| || Story about a ghetto. || Our ghetto is just like any other ghetto, where impoverished people live in the extreme proximity. You hear the unpleasant gargling/throat cleaning sound from the neighbors’ bathroom in the morning and loud whistles of pigeon racing (kabutarbaazi) from the terraces. The loud azaan (call to pray) that rarely feels spiritual because of the unnecessarily high volume. Since childhood I have been listening to the same old sentimental Hindi songs being played by some neighbors. We are mostly Muslims from old Delhi and our street is typical called as the ‘date street.’ The date fruit is associated with Muslims in India just like coconut is associated with Hindus. In front of me there is a house- that has been recently- divided among brothers as their families grew big. One of the brothers family got space not wider than the size of the train compartment in width. A person as tall as six feet can only sleep in one direction. The reason is that families are growing much faster than the social and economic status. In the house on my left, there is a couple that ended up having six boys because they wanted a girl. There is also another couple that ended up having many girls because they wanted a boy. Despite limited resources, they are not afraid of starting a family. They see child as a support—an extra pair of hands to work with you- unlike the highly educated people who see child as a major responsibility. Nobody owns a big land other than these small houses. School education does not emancipate and it becomes hard to cope with as you study along with work. It is necessary to learn the family work such as plumbing, envelope making, bike or car repairing etc to survive. We mostly belong to the ‘bishti’ caste. However, none of us do the traditional work of water-distributor (man laden with goat-skin bag). People in our ghetto use cuss words even during normal conversation. One day or another, there are fights over petty issues such as parking space but it never reaches to an extreme violence such as killing or gang fight. The social –economic aspect influences others aspects of life including the way you fall in love, and choose a life partner. Since childhood I have been seeing teenagers eloping and getting married against the family wishes. They were the people whom I grew up playing with and now the ones I have seen growing up. Yes there have been fights among families over this. To avoid complicated situation, the couples in love usually choose to run away somewhere for a few days. Then come back when things are calm because they have nowhere else to go. Most of them never complete their school education. School romance rarely happens and you could talk to a girl only when she is on her way to school from home or vice versa. You could be in trouble if anyone becomes suspicious and complains to your parents. As a result, most of the courtships start from the terrace of the houses. Especially I remember instances when a cool guy was whistling loudly with the fellow kabutarbaaz (pigeon keeper) and the girl was watching him admiringly. On the terrace, they appear to communicating through gestures and regular conversations. Few days later they got married. It is still a mystery to me how they communicate romantically and decide to get married. The essential requirement here too is that one has to be the coolest guy among the crowd. As Aristotle said once, “the young have strong but changeable passions. They are quick tempered and lacking in self-control, and this makes them all the more likely to yield to their passions.” So it works for them sometimes to take such decision quickly in comparison to the dispassionate older ones. Things (good or bad) would have been different with the University exposure. I don’t know what the future is and how things will change. I have realized that we all try to ensure in our own ways that pain of life does not eliminate the joy of life. Rashid Abbasi PHD Scholar at Jamia Millia Islamia (India) _______________ _________________________________ Contact us to share your story: 📌Website: www.livenowtogether.com or www.livenow.space 📌Email Address: contact@livenowtogether.com 📌Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/livenowtogether/ 📌Instagram: www.instagram.com/livenowtogether 📌Twitter: www.twitter.com/livenowtogether 📌Tiktok: www.tiktok.com/@livenowtogether #LIVENowTogether |
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