OFFTRACK: DELHI

Culture Shock

The artistes in these slums have travelled the world over with their art

It's a long way from Kathputli Colony to the Royal Mile in Edinburgh. For puppeteer Bala Bhatt it's the distance between two worlds. Having recently performed in that historic Scottish city and in Sicily, Bhatt has returned to the squalor he calls home. Seated on a charpoy in his battered shanty in Delhi, he takes on the role of a spokesperson for his people's misery. Bhatt does not wave away the flies buzzing around him, unmoved as they flirt with his turban. His visiting card reads, "international artist (foreign return)-USA 1985, Switzerland 1987, Japan ... Paris ... Spain ... Muscat and Dubai..." From a trunk he fishes out a letter of commendation from the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC. There is pathos and melodrama in his voice as he says, "I told Rajivji (Rajiv Gandhi), if you can't give us a decent place to stay, take us to the land between India and Pakistan. There we will be at the receiving end of gunfire from both sides. It's better to die that way than live like this."

Bhatt's address: Kathputli Colony, near Shadipur Depot, New Delhi, India. Over the past four decades, hundreds of street performers from across the country have made this place their home. Today, about 800 such families live here. In these tiny houses you will find jugglers, magicians, acrobats, singers, bahurupiyas (mime artistes) and various itinerant performers. Many have participated in festivals of India and other cultural roadshows abroad. These are slums where while one hand rushes to your nose to cut off the stench from the drains, the other reaches out to take a man's business card. Where a roof that does not leak is a luxury but a telephone is a must because that's how the next job comes by.

If it's Ram Karan Bhopa you want, try his mobile. This musician from Rajasthan plays a folk instrument called the ravanhatha. He has performed in the US, the UK, France and other countries. Here in India, he arranges shows for private gatherings. The charges for a musical evening: Rs 2,500. But work, he says, is sporadic and the money is never enough. "Friends from abroad are shocked when they visit us," he adds. "They tell us, 'We thought you'd be rich. Doesn't the government help you?' "

The animosity towards the authorities is long-standing. The Government has offered land to these families, but they insist those areas are too far-flung to be considered. "The world knows this address," says magician Aziz Khan. "Besides, this is a central location. If we were to shift to the places the Government has in mind, most of our earnings would be spent on conveyance."

Sometimes this stubborn pragmatism assumes pathetic proportions. Press photographers are met with demands for "money before you shoot". Journalists encounter scuffles among artistes, with each wanting to be interviewed. It doesn't help that some of those, who were allotted land by the Government, sold those plots and returned to their jhuggis. Bhatt admits: "Such people have spoilt our reputation. When they are unmasked, it spoils things for those of us who are honest." But they are rarely alone in their struggle. Sarthi, an NGO that works here, assists the Bhoole Bisre Kalakar Cooperative Industrial Production Society registered in 1978. The society, among other things, runs a workshop specialising in traditional Rajasthani wood carvings. The demand for their furniture is drying up, says Manager Radhey Shyam, because "our designs have become outdated". Now Sarthi plans to hold training sessions to help these artisans keep up with the times.

Next to his work space with its mud walls decorated with mirrorwork and cobwebs, is a single-room school called Shilpayan. Here young girls are taught to read and write, and make papier-mache plates that are sent to crafts bazaars. Despite their poverty, these children know a life their parents did not. Says acrobat Malvi, 35, who came here from Lucknow: "I was scared to travel by plane so I never went outside India. But now one of my daughters has been to Holland, the other has travelled to Dubai." While they are abroad, Sarthi often ensures five-star accommodation for them. Then, it's back to the slums of Kathputli Colony. The paradox does not escape them.