Photo Essay: Life After a Fire
Ajay Jaiman documents residents of a basti near Gurgaon that was devastated after a fire in May this year.
Ajay Jaiman
Jun 29 2017
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Ajay Jaiman documents residents of a basti near Gurgaon that was devastated after a fire in May this year.
Just off Sunset Boulevard, not far from the gleaming glass and steel offices of Gurgaon, is a little shanty town. It is mostly inhabited by migrant labourers, who call small boxes made of tin, cardboard, thatch and flex (those once adorned larger-than-life hoardings) their home.
That flammable eyesore was burnt to the ground in the early morning hours of May 29 – a devastation significant enough to make it to mainline news.
When I heard that my partner, associated with The Restoring Force (an NGO), was going to attend the NGO Agrasar's inauguration of a non-formal school for the children of this basti as part of its long term rehabilitation program, I decided to tag along.
This is what l saw barely a month after the fire had ravaged through these people's homes, belongings and savings (most don't have bank accounts).
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Ajay Jaiman makes photographs and films professionally. He works almost exclusively with not-for-profit organisations/causes.
This article went live on June twenty-ninth, two thousand seventeen, at thirty minutes past eight in the morning. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments.
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