For street children who led vulnerable lives, Jamghat is the family they never had. It gives them hope and allows them to reach out to their dreams.
Back in 2003, when Britain's Prince Charles visited the city, the international aid agency, Action Aid, decided to show him a slice of this reality. They asked two stage actors, Lokesh Jain and Amit Sinha, to put together a play, with the help of real street children.
Thus started the group "Jamghat". The plan was to support the group for six months and take the play around the country to generate awareness and debate on the issue.
Sitting in the basement of a Lado Sarai DDA flat, where they all shifted recently from Vijay Ghat, Amit, 26, is surrounded by his "bacche log". He admits that when he left his home town Siwan in Bihar, to come to Delhi to do his graduation from Delhi University, "I never thought it would all come to this or that I would be running Jamghat or be with them."
Amit adds, "The boys have given me so much. I have learnt that I should not push my expectations on any of them. Our boat is in the middle. I still have to settle the boys. Look at them, each one of them is a beautiful human being." On the walls smiling photographs of the boys are testimonies of the milestones they've covered together.
Amit shelved his own dreams of professional theatre and intends to use his learnt art to reach out to other children on the street. "There are now 11 boys in Jamghat. I don't want to limit my work to just this number. I feel there is hope in Jamghat and we can give others hope by reaching out to more."
Amit admits that only a few of the 14 street children who originally formed Jamghat remain. Some are working, some have gone home, some back to the streets. Yet Jamghat is the family they never had. The older boys return to meet everyone from time to time and it is an occasion to celebrate. "They come back and bring a shower of possibility," says Amit with a wide smile.