Tuba Athar
In Seelampur, play happens between two parked scooters, between caution and curiosity. When a vehicle passes, the game pauses. The city moves on, childhood waits.
The forgotten citizens of urban India
The moment I entered the lanes of New Seelampur settlement in eastern Delhi I was welcomed by narrow lanes, densely packed-houses, open drains and dump yards, people and vehicle competing every moment for space. In between the narrow lanes and streets there were lots of children on their cycle, or playing with lattoo or inventing their own methods of play. The scene connects with larger urban problem for cities like Delhi, which is infested with affordable housing crisis, lack of regulation on settlement in urban villages, displacement of the population and invisibility of children in policy debates. Which urges to understand how children’s right to play and belong in the city remains unacknowledged in urban policy.
How children negotiate urban space?
There were few themes which emerged from the direct observation and doing semi-structured interview with the children and parents. When asked, where do children play then most obvious answer was ‘khelne ki jagah kahan hai, gali me hi khelte hain’ (Translation- where is the space to play?, they play in streets). Then there were another sets of parents who said ‘khelne ki zaroorat kya hai’ (Translation- what is the need to play). These two responses serve the gist of the conditions of play and play spaces in this neighborhood context.
The streets served as playground and passage for vehicles where the children getting hurt due to vehicles was not uncommon. The other noticeable phenomenon was gendered access to spaces, where kids below six could play in streets however after eight years and above, boys claimed whatever open spaces were there, while girls confined themselves to streets in front of their houses or playing indoor games. Moreover, while asked about the question of what do they get out of play then boys said that for them it is enjoyment but for girls it is an act of socialization which says how same act could have different meaning for children of different gender.
Due to lack of proper drainage and dumping sites, the ecology of risk and environmental hazard was perpetual which affected children’s play spaces. The garbage was dumped in the street corners and thrown into drainage which at the time of rainy season further created menace for children in general and girl children in particular.
It is argued by childhood scholars that play and play spaces are not only affected by physical infrastructure but the social and cultural infrastructure, adults attitude towards play and socio-cultural and institutional conceptualisation of childhood. So, when adults were asked how do they conceive outdoor play then most of them said that it is waste of time except one mother of small kids whose argument was that we couldn’t pressurise children. Moreover, people viewed outdoor play as a menace in the society on the pretext that children are ill-mannered and disharmonise the neighborhood and tried to stop them from playing outside.
The other noticeable thing was disrupted social fabric of the community who live very close to each other. Though people from Hindu and Muslim community live in same neighborhood but there are different streets for both of them. It was shared that the communal harmony of the neighborhood has been disrupted since 2-3 years which created further competition on limited open spaces moreover it restricted the socialisation of children among themselves where girls were particularly affected. Though some of the houses were unaffected but some of them had developed deep divide.
Childhood scholars argue that children are very creative when they play. For example Russian psychologist Vygotsky says that through play children have creative and imaginative development where they learn autonomy, cooperation and negotiation. Moreover, when they don’t get play spaces then they create their own micro-strategies of joy. Moreover, it is also observed that children of deprived neighborhood are more creative when it comes to play and they can use the space and material to play which are not meant to play. In the field it was observed that small children who could not go to limited open spaces they have so they tend to be creative and adaptive of the restricted environment. For example, kids were observed to be playing with the materials like cement bags, visiting cards in front of their houses.
Reading Seelampur through the lens of children’s right to the city
Right to the city as argued by Lefebvre and David Harvey is the right to access and use public spaces, a creative product of and context for the everyday life of its inhabitants. Feminist geographers such as Tony Fenster (2005) connect right to the city with right to belong to the city. Moreover, everyday, as again conceived by Lefebvre, and everyday spatial practices hold potential to understand unequal spaces to city spaces. Now, seen from these frameworks it is obvious that children right to play as well as right to the city is violated. Despite half of the world’s children living and growing in urban areas, they are excluded since they have no voice in urban design and planning.
The policy disconnect: National policies and the promise of play
In India, we have National Policy for Children (1974, 2013) which confers upon state the responsibility to ensure children’s full physical, mental, and social development moreover their development in the conditions of freedom, dignity, equity, and security. Moreover, National Charter for Children (1974) has separate section of play and leisure. However, the ground realities are completely dismal in this context. In Delhi the Delhi’s Master Plan (2041) also mentions recreational spaces and not separate play spaces for children. Children’s play is not just recreation, but it is a right and way to exercise their citizenship.
Perhaps the question is not whether Delhi has space for children, but whether we can imagine a city that grows with its children and not without them.
About the contributor: Tuba Athar is a research scholar at Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. She is a fellow of Public Policy Qualitative Participatory Action Research Fieldwork Fellowship (PPQPARFF), cohort 6.0
Disclaimer: All views expressed in the article belong solely to the author and not necessarily to the organisation.
Acknowledgement: This article was posted by Aashvee Prisha, a research intern at IMPRI.
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