Gujjar Protests & Drug De-Addiction Camp

We couldn't go to Mewat today...I was slightly disappointed (okay, very) but after hearing about what's going on in the Gujjar community in northwestern India that disappointment quickly faded! It looks like we can't go to Jaipur either because of the blocked borders. We're waiting for the military to come in, so it's safe to travel again. It shouldn't be more than a few days.

So instead of Mewat, a village that I will post about later on, we went to a drug de-addiction camp today. It's another SPYM site; coincidentally, it's in a Gujjar community area (but we were in no danger). It was really cool to interact with the drug users, many of whom are older (50+), have children, and some of whom are professionals (one of them I chatted with, Ramchander, is a government worker). We played a lot of games, including Bollywood trivia, singing, reciting poetry, Simon Says, etc. It was cool to see them getting lively, kind of like children. One of them just lay in the corner, I think he was having severe withdrawal symptoms (most of them were, they had only been in the center 2-3 days).

The camp lasts 15 days and is completely free. From what I gathered from talking to two of the participants, Ramchander and Pasandsingh, they earnestly want to quit using smack (the most common drug of choice). In Ramchander's case, he has five children, all of them in school. One of his kids keeps telling him that the teacher at school says smack is bad. The little boy bugs his dad to stop, and that's why Ramchander's here. He happens to be an illustrious performer, and recited bits of poetry, speeches, and even sang a whole song (Teri Meri Dosti Hai). Pasandsingh was a little harder to talk to, because he seemed to be more out of it. In the beginning he said he started using drugs late in life, and then continued to say he was only a child when he started. So who knows. Either way, they were bright and responsive. Ramchander was eager to hear and be heard. Towards the end of our visit, he brought me a piece of paper with Hindi words on it. I couldn't read it, so someone translated. It was his personal log of how he was feeling at this point of his detoxification. The sense of brotherhood he felt at the camp seemed to keep him going. He was worried about how he would resist the drug once he resumed his normal life, but knew he had to leave the habit. I admired his straightforwardness.

I asked him if he likes other things besides drugs...movies, ice cream, biryani (hey, he likes Hyderabad!). He said he used to, but now all his money goes to smack. Maybe he can rediscover all the things he used to like. He seemed like a man of many talents!

The greatest thing for me today was when we stood in a circle and each person stepped forward and sang a song, or recited a poem, or did some sort of performance for the group. Some sang sad love songs, others recited philosophical poems, and there were a couple funny stories. There was always a moral. It was heartfelt and made me feel included in these people's lives, even if it was only for a short while. I loved it.

We even contributed a little to the performing...to kick it off, we played Sejal's Bollywood trivia game, which livened things up after talking about drug addiction the whole morning. I even sang a couple lines of a song (it's all I know!), it went like this:

Aye dil hai mushkil jeena yahan
Zara hat ke zara bach ke,
yeh hai Dilli (Delhi) meri jaan

It's edited because we're in Delhi, not Bombay! Sej gets snaps for that.

On the domestic front: the crew is ok. Emma has slept some, Sej hasn't run into a flying lizard, and I haven't seen a cockroach. The mouse mystery is unsolved. Paul continues to be a trooper.