If you live in Yelehanka's Self-Financed Society (SFS), on a regular day, you’d wake up to the sounds of “wha wha”, “maatar thakare” and to the chirping of birds. Not many people actually know what these people sell. After enquiring, I gathered that the lady who says “wha wha”, sells flowers that are sewn together to be worn on your hair.  As the name suggests, “maatar tharkare” refers to peas and potatoes. 
 

The street is usually busy in the morning with Srishti School students hurriedly gobbling their breakfast, fast enough to be able to sign in for the day.  A peek outside would reveal autos parked near both the dining halls, waiting to take off.  One cannot possibly miss the street dogs that begin their daily sprint to ward off outsiders.

Significantly, the construction workers start their routine for the day around the same time. They begin by making breakfast and washing their clothes before they set off to work.  The neglected ones are the children, who have only the mounds of sand and stone for entertainment.  It is common to see them sitting on piles of waste, playing a make-believe game and so on to be occupied.  I cannot help but feel sorry for those little ones for SFS is filled with construction sites. The children look up with eyes, so full of innocence, hopes and dreams for the future, unaware of the reality of life.

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What they think of us strangers taking pictures of them, I do not know.

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A boy with dark eyes and dark hair approached me, and immediately asked me, “didi mera photo lelo”. He posed brilliantly, having been accustomed to this over the years by other photographers.  Attempting to capture his personality, I interacted with him a little, this made him ecstatic. Soon, he was joined by three others, who were overjoyed with the idea of posing, each trying to outrun the other with better poses.