Do something for us,else just pray

In a tented space opposite Jama Masjid that serves as a makeshift night shelter for a number of Delhis homeless,the smell of too many human beings stuffed into too small a space hangs in the air.

In a tented space opposite Jama Masjid that serves as a makeshift night shelter for a number of Delhis homeless,the smell of too many human beings stuffed into too small a space hangs in the air. Its 9.30 pm on Sunday,and a TV set an NGOs gift in the centre is screening Kranti,a Bollywood tale of suffering against great odds.

The children are so transfixed by a song and dance number featuring Hema Malini that they barely notice the two women who walk in and sit down on two rickety chairs. Sayeeda Sabya and Sashi Kala,schoolteachers by day,have arrived to enumerate the homeless.

In another corner of Jama Masjid,considered a high-density area for the homeless,Varsha Joshi,director of Census Operations,New Delhi,speaks furiously into her phone at her team in Okhla mandi. They have disobeyed orders. They were told to summon every enumerator to survey the mandi. They decided not to call the women and now all I have is 40 enumerators to survey an estimated 2,500 people here, she says.

Joshi had written to the Police Commissioner asking him to keep his officials at bay while her team carried out the Census. The homeless are suspicious of the police,and may have given incorrect information in their presence, a census official says.

In the tent,Sayeeda Sabya is enumerating Yasmeen,mother of four and wife of two,with one husband dead and one absconding. Yasmeen claims to be 32; her eldest child is 17. So,you were 15 when you had your first child? Sabya asks. Yasmeen says she cant remember,and questions under her breath how it matters. One of her daughters,Shahnaz,13 comes to the rescue. I saw ads of the Census on television, she says and takes over the task of answering questions. Her mother is a garbage collector and Sabya lists labourer as her occupation,her brother fixes shutters of shops and is also a labourer,her stepfather ran away and he is dead as far as she is concerned. Enumerating the family takes 30 minutes,the statistics written but not the stories.

In the Urdu Park opposite Meena Bazaar in the Jama Masjid Complex,Muskaan and her sister Pinky are getting ready to call it a night. Muskan claims she is 18 but looks older. She was afflicted with polio as a child,she tells the enumerator. How long have you been living in the Urdu Park, the enumerator asks. My parents passed away when I was very young,and since I am disabled I couldnt find any work; since then I have been living here, she says. Yes,but for how many years? Maybe 8 or 10. The enumerators lists 10.

Sanam,a 28-year-old transgender who styles himself as a man,claims he has been in Urdu Park four months. The enumerator asks him his religion. Thakur,Rajput,Chauhan,Jatav. The enumerator lists him as a Hindu. She asks him if he ever went to school; he responds,Why do you care? She tries to explain the Census and he relents,OK,I understand that you are doing your job but let me tell you one thing; the government is unlikely to do anything with the information you are collecting,but if you have any say in the matter,please tell them to do something for the homeless at Meena Bazaar,and if you cant do that,then just pray for us.

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Till the early hours,enumerators fan out,prodding people awake. There are drunkards and drug addicts to deal with and many who have forgotten the answers. Its a tough job,but no one will be left uncounted, Varsha Joshi says.

1,500
Enumerators,men and women
300
Wards covered in 2 days
25,000
Homeless counted in 2001 Census