Let's help the homeless this winter

Winter in the Capital has its own flavour and romance that touches all our senses; from brushing aside the smell of eucalyptus leaves and naphthalene balls that all North Indians use to keep woollens fresh and safe, to sipping tightly-held hot cups of masala tea that clears your throat with each sip. Or it could be the pleasure of driving through the mist on a chilly morning to India Gate that appears to almost float above the mist.

One could also take full advantage of the warm but temperate noon by picnicking on the lawns of Lodhi Garden that juxtaposes its profusion of winter blossoms with the austere trees that have shed their leaves for the winter and its majestic monuments that can be seen in the backdrop.

A winter afternoon picnic is quintessential to many Delhi-walas whether they are young or old, resident or tourist and I have always loved the city just before the onset of winter because of the magical air that descends on Delhi in the months of November and December.

Deaths

However like every fairy tale, there is the other, darker underbelly to this setting. And I am not talking about the flu, colds and coughs that inflict every urban Delhi-wala with the onset of winter — for the homeless winters often spell certain death.

A recent study published by skymetweather.com indicates that severe cold is the second major reason for deaths in India, after lightning. Floods surprisingly came in third on the roster of natural calamities — though that data might be changing after the recent floods seen in both Uttarkhand and Kashmir. 

Out on urban streets with the temperatures often dropping below two degrees centigrade, the homeless street dweller often does not even have a blanket to cover himself or herself with, or a place where one can take refuge on a cold winter’s night. One often sees a group of homeless huddled around a fire; what is alarming is that in the absence of firewood, they are now turning to burning waste that often turns out to be toxic waste and the papers without fail report at least one death of a family that has died from its noxious fumes. Thankfully things have now improved, even though marginally, and the Capital is now able to report a lower death rate than in other northern cities in India.

The cold wave in Uttar Pradesh with both maximums and minimums recording five to six degrees below the normal average has led to a number of deaths in many cities which include Lucknow, Varanasi, Ballia, Jaunpur, Bhadohi, Azamgarh and Ghazipur. It is no small wonder then that there was a stampede for the free blankets that were being distributed at Samajwadi Party president Mulayam Singh Yadav’s birthday bash held on Saturday in Badaun.

While Samajwadi Party MP Dharmendra Yadav’s intention to distribute blankets were well intended, the party workers had not provided for or performed any effective method of crowd control before the event.

Stampede

Therefore it was not long before panic started to break out and things got unruly to the point where one woman tragically lost her life and several others had become injured in the ensuing melee that followed.

While stampedes are common in India, especially during big gatherings like religious festivals, melas or political rallies where money, food or as in this case blankets, are distributed, this unfortunate incident is made more poignant by the realisation that the level of desperation for even a free blanket can cause people to risk their lives and create so much panic within them that they are able to forget all the norms of decorum and orderly behaviour.

Utopia

Once again we are reminded of the widening and frightening gap between the haves and the have nots in this country. Winter can be a poetic and romantic season for some, while for others it just spells doom and gloom.

The solution to such social disparity is quite obvious – we need less glitzy malls and more shelters for the homeless. More blankets for the poor rather than the latest in winter couture. And well…we certainly need a much more dignified way of distributing alms to the poor rather than making a political circus of it. But then in this day and age that sounds too much like Utopia!