Delhi may boast of world-class chain of food outlets like Mc Donald’s, Pizza Hut and Dominoes, available in every nook and corner of the city, but what really appeals to the taste buds of a typical Delhite is a plate of golgappa. This savoury is undoubtedly preferred over the  burger any day. Roam around Delhi streets and you will find umpteen numbers of Agarwal, Bikaner and Mishthaan Sweet Houses selling Indian delicacies like chaat. All these sweet houses that have made our life in the capital spicy and worthwhile.
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The ‘Summer of Sixty Nine’ is the only summer which presumably everyone enjoyed, otherwise, all the other summers that we experience seem to haunt us with heat strokes and sun burns. And, for lazy bones like us, it brings added chores to the routine; One has to bathe everyday, (Don’t look at me with suspicion please), apply sunscreen before we step out and wear sunshades to attract eyeballs.

For some people like us, summers of Delhi are the most dreaded season, but for others, they are the source to earn food and way to live life. Those water-vending machines with a shabby looking operator, flood the city as early as in March. They brave the sun and stand all day long to do the ‘godly’ job of quenching thirst for just 50 paise per glass.

In the busy Central Market in Lajpat Nagar, there stands a kid all of eight years with his water vending machine. As we approach him, we notice that he is observing me just like I was observing him. Too smart for his age, and full of wit, the child was an easy game for convincing him to talk to VP.

VP: Hi

Kid: Hi!

VP: We are from an online newspaper. Will you tell us about yourself?

Kid: Oh sure! You want my interview?

VP: Yes, we will publish your name and photograph as well.

Kid: There he is, my Uncle, please publish his photo too…

(His Paternal uncle has his machine just in front of his)

VP: All right, we will. What does he do?

Kid: He is also a water vendor.

VP: Good. What is your name?

Kid: Lal Babu

VP: Lal Babu! Who gave you this name?

Kid: Amma. She lives in our village.

VP: What does your father do?

Lal Babu: He is also a water vendor. My Dad and I do the same work in summers.

VP: In summers? What you do in winters?

Lal Babu: Selling water is not a profitable business in winters. My Dad sells hand gloves and woolen caps here in the same market.

VP: And what you do?

Lal Babu: I help him around.

VP: So you don’t go to school?

Lal Babu: I do go, but today is my holiday.

VP: Who operates your machine then, when you go to school?

Lal Babu (confused and nervous so does not answers)

VP: Tell us truthfully, did u go to school?

Lal Babu: Yeah I did, but today I did not. I had a holiday.

VP: Where does your Dad stand?

Lal Babu: He stands in the same Market.

(He explained us the way to his dad’s machine and we were there in a while after we finished the session with the child. His Dad told us that he did go to school but he is a very naughty kid. Instead of going to school, he used to change his way and landed to at the roadside to pass time with other street side children. This was very hard for us to believe because the kid was apparently more then interested in being educated and in fact he apparently, lied to us due to guilty conscience).

VP: So how much you earn in a day?

Lal Babu: About Rs. 300-400

VP: That’s quite a good amount.

(I wondered if even I could take up the same job!!)

Lal Babu (chuckles): No, Didi. You are educated. Your work is better. All of these earnings do not go into my pocket. I have to earn and give at least Rs.400 to Malhotra Seth.

VP: Who is this Malhotra Seth?

Lal Babu: He owns this machine and gives us water soda and stuff.

VP: Oh, so it is not yours?

Lal Babu: No it is all Malhotra’s. We have to give him a fixed amount everyday and above that, the remaining amount belongs to us.

(Every water vending machine you see in the city belongs to a rich businessman who invests in these machines and gives them on rent. A water vendor can never purchase and run it alone because they need to have a license for doing this work, which comes for at least Rs.60, 000-70, 000. This is sans the patronage that these powerful people provide them as legally they are not allowed to operate.)

VP: So how much you get in your hand?

Lal Babu: I get only Rs. 40-50

VP: The money belongs to you?

Lal Babu: Yeah, a part of it. I first give it all to my Dad and then he gives me some.

VP: What do you do with the money?

Lal Babu: I eat samosas, dhabe ki roti and kulfi.

VP: You like them?

Lal Babu: A lot.

(Meanwhile, there comes a bully-like person. He warns Lal Babu to get his ‘rehdi’ aside. Lal Babu puts a good defence. “Kuch bhi kar lo, rehdi nahi hategi bhai” These words out of an eight-year-old’s mouth, baffle me.

We sensed that the kid needs to get back to work now and so we bade him goodbye but on a sweeter note. We gave him a chocolate and the smile on his face was so overwhelming that it made my day, and I too, was smiling for the rest of the day. While we were leaving, he reminded us, “chacha ki photu le lena aur jab chape toh mujhe zaroor dikhana”.

Compiled by: Monica Verma

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We all are alive today, in fact, happily alive. Inspite of the so-called ‘tough roads’ we are walking on, we are still comfortably happy with the hope of a better tomorrow. Whether it be me, you or L.N. Mittal, who wants to count more millions than he does now? Or does Shahrukh Khan, whose appetite for ‘hits’, God knows when, will satiate? Or Amitabh Bachchan who wants to endorse all oils, ointments and ‘Chyawanprash-es’ on Earth? Or Sachin Tendulkar, who wants to make as many runs as hair on his head!

We all run and we all work harder to come as close to what we call ‘success’. More fame, more money, and a bigger name are all what we want from our tomorrow, but for most people on the same planet, life is more about today. The struggle to live the day, the fight to feed their stomach, not more, at least once, with the only the hope that there will be a better tomorrow. Irony being, that they share the same city and the same sky. At some points our existence helps them to sustain, but at most points they go unnoticed, uncared and get hate and sympathy sans empathy from us.

In this interview, we bring you those souls who are the real soldiers of the war called Life. They face the worst of the circumstances, but still they fight and will continue to do so. Some have overcome, some are still trying, but all are winners. The Viewspaper salutes them, so will you.

Just read on…

Less then 80% of the solid waste, which Delhi generates, is collected on the ground level Of this collected waste, a major chunk is collected by an army of about 100,000 rag pickers operating in the city. Earlier, these rag pickers had direct contacts with recycling units. However, recently, the Government of India privatized this business and now, these people are paid less and exploited more by the private contractors for whom they work

The Viewspaper met these three children, who are rag pickers in Chirag Dilli:

VP: Hi! Can we talk?

Kids: Who are you? (in an alert, cautious tone)

VP: We are from an online newspaper. We want to talk to you and we will publish it too.

Kids (looking at each other confused)

VP: We will click your photo and publish your name.

Kids (interested): All right.

VP: What are your names?

Kids: I am Raju, I am Rajul Mohammad and he is Rakibu (two friends, elder looking introducing the younger chap, who is too young and feels too shy to talk)

VP: Where do you live?

Kids (Rajul): We live in Jawahar park slums in Devli Gaon

(Devli Gaon is a slum area in South Delhi near Sangam Vihar.)

VP: Where are your parents?

Kids: (Rajul) They, too, live there with us.

(Raju): My parents live in Jind, here I live with my maternal uncle and his wife.

VP: Oh, so your family is not here? Why are you not living with them?

Raju: They sent me last year after holi to earn and feed myself.

VP: What does your father do, back home? Can’t he bring you up?

Raju: My parents are very poor and we are three siblings . He does different jobs like rag-picking and pulling the rickshaw. My mother pleaded with him to not send me here or at least escort me, but he said we can’t live together in Delhi as it is very expensive.

VP: Why did he send you here then?

Raju: My maternal uncle wanted some help in his business but when I arrived here, he put me into this job.

VP: So how much you earn in a day?

Raju: About Rs.100 per day, which ‘thekedaar’ gives me on monthly basis.

VP: So, how you spend this money?

Raju: I have to give this whole amount to my uncle, a part of which he sends to my family.

VP: Have you ever gone to school?

Raju: Yes. I went to school till I was in eighth class. Then my parents didn’t have money to pay my fees and I was sent to Delhi.

(State run ‘Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan’ aims at providing free education only till primary level and eighth standard is the last class of this scheme.)

VP (To Rajul & Rakub): Did you ever go to school?

Rajul: No, never.

VP: Don’t you want to go?

Rajul: I do want to, but my mum wakes me up every morning early and gives this sack in my hand. I cannot help it.

VP: You like doing this job of rag picking?

Kids: Yes, it gives us money but the conductor does not lets us in the bus, we have to walk all the way to contractor’s place with about 20 kg waste and then come back again to collect more.

(They may buy the ticket but conductors ward them off because then other people will not board the bus.)

VP: Have you seen any movies?

Kids (Raju confused) (Rajul laughing) (Rakibu silent like always)

VP: Who is your favorite hero?

Raju: Sunny Deol

VP: Why?

Raju:I saw him bash goons and police around.

VP: You want to bash police?

Raju: No. But they beat us many times with no reason.

VP: Then what you do?

Raju: We weep for a while and then do our work again, we can’t leave this job.

VP: Why you think Police beats you?

Raju: Oh! They think we are thieves. Madam ji, we can stay hungry but we can’t steal. Not every poor is a thief.

VP: What is your dream in life?

(No body answers)

(We reframe our question)

VP: What you want to do when you grow up? You want to continue with rag picking always?

Raju: I want to be a schoolmaster

Rajul: I want to go to school once only.

VP (To Raju): When will you see your parents again?

Raju: They asked me to come only twice a year. I will go on Holi to meet my sister and brother. I miss them.

Rakibu reminded them of the time and so these kids left with their sack of garbage for yet another uphill day…

 

 

Compiled By: Monica Verma

 

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1. I read an article carried by The (Indian) Express and you referred to yourself as a comisist. Please elaborate. 

Sarnath: Good Lord!! That was like..there was a time when Genghis Khan was still around. No, Ive grown since from all that adolescent behavior of trying to name myself. It was absolutely difficult to kind of explain what I do to people at that point of time, its easier now. Its just that I had to lie all the time about what I do for a living. Like I’m a banker…

You mean to society or to yourself or..

No, when people say, like in the train for example, what do you do for a living, so you say, ok, you’re a banker, you’re a dealer in industrial absorbants, but then nobody would believe you because it sounds exotic..

Yeah, 

So comisist I tried, but it was absolute like, tomfoolery, I dont believe in it anymore. 

2. Secondly, what does it take to make a good graphic novelist?

Sarnath: Like my friend the other day said it should have graphic moments, a graphic moment is like a finely delivered ball for cricket lovers, you know, good in line and length basically, the line being the drawing and the length being the writing. So like a synergy of the two to create a graphic moment and if a graphic novel does not have a graphic moment then…

Then what’s the point.. 

Ya, so ya its kind of a.., I guess its more of a,  what takes to write a good graphic novel would be, you need to be educated, in the sense you need to know your subject, what you’re working on, because content is mother, father and everything.The graphic form is a language so how you use the language, it doesn’t mean that you have to be a fantastic artist or a fantastic writer to write the most perfect graphic novel, its more of a, like sort of a synergy of the two, and how you combine it. I guess you just need to be influenced from a lot of subjects other than just graphic novels, and that should come into your graphic novel. 

3. Ok, can you tell us how a graphic novel is different from a normal comic book. 

Sarnath: Well every graphic novel is a comic book essentially, superset as comic books and a graphic novel is a subset of that, it’s those comic books which seem to have, 

But is it as light as a comic book or, 

In terms of physically light or…

No, content wise..

See, these are both, both are languages, a graphic novel is attributed to a comic book which have a slightly more literary bend or, pretension or consequence or accident, you know, its a term which is used by publishers to kind of you know sift, comic books are usually like children’s literature, but graphic novels are not. 

More serious…

More serious or whatever, in depth sort of a thing, so that’s probably it. Its a bad definition but that’s it. 

4. What is your inspiration?

Sarnath: My inspiration? Wow. And you want to know my inspiration in one interview, its..

No, like in the books you’ve written…or generally as you’ve come so far..

No, I can go book by book, like the last book’s inspiration was scandal of 18th century Calcutta, and its like a piss take of history, the whole way of writing history, authenticity and the rest of it, and how an entire book of history can be written just through the circulating rumours and scandals and yellow page journalism and all that sort of thing, so basically like, in a sense you really don’t know what is true and what is false, and it also uses one of the most endearing myths of western literature which is The Legend of the Wandering Jew. Apparently this man emerges every century, and its also allegorical because you know, the Jews are, can never rest because, you know all that sort of Jewish-Christian Myth. 

5. And, who are the pioneers in this field? And how has this come about, writing a graphic novel.

Sarnath: Pioneers in the field… I would certainly name the guy who actually got it to the so called reading population or the literery population, was Art Speigelmann, who’s book got a Pulitzer Award, for writing Maus which is on Auschwitz, an oral history on Auschwitz, and then there’s Will Eisner who documented New York for all his life, and there are many pioneers, it is a multi-genre, because people tend to think that graphic novel is a genre, but it’s not, its a language, so there are many people in different topics of graphic novels. 

6. And what sort of difficulties have you encountered?

Sarnath: Difficulties, creative or…

Ya, creative and generally, or publishing? 

Sarnath: Well nobody would publish me, that was one difficulty but that doesnt really sort, graphic novelists are not exclusive to that problem, there are many people. When I started off it was difficult, but because, lot of, even reasonable people sort of you know, did not really understand why, graphic novel..is it a fad, some people still doubt whether its actually a real language or a fad. And what was your other question? Other difficulties..creative difficulties. I come from a film background so there was a, trying to unlearn cinema, and trying to do a graphic novel which is a very different medium of cinema, people tend to think that ok, they are very similar, graphic novel is storyboard for cinema, which is complete bollocks, because its not. It’s a different form all together. 

7. How do you think a graphic novel is valid today, and electronic media has gone so far ahead, and video art is coming up. 

New media is actually helping graphic novels. It is becoming a very cross medium, like I can now work with a sound designer, a DJ, a projectionist, and a video artist to create a graphic novel which are the next generation graphic novels, which will give you a much more immersive effect. You can recreate Nehru Place in New Orleans, and give a sense of atmosphere. So you know, these are things which graphic novels can do. 

8. How does India compare to the world, as far as graphic novels are concerned, as far as quality of graphic novels or popularity level. 

Sarnath: Well, popularity level is catching up, India does not really have the baggage, for example, in Germany you cant do graphic novels because they have an age old prejudice against image, writing for images, always for children, France, does not have that problem. But there is not a pan-western sort of a thing. But it is, it is a seventh art form in France, so it’s really, Guardian now and then publishes graphic novels and the first Guardian award, book award was given to a graphic novelist two years back. Chris Ware. So, ya, England is picking up, but they might not have the wherewithal to understand graphic novels because it’s a fairly sophisticated form, and British people are not very sophisticated. On the other hand, in India we dont really have the baggage, whether it’s good or bad to read a graphic novel, whether it’s embarassing to carry a graphic novel, nobody has established it, what is happening is, the good thing is, it’s a new country, changing societies, and as a result, we need interesting ways to tell these stories, and the old way of telling stories needs to be questioned, long, big material, you know, bulky, people don’t have that kind of, level of commitment.

9. What prompted you to become a graphic novelist? 

Sarnath: I tried everything else, and failed, and that’s why I became a graphic novelist. No, no, that’s a joke. I just stumbled upon the medium, and once I got deeper into it, because I’m trained as a film maker, and that is why, 99 percent of graphic novels I hate, but the one percent I like, no other medium can reach that visual depth, that visual experience for novelistic depth. 

10. And what are your future plans?

Sarnath: Future plans? Buy a little cottage in Goa, I would say, I would imagine, if I can…

No,as far as writing is concerned..

As far as writing is concerned, I have a publishing outfit, from which I want to generate more graphic novels, particularly, non-fictional graphic novels, reportage sort of stuff. I am writing a few bits of essays, you know, a book of essays, with the graphic form, and, I’m in the art market, people are buying my work in the art market, so that’s it. 

Thank you so much

Thank you. 

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Ordering in the Costa Coffee outlet in GK-I M-Block Market, one is pleasantly surprised to spot deaf and mute workers employed at the front-end. While one may be slightly hesitant at first while ordering, the uncertainty is quickly dismissed when they smile amiably and take your order, as you point to what you want in the menu. They seem unmindful of the curious stares that they attract and proudly gesture to the customers that they cannot hear and “will-you-please-wait-until-our-co-worker-comes” when there is a need for answering a question.

 

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When did you first start designing cars?

1993.

 

And how did you get into this business of designing?

I felt that I was able to deliver to the simple human psyche of I and you wanting change, because we are bored very easily. And I thought that if I did do that in cars, I could never go out of business and I would never be hungry, at the very least!

 

What do you consider to be your biggest achievement till date?

I don’t think that I have achieved much, yet. I think the biggest achievement is to be recognized by people like you - as somebody who is worth emulating. And you are interviewing me, so I feel good. I must have achieved something for you to be interviewing me!

 

How was your experience designing the car for James Bond in ‘Die Another Day’?

I am not going to comment on that. I am bound by contract.

 

Tell us something about the ‘Ambierod’ and how you got into it.It’s a car which is inspired by the Ambassador. We look forward to it, as we realised that we had to make people stop in their tracks and say ‘Wow! It is our own car. It’s the ambassador!’ And it was a relentless desire to compete with the world’s best car. We said that we can do it, and its all about attitude. This car is a reflection of attitude. Because you guys can also do it! We are second to none.

Do our hearts beat any slower than the Italians or the Americans? Its all about attitude. Life is all about attitude.

 

Of course! We can see that. It’s right in front of our eyes – beautiful! And when did you start production for this car?

Six months ago.

 

Now that you’ve started production in a big way, would you go more into that and less into designing?

No. That’s a separate set of skills. Separate group of engineers. We’ll go more into designing. Designing is all about the nest battleground.

 

What are plans of expanding DC Auto mobiles nationally and internationally?

Yes, that’s on the list.

 

We read in an interview of yours, where you said that you want to start an automotive school. How is that coming along?

 

It’s well on its way and the first courses start in August 2009.

 

Where is it based?

In Pune.

 

And what message do you have for our readers – the youth of India?

The world is about super specialization. You don’t have to follow the generic stream to make a living like a lawyer, doctor or a businessman. Just follow what you love doing. You love styling hair, so be it, because there is global opportunity. You have to go to work feeling that you are on a holiday, not because you want to work to make a living. That is my message.

 

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