There was quite a strong stench of smoke in the air when we went further inside. We asked what that was for and they told us that the smoke is used to neutralise the smell of the nearby dump yard.
Welcome to Beedingude slum in the outskirts of Udupi district. From the road that passes beside it its hard to tell how far Beedingude stretches into the forest. It is believed that in the half kilometre of its radius that more than 2000 people reside within it. These people have to deal with constant rains that litrally flood their houses and small lanes that make up the slum. Houses are built with flimsy steel and wet weak wood and most of them in end of collapsing upon themselves in the worst rains. If you go down the road you’ll find the dump yard. Once it was the one of the biggest dumps in the district but for the last year the dumping has stopped. Yet no one has come to clear up the remaining garbage and its left to rot and decay as it is. The residents say that twice the municipalities have come to burn some of the waste but that has only lead to create a thick suffocating smoke that only further damaged the health of the slums children.
Most of the husbands have part time to no jobs most days and even those who have steady jobs do not get their salaries as often as they should. Layapa, a mother of a family of 4 says that her husband is of at work for 16 hours a day and she left to take care of her children by herself. Most of the salaries they get are never enough to feed 3 growing children. Ration cards are never provided to them but political cards are supplied in huge numbers.
It was surprising how many interesting people reside within Beedinagude. Pernappa was one such person and was happy to tell us about the place and life. He has been living here for 9 years now and works in the Permapally godown as a loader and heavy lifter. In no time we were joined by his 4 little girls. One of them ‘Maleka’ was the only one of them that went to school. Pernappa knows that most people here are illiterate and was happy that the school she goes to is a good one with free food and free books all provided and can give some hope for her future. We asked about the land and he says that he like everyone else pays rent to the land lord who also provides them with the only source of water from the well which she owns. He says that even though the rent is higher than it should be and far beyond what his salary can comfortably afford he is happy with the fact that the land is indeed owned by someone and they cannot be easily thrown out by the municipality which is a common happening in most other slums. As Pernappa had to go and continue cutting up some wood we asked his small girls what they wanted to be when they grew up. All of them replied that they wanted to be teachers.
Pernappa with one of his children
Most of the residents have grown tired of journalist and reporters coming and asking questions about the lifestyle and their problems. These people demand solutions, any sort of solutions to their problems but the municipality refuses to take any serious heed to these people. It was an enlightening experience visiting Beedinagudde but one can only wonder how people can live in such conditions for so long. One thing is for sure that I will never take people who complain about the cold water in their hostels because honestly there are much worse of people than us.
