Delhiwale: City in heatwave, citizen outdoors

In searing Delhi heat, Arshi, a woman living near Safdarjung Hospital, endures hardships to support her injured husband, relying on charity and resilience.

The midday is turning out to be intolerable. The summer air is so searingly hot that even the shirt collar is burning the neck. One wonders how can we the people survive in such hostile conditions. Yet we do.

Delhiwale: City in heatwave, citizen outdoors

Take this market lane in a Central Delhi locality. It is a blinding white afternoon, and the lane is moderately crowded. Vendors are parked along the street-side, though not a single tree stands on the street. One man is sitting beneath the skeletal shade of a potted plant, his eyes closed.

And then there is Arshi, an alm seeker. She sits directly under the sun. No shade near her. She agrees to a conversation.

How do you cope with this heat?

(She shrugs wordlessly, faintly smiling.)

Where do you live?

Safdarjung.

(The word carries many images. Safdarjung in South Delhi is sprawling. There is the old tomb. The out-of-use airport. The posh bungalows of Safdarjung Enclave. The villages around it. The hospital. She means the hospital. She says she lives at Safdarjung Hospital.)

We were living in Aligarh. My husband works as a labourer. One day, while at work. he injured his reer ki haddi. We came to Delhi, to Safdarjung Hospital, because treatment here was free. We did not know anyone in Delhi. While he was admitted, I slept at night outside the OPD (Outpatient Department), along with relatives of many other patients. During the day, I would carry his X-ray report to nearby markets. I would stand by the street-side and show the X-ray to people, and ask for financial help. After some months, my husband recovered to some extent. He finds works now and then in Delhi, so for now we aren’t going back to Aligarh. Since renting a house here is too expensive, we continue to sleep outside the OPD… I come daily to the markets, asking for money.

Where do you cook your meals?

People come to Safdarjung from many towns and villages for medical treatment. Most are poor like us. There are always some kind people who bring food vans twice a day, which they park right outside the hospital for people in need. We stand in line and wait for our turn.

Did you have lunch today?

Usually I buy something from the streets. But today is too hot. I do not feel like eating. I am only drinking water. I fill my water bottle from there. (She points toward a building behind her.)

How do you survive this heat?

I am used to hardships. God has given me himmat. I can bear everything.