Life is not easy for Bangalore’s pourakarmika’s and if you were following the news, you might have heard of a suicide in the community which sparked media interest in the protests.

The Write Leela Write team attended this protest at the BBMP headquarters to learn more about what’s happening in Bangalore.

Catching up with Uma and Laksmidevi at their workplace (i.e. the middle of the road) drew a lot of attention. We learned a great deal about their experiences with BBMP, contractors and their general work culture and challenges.

Pourakarmika work is risky at worst and unhealthy at best. Lakshmi Devi points out that there is no medical support or leave, and all safety gear, protection and even the tools of their work come out of their unpredictable salary.

My coworkers and compatriots for a cause discussing what we learned from a conversation with two pourakarmikas.

Satya and Rheea are the content machine of Write Leela Write and gathered information for our community project on the plight of the pourakarmikas.

We were really fortunate to have access to community leader Uma, who works to alleviate injustice in BBMP’s deals with waste workers.

I enjoyed being the photographer in this outing.

One of the hardest aspects of working with the BBMP is that many jobs are by contract with no job security.

We wait for an auto, to take us back to office and to begin work on our interactive essay.

An immersive, interactive experience.

Our work was noticed by humanitarian organizations and got great traction on social media. Our job was done. The purpose behind WLW community projects is for us to learn about Bangalore and share that information in an accessible way to people like us, and people in our immediate community.