Two Testimonies of the Vagabond Life: Salim Sheikh and Mohammad Shamim

By Salim Sheikh and Mohammad Shamim

These testimonies were collected at the Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti ('jaipur foot') as part of a study on experiences of persons with disability conducted by the Centre for Equity Studies, New Delhi.

Salim:

I have no permanent address. Babalog ka koi thikana nahi, maangane waale toh ghoomte hi rehte hai. I keep coming back to the dargah at Ajmer from time to time...

I have been wandering from here to there since I lost my leg in an accident in 2001. I used to work as a casual labourer in Bulsar in Gujarat. I lost my leg in a workplace accident. The thekedar did nothing for me. My leg was amputed in a government hospital in Bulsar. I lived and begged there for sometime but I was not happy. Mann nahi lagta tha. I don't like to beg in the same basti day after day. I've been all around Gujarat, Rajasthan, Allahabad... Nobody bothers us on trains. Maybe sometimes, they'll ask us to move along a little...

I've come to Jaipur before. I got a foot made here three times. Magar shareer mein takat nahi hai. I could not walk even with the foot...

I had a disability certificate but I lost it. You can get one giving your address as the dargaah bazaar. But you can't get pension or anything else if you don't have an address...

I was brought up in Mumbai. My father used to work in the tyre industry. My brother and sister-in-law still live in Mumbai in a slum in Bhandup. I lived with them for some time. Lekin waha jamta nahi tha...

We were very poor even in our childhood. I can't read or write.. Let's stop here. Aur baat nahi karna hai bhai. Baaki sab garibi hi garibi hai. What you people are doing is good. It may not mean much now, but when you give your reckoning before Allah every good action of yours means something. But please, I don't want to talk anymore.

Shamim:

I won’t lie to you since you are my friend now. I had told you I’m from West Bengal like you are. That’s not really true. I’m actually from Bangladesh, Mymensingh district. I wander about like this a lot. I have been to Allahabad, Nagpur, Agra, Mumbai… My parents used to worry about me at first. Now they’re used to it. But if I get a leg, I’ll stop this unemployed drifting way of life. I know someone in my village who has an electrical shop and will surely give me work…

I used to work in a furniture shop in Slyhet as a child. I lived with my aunt and uncle then. My aunt didn’t like me much, she sent me home one day. I went to Mymengsingh to work at a construction site once. The loads were too heavy. I was still very small. I couldn’t do it. I went home again. Then I came back to work some years later when I was older. That’s when I had this accident. A truck hit me…

I was in the big hospital at Mymensingh for one and a half months. When my father saw me for the first time he wouldn’t stop crying. His eldest son had become good for nothing. Why wouldn’t he cry? He sold two cottahs of land to treat me. Now they have just 2 cottahs. My blood group is B negative. It was very tough to find donors. And buying blood is very expensive. Finally, friends of my mama donated blood. One of the friends was a Hindu student. I remember the football world cup was on when I was in hospital. Spain won that year…

I got nothing from the government or anybody else after my injury. When it happened I had thought my life is over. Later it was okay. But this is the first time I’m getting anything from a government…

I gave the class 8 exam at the Madrasa recently. I don’t go to classes, I just give the exam. I’m ashamed to go to class because of this [pointing at his leg]. I don’t know Hindi properly but I know some Arabic…

I didn’t know anything about this Jaipur organization. I was on my way to the dargah at Ajmer Sharif. At Agra, I saw a disabled man with a plastic foot who practically ran to the water cooler and back. I asked him, ‘how did you do that’ Where did you get this foot?’ He wrote me this address in English [Sawai Man Singh Hospital, Malviya Nagar, Jaipur’]. That’s how I came here. As soon as I get a foot, I’ll take a train and go back home. Crossing the border isn’t difficult at all. But your BSF is much crueler than our Bangladesh Rifles…