A mural at the New Delhi Railway Station.
As some of you are aware since I have been here I have tried to raise funds and items for the children looked after by Salaam Baalak Trust. To this purpose I organized a walk last month led by two of the young men who have been educated by the trust and who now live independently. They took a group of about 27 expats around the area of the New Delhi Railway station and Paharghanj. These are the areas where the children take refuge, where they are able to work in tea stalls or as collectors of cardboard which they sell to merchants for a few rupees and where they learn the tricks for survival.The areas are congested, narrow, and dirty. They do however provide the comradeship and the support networks for the children.Some of them,the drug and prostitution gangs are destructive and damaging while other peer groups are more nurturing. This is the reality for these children before the Trust takes them in and these are some of the sights that we encountered.
Preparing the pottery for the Diwali lights
Another pottery seller in Paharghanj
This man is 90 and he remembers the area as it was and how difficult it has been to eke a living.
Some children playing.
Some of the slum areas on the railway line.
One of the shops selling garlands on which you attach money notes.
Two of the boys in the holding centre with their chapatis
