Author: Mateen Hafeez
Publication: The Asian Age
Date: June 4, 2004
The influx of Kashmiris into Mumbai's
Kherwadi and Bandra areas for the past few years reveals that Kashmiri
youth from well-to-do families, who are educated but have no job, life
security and peace in the Valley, are forced to come to cities like Mumbai
to earn a livelihood.
The slums of Bandra and Kherwadi
shriek out the agony of the lives of the migratory Kashmiri population
trying to make ends meet in an unknown place far from home. Kashmiri women
and children, who beg door-to-door, said that they do not have any option.
Waqar Wani, a Kashmiri youth, said,
"Zinda rehne ke liye kuch na kuch to karna hi padega." Wani has passed
his XII, but today he is forced to beg in the bylanes of south Mumbai.
After many efforts, he had landed a job of Rs 1,000 per month as a watchman
when he first came to Mumbai. However, he could not continue his job since
it was a temporary contract. Meanwhile, pressure was mounting from his
family staying in Kashmir to send money home. Waqar's tale is not uncommon
among the scores of Kashmiris struggling to survive.
Mushtaque Choudhari, an M.Sc. in
physics has recently come to Mumbai in search of a job. He did not have
any job in Kashmir, where he had to support his old parents and collect
enough money for his sister's marriage. To get an entry into the Indra
Nagar slum, located below the Bandra-Kala Nagar flyover housing a large
number of Kashmiris, one has to pass through huge water pipes and uneven
areas, where it is difficult to maintain balance. At the backside of the
slum is Bandra nallah, where tonnes of garbage piles up and drain water
flows through. A number of families have to cross this passage whenever
they want to go anywhere outside the slum. The proximity of the slum to
the nallah reminds its inhabitants of the stark realities of life every
moment.
In Kherwadi region in Bandra East,
hundreds of Kashmiri families live in various slums. Earlier, most of them
used to beg to survive. However, with no other choice, they have now made
begging their profession.
Raeesa bi, a Kashmiri beggar, almost
cried when she spoke to The Asian Age. She said that they had been innocent
victims of the ongoing conflict in Kashmir. According to her, it was due
to this relentless disruption of normalcy in their lives, which made cities
like Mumbai and professions like begging, the preferred choice of Kashmiri
inmates. "Begging is not an easy job. When our girls go door-to-door and
beg, the youth pass comments, eve-tease them and if they give money, it
is only to drive home the point that we are getting their money because
we send our girls out," she says.
