Mamta Kalia

like calling out the names of all those
people. Those who came to eat meat
secretly at night, in daylight observed
untouchability in front of everybody.
One of these was Teja Taga. Many
people took loans from him. He demanded
pork and liquor before he would give
the loan. He was fond of the heavy,
very hot, spiced food cooked in the
Bhangi households. Pitaji had taken a
loan from him once. He had offered him
country liquor that day. And pork.
Sucking at the pork slices; his face had
resembled a spotted dog’s. His eyes red
from drinking, had looked satanic. His
interest rates were so high that one could
spend a whole lifetime paying the interest,
and the principal would remain
untouched. Most of the residents of the
Bhangi basti were drowning in debt. Hence
they could not afford to protest too
much against any injustice done to them.
Most people of our basti suffered
everything in silence. Honour and
prestige had no meaning for them. Being
threatened and controlled by the higherups
was an everyday occurrence for the
basti dwellers.
Jasbir had returned empty-handed
from Bagdogra one day. Let alone money,
he didn’t even have half-decent clothes
on his body. Despite working all these
years in Tirath Ram & Company, his
hands were empty. Defeated and tired,
he began to do wage labour in the village.
The situation of our family was
deteriorating rapidly. Meanwhile, Janesar
had also got married. Once again we
had had to borrow money from Teja
Taga for the wedding.
20 :: April-June 2010
Mama had called Jasbir to Dehradun.
Mama was a sanitation worker in the
Dehradun municipality. He also worked
at eight or ten homes as a scavenger.
He had just one son, Surjan. In the
beginning, Jasbir worked under Mama.
Afterwards, he found a permanent job
in the Survey of India. Although it didn’t
pay a lot, at least it provided some
security. A regular income boosts a
person’s morale. Jasbir began to develop
self-confidence after joining the Survey
of India.
The days of the rainy season were
hellish. The lanes filled up with mud,
making walking very difficult. The mud
was full of pigs’ excrement, which would
begin to stink after the rain stopped.
Flies and mosquitoes thrived like clouds
of locusts. It became extremely difficult
to go outside. Our arms and legs would
get smeared with dirt. The feet became
mangy. The space between the toes filled
up with reddish sores. Once these sores
started to itch, they would itch nonstop.
The lanes were full of muddy water
for months. There was no other way
to get to school except through crossing
these mudfilled lanes. There were several
johris around our locality and their water
would seep into the lanes. There was
one well in our basti, People had raised
money to get it cemented. Both the plinth
and the parapet of the well were quite
high. Despite this safeguard, the water
in the well was full of long worms during
the rainy season. We had no other
alternative but to drink that water. We
did not have the right to take water
from the well of the Tagas.