Under a bridge, life means compromise

[Lahore_Real_Estate]

By Amar Guriro

KARACHI: Attired in a traditional gypsy dress with oiled hair and a scorpion tattoo on her right hand, Saaban has always hoped to find a place where she could take a peaceful nap for a few hours, but the hustle and bustle in a mega city like Karachi does not allow her to fulfill this simple desire.

Saaban, a gypsy woman, lives with around 2,000 gypsy families just beside the railway track near the Cantonment Railway Station right under the bridge that connects the station with Punjab Chowrangi.

Though it has been a decade since this gypsy settlement exists, it has been given no name and is categorised as an ‘illegal slum settlement’ by the government authorities.

This is not the only such settlement, but, as per the official figures, around 42 percent of the city’s total population lives in slums, beside the 25,000 street children and countless homeless people residing in the premises of the numerous shrines of Sufi saints in the city.

Many slum dwellers have managed to build huts and even cemented houses, but the residents of this small settlement by the railway track have built nothing. With the bridge acting as a roof, some of the residents have put up religious paintings on the pillars of the bridge and use them as worship places.

These residents are forced to live without any basic facilities such as drinking water, gas connections or latrines.

They cannot avail government welfare schemes such as open defecation-free cities programme, anti-polio campaigns, education for all programme and family planning programme for which international donors have granted funds worth billions.

Saaban, in her late 30s, has already become a grandmother. Most of the children in her community are married at an early age. She justifies this by saying that it is very difficult for homeless people to “guard the virginity” of the girl. Lack of privacy is also a major problem for the married couples living in this settlement since the concept of walls does not exist here.

Whenever anyone falls sick in the colony, they opt for traditional remedies since they have no access to healthcare facilities. A black thread amulet with holy verses is the best treatment for headache here.

Instead of going to school, the children of the settlement only learn survival skills in such harsh conditions. Women give birth without any help from a trained midwife.

Saaban belongs to the Bagri community, which is not a traditional gypsy tribe. They are skilled farmers, but the deteriorating agricultural activities in the province, acute shortage of water and the tussle between landlords and peasants after the bonded labour issue rose in the early 90s, most of her community members left their ancestral places and migrated to Karachi. Besides the Bagri community, the Waghri, Balmaki, Oad, Jogi and other communities also left their traditional professions and became gypsies.

“We have been forced several times to vacate this land, as the powerful people of the city are afraid of us, thinking that we will claim its ownership, however, we can’t do that,” said Saaban. The noise of passing trains and people does not allow the people of this colony to sleep peacefully. “I wish I could find a place where I can sleep for a few calm hours, but it doesn’t seem to be happening in my lifetime,” she said with a heavy sigh. The existence of such colonies in the provincial capital is a major challenge for the ruling party, the PPP, whose slogan has been “Roti, Kapra aur Makaan’ (food, clothing and shelter), and also for NGOs and international donors.