We Would Rather Die in India Than Be Deported, Say Rohingya Refugees ANURAG KUMAR
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STUDENT PAPER OF THE SCHOOL OF MEDIA & LIBERAL ARTS GREATER NOiDA | NOVEMBER 28, 2017 | VOL 1, ISSUE 6 | PAGES 12 THE TIMESOF BENNETT The Times Coding helps Should there Rowdy Panthers win be anti-Romeo Litfest Shivam bag the Bennett Cricket Google squads? League 2017 Full coverage on Page 12 assignment Page 2 Page 4 & Page 5 Page 3 We would rather die in India than be deported, say Rohingya refugees ANURAG KUMAR “Animals were better off than us,” says Hussein, recalling the horrors of Rakhine, a state in Myan- mar. Being a Rohingya he has survived through dec- ades of statesanctioned apartheid. He fled from Myanmar in the wake of Javed Akhtar and Shabana Azmi in coversation with Sagarika Ghose at the 2012 ethnic conflict the Times Litfest, Delhi. Photo by Lakshay Kumar which left 90,000 people FULL COVERAGE ON PAGE 4 AND PAGE 5 homeless. Now he lives in a makeshift shanty in the Hussien displaying his UNHCR card A Rohingya refugee holding her child Kalindi Kunj area of New Photos by Anurag Kumar Kathputli Colony: The Delhi. The slum houses camps with a shortage of seek medical attention for royalty. Nazia has spent er thought the government 150-200 Rohingyas fami- water and medical facili- his broken leg. most of her childhood in would do this to us. We lies who live in huts made ties. “We couldn’t even go Living in slums is an- India and is untouched by have nowhere to go. I’m of plastics, tin and bricks. talk to our neighbours be- other concern. Lack of san- most of the violence they afraid of what might hap- puppet show has ended They are among 40,000 cause if the military had itation, proper drainage had faced in Myanmar. pen to us.” “I don’t want MANVI SINGH Rohingyas who migrated seen us they would have system and unhygienic sur- She seems to be much In- to go back. Please help us,” to India in the aftermath of killed us,” says Hussein. roundings leads to many dian than a Burmese. “I pleads Ahmed. His eyes The colony which had the ethnic clashes in 2012. But in India, the state of medical issues. Rains and have friends here. I like were moist, despair evi- mothered generations of The rape and murder of a the Rohingya people has winters mar through their this place,” she said when dently visible. “Whenever puppeteers, jugglers, folk Buddhist girl resurfaced hardly changed. Living makeshift homes. Many asked about how she feels I see the police here, I feel singers, musicians, drum- the ethnic tension be- without any identification children die due to pneu- about India. afraid, it’s the same what I mers, dancers and other tween Rohingya minority proof they can’t search for monia during winter. The statement of govern- used to feel when the mili- traditional performing art- and Buddhist majority. a job. Most resort to rag But people are still keen ment planning to deport the tary came to the camps in ists is now nothing more The conflict spiralled out picking while others earn on living in these condi- Rohingya population has re- Myanmar,” he says holding than a mound of rubble. of control while the police a living through working in tions rather than being surfaced their horrors. “Go- his chest. “Ask the government stood aside, sometimes construction sites. deported back to Myan- ing back to Burma would “People here have done to send us to Pakistan if even helping the Buddhist They live below the pov- mar. “It’s far better than be suicide. We’ll rather die so much for us. We had all they want to do is tor- majority. erty line and don’t have the condition in Burma,” than go back to Burma,” no place to go, they gave ture us,” said Bhagwan Das Many Rohingyas fled access to government sub- Ahmed said. They survive says Ahmed. us place to build these who was sitting on a cot from the conflict-hit areas sidies and rations. They through hardships, work- “People here have al- homes,” says Hussein. with a cigarette in his hand of Myanmar to Bangla- are sometimes even denied ing as labourers and or dai- ways been helpful. These “We are thankful to people and no roof over his head A resident of Kathputli Colony sitting on a desh, India, Thailand, and medical facilities. “They ly wagers. Yet they are hap- clothes are all given to me here. I believe they would with all his belongings mount of rubble after the demolition drive other neighbouring coun- don’t take the UN card as py to have a place to live. by the neighbours. They help us and the govern- crammed in bales, forming Photo by Manvi Singh tries. Those left behind identification proof,” says For this stateless pop- sometimes even send us ment would change their walls of fort around him. has been in the news, not Established in the late were rounded up in small Nazir Ahmed. He couldn’t ulation, even slums are a rice,” says Ahmed. “I nev- decision on deportation.” “We as artists did what- for the achievements of 1960s to the early 1970s ever we could to bring fame its residents but rather for had performers original- to our country, now see what their struggles. ly from Rajasthan, later the government is giving us On October 30, 2017, a joined by folk artists and Chandigarh bizman starts first desi donut chain in return. Our houses have demolition drive was car- migrant workers from Ut- SHIVANSHI TOMER innovate with my prod- been razed to the ground, ried out by Delhi Develop- tar Pradesh, Maharashtra, ucts to give my customers our women and children ment Authority (DDA) in Gujarat, Bihar and Andhra “I won’t ever choose any ‘ Challenges the best experience.” Kalra were thrashed for not evac- Kathputli colony of West Pradesh. other career even if given a still come in added. uating their houses. The Delhi after calling it en- “This colony is named chance.” says Ketan Kalra, “I started alone, from sound of screeching cars and croachment. The people of after the work we do, the founder of the first ever the way, so making all the recipes to horns wakes up our children the colony say they have art we know,” said Rani, desi donut chain in India I constantly taking the orders. Now I every few minutes while they been left out in the streets who used to make every called ‘Super Donuts’. The have a family of 70 people sleep on the pavements. Our to suffer the cold weather prop needed for a dance company was started in innovate.’ working with me. Noth- houses might have been without homes or means of performance - kachhi gho- 2013 and now has five out- ing could have been possi- tiny but at least we were not livelihood.To redevelop the di, brass pitchers for Bha- lets in Punjab itself. in North India said, ble without hard work. For on the roads.” colony, the private develop- vai dance, stilts, and cos- When the young boy Kalra. Talking of expan- hard work one must have His eyes sparkled with er has built transit accom- tumes. returned home after an sion Kalra discussed his a clear goal in mind and excitement as he tried to modation for the residents Rani says she feels like extensive study of do- plan of first capturing Inside the ‘Super Donut’ outlet in Chandigarh. keep trying till you get it recall his trips to Ameri- who have lost their houses a herd dog and she has to nuts abroad and planned the North Indian market Photo by Shivanshi Tomer right.” said Kalra. ca, Holland, Germany and at Anand Parbat. During constantly keep an eye on to open a shop in Chan- and then slowly expand- ket to venture, Kalra ex- customers, Kalra replied He has worked in some France where he used to the last three years, 1,355 her children because of digarh, little did anyone ing. He also said, “I had plained how he saw scope with joy how the people of of the reputed firms such perform as a Sufi singer families have been shifted the fear of their getting know he would turn out no prior experience of in this particular field as Chandigarh wholehearted- as Mindful Leadership, as part of a troupe. But to the transit accommoda- hit by a vehicle or getting to be one of the best en- managing a business but it has not been explored ly welcomed Super Donuts. Brand and Communica- those days when he had tion,” said a DDA official. kidnapped. Women of trepreneurs in the North. I never let it pose a threat yet. I have tried to in- Kalra talked about how he tions Management, Re- represented the country “Moving into flats and the colony including me Kalra talks about how the to my growth. I have troduce the American has faced a lot of problems cruitment Consultancy.eu and its heritage are long high-rise buildings would get up at midnight and go western culture always in- learnt a lot with time and tradition by bringing in which came in his way and and AIESEC Exchangers gone now. Now they make mean the death of our liv- into open to get relieved spired him and how it gave I now aim to establish donuts, bagels, nachos, how he always faced them which he later gave up for ends meet by entertaining ing space and the environ- after the toilets have been him the idea to open his Super Do nuts as India’s waffles and shakes, he bravely with the constant his own venture.