Travel Antics Issue 3 | Page 24

FINDING FREEDOM FROM FAMILY - SAAVNI sisters, Altisna and Saloni, work for him. What was it like to live with your chacha? My chacha took all of us out of school and turned us into his slaves. He used physical abuse to send us waste-picking in the morning, made us do all the housework and even sent us beg- ging at a temple. We had to give him all our earnings and watch him spend it feeding his children and sending them to school while we were fed scraps and lived in constant fear of his beatings How long did you spend waste picking? I waste-picked and stole things for three years while I was living with my chacha. When I was not able to find enough scraps from waste-picking I resorted to steal- ing as I was very good at it and I’m not afraid of stealing. I used to steal iron, electrical sockets and electrical wires from people’s homes. I enjoyed stealing dur- ing the rainy season as everyone would be inside their homes and I could easily steal iron and tin items lying outside their homes. She lost her father many years ago. Her widowed mother was forced to marry the younger brother of her deceased husband. Not long into the unhappy marriage, her mother was found hang- ing from the ceiling. Saavni is convinced her chacha (Father’s younger brother) is responsible for the death How much could you earn because of the countless in- from waste picking? juries on her mother’s body. Saavni and her sisters found themselves under the care of their chacha. He quickly married off two of her sis- ters, Sandishna and Nand- ishna, who were barely in their early teens and made Saavni and her two other | Page 23 I could earn between Rs 70- 100 (0.77p-£1.10) a day from waste-picking and always had to give all my earnings to my chacha. However, if I stole, I could make about Rs 1000 (£11) from which I would keep Rs 200 (£2.20) to indulge in good food and give the balance to my cha- cha. Waste-picking is extremely difficult and tiring. I would walk for hours under the hot sun on an empty stomach and often felt like fainting from the heat and exhaus- tion.. Stealing on the other hand, was very risky as I can be caught and beaten. What is an average day like for you when you go waste pick- ing? I would be violently shaken from my sleep at 5am by my chachi (Aunty on Father’s side) and sent waste-picking before I could even wash my face. If I was unable to wake up in time or feel too tired to work, I would be beaten. The po- lice too would often beat us when they saw us waste-picking as they always suspected we were stealing something because we are Pard- his. On days where we did not earn enough money, my sisters and I would sleep in our chacha’s auto rickshaw outside the house as we feared his beatings if we went in- side with insufficient earnings. He never fed us well despite making us spend all day waste-picking, doing all the housework and even beg- ging at night. How did your chacha react when your older sister won custody of you? My chacha was so angry and threatened to beat me and forcefully take me away from Sandishna. He’s desperate for me because I’m so good at waste-picking and stealing. I can earn so well for any family. If he gets me married, he can demand a high price for me in the commu- nity too. me. During the weekends I stay with Sandishna. I can’t attend Muskaan’s boarding school or day school because some children from my community might rec- ognise me and news will spread to my chacha that I’m actual- ly living with Muskaan and not Sandishna. This will be grounds enough for him to try and gain le- gal custody of me. I hope my cha- cha never finds me or Sandishna. What happened to your family after you left? What happened after you heard my chacha is getting my went to live with your sister? I second youngest sister, Saloni, I stayed with Sandishna for a few months and then Muskaan enrolled me in Grade 5 in a pri- vate school. I enjoy school as the teachers treat me well and don’t hit me. The school is located far away from Sandishna’s house so I’ve recently started to stay at a house rented by Muskaan with another older girl who looks after who still stays with him married soon. She’s only 13. She’s too afraid to run away as she’s terri- fied of him. He won’t even send her waste-picking alone for fear she might run away. Saloni is not allowed to meet any of us. I wish she had the courage to run away. I really miss her. “ My chacha was so angry and threatened to beat me and forcefully take me away “ Saavni is an 11 year old girl who belongs to the Pardhi tribe, a community that suf- fers from a poor reputation in India. Consequently, they are branded as thieves and good-for-nothings and are very often picked up by au- thorities on the pretext of crimes that they have not committed. Saavni is the youngest of five sisters and although her mother was different from other Pard- hi families in the sense she believed in education for daughters, this in itself has not been adequate to shield them from inheriting the in- ternal and external dynam- ics of being born a Pardhi and a girl. Page 24 |