I wrote this story last year, but i happen to see these boys again in the surprise rain on April 2, so thought of putting this on my blog...
The heavy downpour of Aug'07 brought the city to a standstill as severe water logging was reported from many arteries. Week after, still there were areas where the drainages were full and water pouring out. Sewages were blocked and water seeping into houses, causing a foul smell. People living in a congested and under-developed area were having a hard time as they could hardly walk on that clammy surface. MCD with limited staff were not able to handle the situation swiftly. In this current chaos and dying situation there were boys Monu and Bappi who were benefiting from all these. These two boys had an unusual work, which they do only in the rainy season.
There was a slight drizzle on Saturday (Aug15) morning in Chhattar Pur when these two boys spotted. They were wearing dirty clothes, was completely drenched in muck. They were emanating awful bad smell as they were taking out metals from the drains with a big magnet, which was attached to a thick wooden rod. They insert that rod in the drain and move it back and forth for three to four times and then take out. Any metal blocking the drain or existing get glued to the magnet and then they take out that rod from the drain and take off the metals, jewellery, coins, iron etc that got stick to the magnet with their bare hands and put it into their thailas (bags).
One of the boys whose name was Monu lives in Usmanpur near Seelampur and he hails from Vardhaman, Kolkata. He was from a poor family and have seven members in the family. He is the eldest son of his parents and has two sisters and two younger brothers. He sends Rs 3000-4000 to their parents every month. He said “I can do this work on my conditions as there is no senior-junior in this work and nobody can scold me for anything. I am a boss of my own work.”
Monu said that he and his friend Bappi rummage around for metals from the drains only in the rainy season, as every metal in form of jewellery, iron, coins, etc flows down to the drains and it is very easy to dig them out. We do other works also like serving in the marriage parties and some labour works. We are doing this for the last 10 years. We earn Rs 200-300 per day after selling the metal, which we collect it from the drains. We have travelled all parts of delhi for this work. We start early morning at 6 and finish 2 in the noon and never leave the area unless it is finished completely.
Another boy, Bappi who was earlier busy in metal picking said, “People often make fun of them, they laugh at us and deliberately tell us to glean metals in some drains near their houses assuming that it will clear the drain blockages.” He did not say anything about himself, as he was very shy. But he told that his life is as same as Monu. “MCD people encourage us and support our work viewing that it will clean the blockages of drains. But they have never awarded us or offered us any job in MCD as told by Monu.
Sultan Singh, one of the resident of the colony where these two boys found working said that after the heavy Wednesday and Thursday rain no MCD guy has turn up to their streets to clean up the blockages. The water is pouring out on the streets. These boys who I have seen only in the rainy season are of a great help. They take out the small and heavy metals from the drains, which clear the blockages.
Monu and Bappi had work and they were working with full dignity, hard work and confidence. They had atleast hope against hope. Where rain had dampened people’s lives and with flood alert in most of the eastern region these boys were living their livelihood because of rain. One’s loss is another’s gain.
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