Cleaning Bangalore, living a life of pity

For waste pickers in the city, garbage is the least of their worries. Even with identity cards, their lives are miserable. Three of them tell DNA how their day begins and ends with problems.

Shiva
48 years
Collects 50 kilos every day
Lives in Shivajinagar

For Shiva, life begins and ends with garbage. Picking up waste and segregating it every day fetches him about Rs30o. His meagre income does not let him give his children the life he wants to give them. “I have been picking waste for more than 25 years now. I have two children and they go to nearby Corporation School in Shivajinagar. With just Rs300 a day income, I have no savings for my family’s future,” he said. Shiva is not a recognised waste picker. With no identification from the BBMP, his life is hard. “It is a matter of daily bread here. I have to deal with the daily problems to get the money for my family. I am not a recognised waste picker from BBMP and many a time, people mistake us to be thieves. The police don’t let us sleep. They beat us and chase us away. Sometimes I spill out all the garbage I collect to prove that I’m innocent,” he said. For Shiva, the goals in life are simple: Keep away from the cops and earn enough for the day. “Sometimes they take money from us too. I pay Rs10 just to pick waste sometimes. This way they are happy and I get my waste,” he said and smiled. Picking up around 50 kilos of waste every day, he segregates it and sells it to the shops that buy scrap. “I wake up at 3 am. I drink a packet of liquor to endure the cold and the smell of the waste. Pick up as much dry waste as possible and go home by about 2.30 pm. I segregate it and then sell it to the shops. Some days are lucky, some not very lucky. I have to get a minimum of Rs 300 daily to make my family happy,” he said with a smile on his face.

Lachmi P
45 years
Collects about 50 kilos every day
Lives in Jayabharathnagar

Lachmi has always been a winner at whatever she does. Her will to bring justice to her fellow waste pickers has won the prestigious namma Bengaluru award too. She believes that her profession has earned her money, food and respect in the society. But all was not well before her fight for justice began. “We used to be treated like thieves. We were beaten and shooed like animals by the police. We used to be called names like ‘jalagaras’ before we got the identity cards,” Lachmi says. She picks waste from Shivajinagar area mostly. She has been doing this since she was 20 years old. “Whenever someone yelled at me or scolded me, all I would ask them was if they saw a human being in me. They would keep quiet or continue murmuring. But they would certainly stop yelling,” she says. Joining hands with Hasiru dala, an organisation of waste pickers which will be registered in December, she began teaching her friends how they could make use of the BBMP’s identity cards. “I used to tell them to wear gloves and masks and the shoes along with the waste coat. This will help people recognise us and also ensure that we don’t contract any disease,” she explains. Now, Lachmi is a popular name in her neighbourhood. She is known to be the leader and people come to her for advice. “We used to have problems of police and people. Stray dogs would bite us when we tried to pick waste. Sometimes we would meet with road accidents. No one would care about us even though we make an integral part of the society. We have no become better as human beings and we have started to address our problems legally. Even the police don’t bother us anymore,” she says and  smiles.

Lakshmiamma
45 years
Collects 50-72 kilos every day
Lives in Govindnagar slum

Her sole aim in life is to get her 20-year-old son married. For this, she will walk about 25 kilometres a day, collecting dry waste from wherever she finds it and sells it to save to achieve her goal. Narrating her tale, she said, “I have two children. One of them left me and my husband died. I have a 20-year-old son and I want to get him married. I can then live a peaceful life,” she says. For this, she works day and night and saves as much as she can even if it means skipping meals sometimes. “It is not as easy as it seems for us. We are given identity cards from the BBMP and we are secure that way as no one points a finger at us or accuse us of stealing. But I live in a rented hut, paying Rs600 monthly apart from electricity and water bills. I earn Rs250 to Rs300 daily. To save every day after deducting food and other expenses leaves me with very little,” she said. Controlling her tears, she shows her daily collection, explaining how the day was not good for her. “By the time I went to pick waste, the pourakarmikas had started picking up the waste. I was left with very little to sort out and pick out. I only picked 30 kilos today. I will have to skip the night’s dinner and save that money for the monthly rent,” she said, swallowing a gulp of water.