The experience of working with sanitation employees though grim at some points was an overall enlightening and uplifting experience. Though working tough jobs, earning meagre wages their humanity does not leave them, close to everyone I spoke to carried a wealth of hospitality. Wide eyes and wide smiles with the occasional inquiry into my presence once stated they would then shower me with even more questions some even aiding me to find the best shot. The contrast of their demeanour to their environment was stark to say the least, cheerful conversation ensued amidst piles of rotting garbage, jokes made, beedis smoked, memes shared. A landscape so rich in life even as things rotted away around them, unafraid to open up to a stranger, unafraid to look into my lens and unafraid to tell me their stories. A context that rich and so close to college yet ignored. Most people who walk by the waste collection point stifle their snouts; the stench is truly horrific especially later in the day when the sun beings to further break down the rot. I sheepishly ask how they deal with it, “The stench goes away after a while they said, or maybe it is all that we can smell” retorted Rajesh. Rajesh is probably my most memorable interaction, drunk at a whopping eleven AM, industriously hacking away at pile of dry waste with what seemed to be a large fork like tool, constantly roasting his fellow employees or making witty remarks to the kind of waste he encounters.
Though the amount of waste generated or the kind of waste or even the horrific work conditions all being strong memorable visuals that could haunt a person the only thing that seems to haunt me is their stories, the blanket of hospitality they threw over me has made me immune to the eyesores. All I truly see now is the story. Vivid portraitures could be drawn about each one of them, all uniquely varied with each their own struggles and joys. I see a people that the world pretty much shies away from, rough exteriors can do that sometimes, but amidst the stench, grime and filth lies something of beauty. That is my number one take away from this whole experience, to tell the stories that most would not.
