Rag Pickers

Along Tehri Road a community of rag pickers have settled on the road and hill. This has become a profession of the poorest of the poor. They collect the trash and sort it to be sold to recyclers.

In this case people from Bihar and Rajasthan have been coming and going for the past 15 years. We noticed that the ones from Rajastan were taking scrap metal and making tools.

I don't know if they are being organized or what their situation is beyond what I observed and what shopkeepers near by were able to say.  Life seemed like any other village with work mixed with games and families together.

Sandhya's husband, Vinod, runs an organization that works in the largest slum in Asia, Daravi, in Mumbai.  Through him and a great book, Behind the Beautiful Forever, I came to appreciate the rag picker life and appreciate the vital recycling work they do. Watch this great video: The Real Slumdogs: 
http://youtu.be/mzObMqgKIFo