Luxurious sleep at Delhi’s sleepless nights
by Luxury.Net
As the mercury rises, the room heaters along with thermals, sweaters, jackets, caps, blankets and quilts are doing their best. But it is being noted that all over Delhi they do not have the luxury of all the multiple layers of protection. Over a lakh of the Capital’s citizens are spending nights out in the open braving the extreme chilling cold. All the people are waiting for the winter to end as soon as possible.
Sufiya Begum, a 42 year old woman, lives in a shabbily-erected plastic tent near the Nizamuddin around along with her husband Arman and her four kids. According to Sufiya, “It gets really difficult at night and the wind worsens the situation. Staying alive is the primary idea; getting some sleep is a luxury.”
There are numerous of homeless people who all are in families, in small groups and other loners which can be seen at various nooks and corners of the city sitting out of their temporary dwellings around small bonfires. Some just leave it to the blankets and try and take on the deadly night.
Mohammad Shaheed Khan, who is one of the native of Bihar, felt that the government should take care of people like “us” too. “We are not the vote bank and, therefore, we are no one’s priority. It really doesn’t matter whether we live or die,” Khan, while shivering under two thin blankets, said. On one corner of Nizamuddin lies a night shelter run by Shakti Shalini, an NGO. The authorities reported that every night over 70 women come and stay in the one-hall-like shelter. Abida, the night caretaker of the shelter said, “This year the cold has been really severe. We have been giving them over five blankets.”
Little Sayra Bano was also noticed waiting for her mother Amina to make her bed. As the bed was laid down for the chilling winter night, the five-year-old fell asleep after shivering for a while. “The cold won’t let her sleep. She will wake up crying numerous times,” Amina, 32, who sleeps near a Jor Bagh bus stop every night, said.
