The Colorful People of India – The Children (PhotoDiary-8)

Like the adult Indians in my previous post, most of the children in these photos are from the massive underclass that comprises 80% of Indian society.

These kids are often seen playing or exploring the streets and the towns, and they are the ones that I saw most often, both when moving around in the city near my home, and when travelling through various regions of the country. 

School's Out for ... 1 million

According to a 2014 UNESCO report, over 1 million Indian children are unschooled. Even though the country has got more children into school in recent years, there are at least 1.4 million who do not attend school. There are 2 related causes. First, many poor households simply cannot afford to send their kids to school. Second, if the children are old enough to go to school, they’re old enough to go out and do a bit or work. Work brings in a bit of income. School doesn’t.   

No Room to Sleep or Play

One of the main reasons these children are always out and about it that they do not have a private bedroom in a large house or condo. In fact, they do not even have parks or playgrounds to play in.   

Many of them use their father’s rickshaw as a sofa or as playground equipment. Of course, that's only when father is not taking his afternoon nap on the seat of his rickshaw. It’s the most comfortable place in the neighborhood.   

For many of these children, they’re lucky if they even have a bedroom to sleep in. Many families live in tiny, 2-room homes; that is, one bedroom for the parents, and one small kitchen-dining-living area, open to the street or to a path out front.

At night, that living area serves as a bedroom for the children.  

And those are the lucky ones among the underclass. Many (read, “millions of”) families of 4, 5 or more members live in 1-room abodes. Their 1-room home contains only a charpoy bed made of woven rope, a few other items of importance, and (hanging from a few hooks on the wall) a number of plastic bags containing their few items of clothing.    

There might be an old TV, but there are no chairs and surely no sofa to sit on. At best, they might have a straw mat or a blanket to provide a bit of comfort when sitting on the concrete floor.  

No Running Water, No Kitchen

As for kitchen facilities, many families that live in the shanty towns might have a basic gas stove hooked up to a tank of LNG (liquefied natural gas). But very few of them have a refrigerator.

As for water, in the slums and shanty towns, there is no running water to the homes. There is probably one central slab of concrete or a cubicle with one or two faucets.

Those faucets will be used by 100–200 people or more, for all their dishwashing, laundry and bathing.   

(This final photo was sourced from Google Images.)