Scavengers strike gold in trash heap (Time of India 07 October 2011)

Indrani Basu, TNN Oct 7, 2011, 05.23AM IST indrani.basu@timesgroup.com
New Delhi: With the immersion of the idols on Vijaya Dashami, it is curtains to Durga Puja, but for these ragpickers, the festival has just begun. These band of boys from the nearby jhuggi clusters around the Yamuna ghats look forward to this day each year when hundreds of puja devotees come for the immersion and leave behind offerings. What is waste for others is big money for them.
Proudly clutching his "booty" in a dirty, white plastic sack, seven-year-old Suhaib says he collected enough utensils to last a year for his family in about 50 minutes. There are many others who like Suhaib are busy sifting through piles of incense sticks, puja samagri and packets of flowers to retrieve what they consider "useful" waste.
"I collect gatta (cardboard) and plastic. Gatta sells for Rs 5 a kilo and plastic for Rs 13 a kilo. Today, I have already made two trips to my house to empty my bag. I will collect enough to sell for at least Rs 50. All my siblings are also here. We will have a feast tonight," said a jubilant nine-year-old Bhuwan. He stays in a rundown hut near the Shamshan Ghat with his paralytic mother and three siblings.
For most of these children, the festivities begin only when the puja ends for the devotees. Each year, these children watch from the banks of the Yamuna as the puja committees come the ghats with their idols. As the devotees dance and pray in front of the idols before the visarjan, the scavengers too join in, in anticipation of the treasures that they would soon find in the devotees' waste. Most people coming for the visarjan carry water bottles and plastic packets that they carelessly throw away before leaving the ghat, and these children are only too happy to pick them up and stow them away in the bags they bring with them.
"Sometimes, we have demarcated areas where each scavenger can forage. We cover the whole ghat and some of the more experienced swimmers dive into the water to salvage packets of utensils which the devotees throw into the river. Our operation continues till late into the evening. For us, it's a hard day's work, but it is also our one of the happier days. Vijaya Dashami is the day when we are assured of a full meal at night. Many of the things we manage to salvage keep us going for the rest of the year," said 12-year-old Vijay, who has been visiting the ghat on Vijaya Dashami since he was eight years old.
As devotees pull out of the ghats chanting "Ma Durga would be back again next year", these young scavengers join in to echo their prayer.