“They say they will provide electricity once we have Pacca Houses, but they promised us that too.”

By: Vedanth and Lakshmi

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Upon visiting a slum near Konankunte that was called the “Dalit Samar Sene”, Lakshmi and I entered into a place where theory loses its importance. The classroom is forgotten, the two hour seminar prepared in a hurry or writing a proposal or thesis using a theory does not seem justify or reason with what you see unfolding. 

A settlement swarming with children playing at the entrance, were excited to welcome us. To our surprise, not only were the people hospitable but they advised us to come on the weekend next time we visit. We realised that the Bangalore we discuss in classrooms amounts to nothing but a reflection of our class, social rank and most importantly entitlement. It starts to seem futile to discuss the “intersectionalities of spaces in Bangalore as a city” or “how one understands identity in Bangalore” when a man selling world maps makes ₹500/day or when a 13 year old child does not have access to electricity when he comes to his hut after a day at school that provides little to no prospect of quality education. 

However, one is startled to notice the teeming optimism of a pacca house, and electricity, in people who have been living in the settlement for 20-odd years. “The negotiation with the government has started, let’s see what they do now,” was what Sanjay had to say after Lakshmi asked him whether the government has guaranteed pacca houses to the people. Mohammed Irrfan, a 44 year old man, humorously told us, “they [government] tell us they can’t give us electricity unless we have a pacca house because the current across plastic and exposed setup can cause short circuits which is dangerous. But they said that they would help with a pacca house,” he and us laughed at the absurdity of the situation. 

Dalit Samar Sene continues to grow from its current toll of 160 “houses” sheltering around 900 people. Yet, the people do not fail to show unity against the police who sometimes come to verify documents to find “Bangladeshis”. When the media enters into a debate of Hindu-Muslim or when Bajrang Dal polices people on Valentine’s Day and kills Muslims on allegations of being a Bangladeshi, Sanjay and his friend Ussruddin Sheikh come back after selling world maps worth ₹1000 on a lucky day. When we tried to know their thoughts on the boiling division of the country, a person of Dalit Samar Sene said, “Here we do not have that, I am a Muslim, he is a Hindu. Our wives scold us when we don’t listen and we all do an aarti for Ganesh and eat together on Eid.”