almost over

So my time in Delhi is drawing to a close. Tomorrow is my last day and - after one last wander around Old Delhi - will end with a long flight back to the land of Manc.
My week has continued as it began and has given me a feel for a side of India I only glimpsed while travelling.

Yesterday was Indian independence day, which saw the city come to a standstill, but since my last post I've crammed in a visit to a jhuggie (slum) with an Indian agency that helps poor people fight for their rights (above).

Today was also a brilliant day. I travelled to Haryana, a rural state just outside Delhi, to visit a live-in shelter run by Project Concern, the NGO which works with street kids. Thirty-five boys are living there, where they are being educated and rehabilitated away from drug abuse and street life. As it happens today is Raksha Bandhan, a Hindu festival, in which sisters traditionally tie 'Rakhi' - or bracelets - around their brothers' wrists. Today I was the honourary sister for all the boys, which was very touching. I had to put a pilak (red dot) on their foreheads along with a few grains of rice, tie the Rakhis and pop a sweet in their mouths.

The picture below is I think one of my favourites from the whole week....can't quite put my finger on why but I am really pleased with it. Raju, the little boy in the blue T-shirt, arrived at the PCI shelter in April, aged just five years old. He was found by an outreach worker at a Delhi train station, where he had been living rough - surviving on his own - for about two weeks. He is the youngest child they have ever found on the streets and staff were very shocked.

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