[Reader-list] Waste Narratives- An Evening of Celebration & Solidarities @India Habitat Center on 2nd June, 2016- 19:00

[Kabir Khan]

Waste Narratives- An Evening of Celebration & Solidarities
Organized by Alliance of Indian Wastepickers in collaboration with India
Habitat Center, New Delhi

*Date- 2nd June, 2016*

*Time- 19:00*

*Venue- Gulmohar Hall, India Habitat Center, Lodi Colony, New Delhi*

*(Entry from Gate No. 3 from Vardhaman Marg)*

Alliance of Indian Wastepickers is happy to invite you for ‘Waste
Narratives’ being organized at India Habitat Center.  Waste Narratives is
an evening of celebration of solidarities and comprises of public reading
of *Bicycle Dreaming *with the author Mridula Koshy and interspersed by
personal stories of waste-pickers – Gautham, from Amravati- Andhra Pradesh,
Ratnabai Khrate, from Indore- Madhya Pradesh, Hasnoor Bi, from Deonar Dump,
Mumbai- Maharashtra and one more wastepicker from Delhi (name is being
finalized). Panel will be moderated by Jyoti Mhapsekar, President, Stree
Mukti Sangathana, Maharashtra.

*About Waste Narratives:* The idea of curating Waste Narratives is to
rethink our understanding of informal and informality. The event seeks to
throw light on the role played by waste pickers and other informal waste
workers in managing the waste of our cities, and elucidate the issues of
marginalisation.

*Bicycle Dreaming*

The recently released novel, authored by Mridula Koshy, is a story that
revolves around a thirteen-year-old girl, Noor and her father, Mohammad
Saidullah, who loses his job of pedaling his bicycle door-to-door to
collect household discards.  He is then forced to join the ranks of those
waste pickers who work New Delhi’s landfills. Noor’s own dream of riding a
bicycle is complicated by her conflicted feelings about her father’s
livelihood.

*“Noor’s father was a kabadiwala. He rode his bicycle from his home as
early as seven thirty on some mornings… Change was important in Mohammad
Saidullah’s line of work. When he finished weighing the goods- stacks of
old newspaper, used up school notebooks, not a blank page left and the
covers fallen apart, glass bottles empty of ketchup and liquor, metal tins
sharp edged at the rim- and named what he was willing to pay to haul away
these discards, the householders all claim that they have no change. If he
quoted Rs 18- a fair price for a good sized load that would earn him at
least five rupees more when resold to recycling factory- they would pocket
his twenty and shake their heads ‘no’. They didn’t have two rupees change
for him.”,* Excerpt from ‘Bicycle Dreaming’.

*Conversation with Waste-pickers*

Waste-pickers – Gautham, from Amravati- Andhra Pradesh, Ratnabai Khrate,
from Indore- Madhya Pradesh, Hasnoor Bi, from Deonar Dump, Mumbai-
Maharashtra and one more wastepicker from Delhi (name is being finalized) will
be sharing their reflections, dilemmas, struggles and victories. The panel
will be moderated by Jyoti Mhapsekar, Stree Mukti Sangathana. Recently
notified Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016 & Plastic Waste Management
Rules, 2016 by Union Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change lay
important emphasize on inclusion and integration of waste pickers and
informal waste dealers in solid waste management. Waste-pickers and other
informal waste dealers have won the long battle of dignity, respect and
inclusion. It is both a matter of pride and joy. In their reflections
waste-pickers will also be speaking about the inclusion in new rules and
the way forward.

*Alliance of Indian Wastepickers*

Alliance of Indian wastepickers is a national coalition of organizations
working with waste-pickers and other informal waste workers. The alliance
was created to have coordinated efforts to ensure inclusion of waste
pickers in various national level policy frameworks.

For any queries, you can drop an email- Kabir.postbox at gmail.com, or call
+919663427315

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Regards

कबीर/کبیر

Phone:00-91-96-63-427-315
Email: kabir.postbox at gmail.com
Follow me on:
Facebook <http://www.facebook.com/KaafirMasiha>, blog
<http://maleccha.wordpress.com/> & Twitter <https://twitter.com/Maleccha>

http://www.hasirudala.in

http://www.wastenarratives.com

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