressing his great hunger. After the initial shock wore off, I realized I had to keep moving or else I'd be there all day holding hands with this young boy. People around me tried to "shew" him away in their native language, Hindi, but that didn't help.  His dirt drenched hands tightened around my fingers even more.

UNICEF conservatively estimates that there are 11 million street children in India. If you haven't seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it is great!  It's an interesting and entertaining movie that gives you a glimpse of what goes on in the the lives of many street kids in India. I won't go in to much detail, but it shows that many children are lured into bonded work that they are unable to escape from due to unscrupulous and cruel proprietors/owners/"uncles". Some of these "uncles" maim the kids just so people would pity them more and, therefore, give more money. Due to this fact, I cannot give any begging child money.

Back to the story outside the mela. Most likely, the man who was talking with the boy earlier was one of those "uncles". Karen said the man watched the boy latch on to me with a keen eye.   Eventually, I had to, with a lot of guilt, pry the boy's fingers from my own.  I repeated this 4 times while quickly shuffling my feet over to an auto rickshaw that was near.  Karen and I jumped in to escape that situation.

There is a tour in New Delhi given by former street children.  It is coordinated by the Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps get kids off the streets.  The tour starts at the railway station and goes throughout Delhi.  Many of Karen's co-workers recommend it.  It's organizations like this that I keep in mind when a child walks up to me begging.  I feel money can be better utilized by these organizations than by the "uncle".  To slightly diminish the guilt factor, Karen and I are going to start taking granola bars or some kind of food with us.  Interestingly though, we've had a few conversations with locals and expats who carry food and they've expressed that most kids don't want the food!  That's when you know there's some racket operation using these kids.

All this being said, don't get the impression that all the children here are sad and begging!  This past weekend, Karen and I made a wrong turn and faced the beginning a long residential dirt road near a tourist spot called Hauz Kauz Village.  People were everywhere.  They were eating, cleaning clothes, preparing food, sanding furniture, playing cards, etc.  Amongst the throng of people were about 40 shoeless kids playing along the street.  I was petrified looking at what was ahead of us!  The only interactions I've had with children since moving here involved sad faces and begging.  Impressively, Karen led the way and this terrifying walk down this random dirt road turned into the most exciting experience I've had since being in India.  The kids waved and smiled at us saying "Hi, Hi, Hi."  They were some of the happiest kids I'd ever seen and they definitely made us feel very welcome in their neighborhood!

If you are wondering who the young boy pictured at the beginning of this post is, he stars in a short video of a recent auto rickshaw ride near our neighborhood.  I taped it on my phone to show the auto rickshaw experience and ended up getting a performing street child with a marker mustache!

The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge

If you want a detailed map, click here

Something profound always happens when groups of people gather for a cause.  Many groups chose to promote their cause by moving in a circular manner.  There is the Crop Walk, Walk for the Cure, and even 24 hrs of Booty where participants ride bikes on a "booty loop."  There is just something about a journey ending at the starting line that helps so many wonderful organizations raise money!

This February, I am joining a group of 18 or so strangers (mostly whom are also total strangers to each other) in Mumbai a.k.a Bombay.  We are embarking on The Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge or "GCIRC" to help feed our need of adventure while, more importantly, helping raise money for Railway Children, a charity that provides relief to children and young people who are in conditions of need, hardship or distress - in particular those living on the streets.

In an extremely simplistic attempt to summarize this trip, The GCIRC is a railroad journey around the circumference of India in 15 days.  The organizer of this trip, who smartly claims he isn't in charge, has been planning the trip for years.  If you want to see a visual representation of the meticulous planning put forth, click on this flow chart for the journey.  Click on the picture itself to zoom in. After looking at it, you are probably totally confused.  Not only does it represent the amount of planning put forth, it represents the amount of potential mishaps that can occur!

Here are some interesting points about the GCIRC.

• The famous Trans-Siberia trip is 5,800 miles. The GCIRC is over 7,500 miles of track and another 350 miles by various means of transportation.
• Transport includes: 18 different trains, Maruti vans, 4x4s, taxis, 2 ferryboats, one tram, and the inevitable autorickshaw.
• The train in Assam is one of the last non-tourist steam trains.
• GCIRC covers 17% of the Indian Railways network.
• We will be traveling 2AC class on most trains but some in SL and AC3. (click here for class description and photos)
• All but 2 nights will be spent sleeping on a train. Darjeeling and Dibrugarh will be the pit stops.
• First train leaves Mumbai on, Friday, February 18th and arrives back in Mumbai on Saturday, March 5th.
• The price of traveling over 7,850 miles including food, 13 nights on various trains, and 2 nights in hotels - less than $375. 

Click on the official Great Circular Indian Railway Challenge web page if you'd like more detailed and interesting information about it.

Again, this trip was organized to help raise money for Railway Children, an organization very fitting of this journey.  If you'd care to donate, I created a PayPal donation link below as well as one on the top right side of this blog.  I am working on gifts for all those who donate via this blog...something to do with photography I'd say...I will let you know in the coming week.

Look Snazzy!

If you want something very unique and cool to wear, there are T-shirts and other items.  Click here for details!