An
evening titled ‘Waste Narratives’ was recently held at the India Habitat Centre
to mark the inclusion of waste pickers and informal waste dealers in the newly
released Solid Waste Management Rules, 2016. Hosted in collaboration with the
Alliance of Indian Waste pickers, the evening also saw readings from the book
“Bicycle Dreaming” by Mridula Koshy and was interspersed by personal stories of
waste pickers from various cities. The novel, itself, focuses on the story of a
13-year-old girl, Noor and her father, Mohammad Saidullah, whose choice of
profession as a kabadiwalla has been taken away from him and the consequent
effect of that on Noor.