The Indian film Salaam Bombay, in which street kids played a leading role, attracted international attention to the fate of the homeless. It was the inspiration for the organisers of the Salaam Baalak trust, which devotes itself to the well over 300.000 homeless children. Some have been left behind in a jam-packed station. Most of the m are on the run from domestic violence. A drinking dad. A stepfather who beats them. Others have left home because of poverty. ‘In that case, go roaming!’ said the parents of little Sahil from Bihar, the poorest community in India. When he was seven his parents decided it was time for him to start working, but he didn’t feel like it. He ran away from home, lived in a train station for a year, came back on the right track with help from a mission school and went back to his parents. They didn’t like that. ‘I was no longer welcome,’ says Sahil, who ended up in New Delhi after this. As one of the 14 million people who are trying to find their way in the dusty bustling city. Salaam Baalak Trust takes care of boys like Sahil. They go to school there, they get the upbringing they have missed, and the idea is that they will be reunited with their parents at a later stage. The Salaam shelter will remain home for those who can’t return. Their background is a life in one of the slums. Sometimes no more than a dozen of little houses put together from plastic and garbage under a fly-over.

Those who live near an important throughway can be unlucky. Recently a dignitary had to be picked up from the airport. To give the international guest a good view of New Delhi, a small slum next to the road was levelled with bulldozers. At the same time the government does try to do something about the problems, but there simply isn’t enough money. The children try to scrape it together themselves by polishing shoes and collecting bits of plastic and empty cans. Young girls, often of Nepalese descent, are traded by brothel keepers. The nine children of the Salaam Baalak Trust who take part in the Home/Life photo project prefer not to talk about the past. They take pictures of people sleeping on the streets. But they’d much rather take pictures of flowers. Beautiful India is what they want to show, because the other side they already know so well. They daydream. Sahil wants to become a photographer or a dancer. Archana plans on being social worker because that way she can help children who go through the same things as she does. Krishna has fled from Nepal, jumped on a train and stuck around in New Delhi. He wants to join the army later. Raju dreams of being an artist. Actually they all want that. ‘Think of all the attention you’ll get!’