If you’re hungry, you wouldn’t care about pollution: How Delhi’s poor and homeless feel about the toxic air

The irony is deep and distressing. The people worst affected by pollution are the least bothered about it. They are the poorest of poor who spend most of their time out in the open: hawkers and peddlers, beggars, homeless, delivery boys, rickshaw-pullers and auto drivers, to list a few.

As the toxic air corrodes their lungs, they have no refuge. Their needs so basic and poverty so overwhelming that worrying about pollution is a proposition they cannot afford. They don’t even consider it a factor.

Just outside the Lajpat Nagar Metro station, there is a long queue of rickshaw-pullers waiting for customers. They are mostly from Bihar. On average, they give a ride to a person every hour.

Ram Kilavan, 27, a father of three, comes from a family of landless labourers in Motihari district. He doesn’t understand the meaning of pollution — despite having resided in one of the most polluted cities in the world for three years. He doesn’t even understand the meaning of pradushan, the Hindi word for pollution. Once he understands what is being discussed, he calls it “dundh” and is fairly categorical: “It doesn’t affect us. The weather is getting cooler, it’s good for us. Heat kills us.”

Others rickshaw-pullers join in as I explain the hazardous effects of breathing in a polluted environment. They are bemused. Ram Kilavan says and others laugh at what seems fairly ludicrous to them. “Pait mai aag lagi hai tu aakho ki chirkan pata nahin chalti (If there is fire of hunger in the stomach, the itching of eyes due to pollution can’t even be felt). Somanath, from Begusarai, the eldest of the lot adds, “Ask the government to give us jobs, fair price to the farmers, we will go back to the village and breathe fresh air.” Many of them live in Garhi near Kailash Colony, eight in a small room, they take turns to sleep.

Not far away, Rajbeer from Badaun district of Uttar Pradesh sells parathas on the pavement from 7 am to 3 pm. He is equally dismissive of environmental issues. “Kaam chal raha hai (It’s manageable),” he says. “People are not coming out, is it for that reason?” he asks.

There are some for whom pollution means better business. Rahul Singh, 29, a graduate, is a delivery boy for a leading pizza chain in South Delhi. On average, he rides 60 km on a bike and is on the move 14 hours a day. “This is not pollution but fog, happens every year,” he says adamantly. Lately, he’s been getting more delivery orders because not many people are venturing out of their houses. “Kaam kar le ya ghar mai baith ke saihat banaye (Should I work or sit at home and take care of my health),” he asks.

There are a bunch of children begging in the Red Fort-Chandini Chowk area, with their mothers and sisters. They are from Barmer, Rajasthan. Men are taking an afternoon siesta as sunlight manages to filter through dense smog after many days. They wear soiled Rajasthani traditional outfits, bright eyes shine on their dusty faces. Their style of begging is persuasive.

Pollution is not an issue they are willing to discuss. “Many come, talk to us, click our pictures, make money, we get nothing,” complained Shallu (name changed), a young woman with a child. Pollution is the least of their worries. “People drive fast in the night and hit us, many get injured, my brother died last month,” she says, not betraying any emotions. Living on the road is not safe for women and children, but its not because of the pollution, she explains. She knows elections are around the corner in Delhi. All she wants is for the government to distribute better blankets this winter.

Kuwar Singh is from Etah district in Uttar Pradesh. He began working as an auto-rickshaw driver in 1990 when he was 22 years old. “Those were the days autos ran on diesel and emitted black smoke,” he says with a certain nostalgia and claims, “Pollution was much more in Delhi in those days, now it is much better. Media is making a big hue and cry about it. Who has died? No one dies of pollution,” he asserts.

“Pollution is a political issue. It comes up before elections,” Kuwar Singh analyses. He was told his belief is not substantiated by facts. While having bati-chokha at Sector 18 Market of Noida, he expresses unhappiness with the restrictions imposed on the bursting of crackers by government on the auspicious day of Diwali.

He gives the pollution issue a communal colour. “Pollution is used as an excuse to prevent Hindus from celebrating Diwali,” he says. He even goes on to list the beneficial effects of smog. “It dismisses evil spirits and kills insects and mosquitoes that cause dengue.” His lungs, however, might not agree with his opinion.

Thankfully, all autorickshaw drivers are not in denial like Kuwar Singh. Some of them complain of congestion, runny nose, and other respiratory problems. Somnath Thakur from Himachal Pradesh who speaks like the comedian Kapil Sharma says, “Indians have reached the moon and Mars but can’t fix the basics: clear water and clean air. Thankfully, there’s no pollution on the moon and Mars.”