‘Rootless’-is something without roots-which does not exist in the real world and that is very much so in the case of those whom this very word points to-the poor, deprived and wretched slum or street dwellers. Being uprooted from their own land by poverty, they come to the cities in search of food-to fight for survival. In the cities they have to reside wherever they can- in the pavements, in the bus and rail stations, along the rail lines,
in the low lying areas, on the river embankments, near the garbage dumping sites and also in the vicinity of large residential areas-building makeshift houses using plastic sheets, bamboo, papers, talpata or golpata whatever they can gather. The male work as market bearers, construction workers, factory workers, rickshaw pullers, street hawkers whereas the female work in residential houses, in construction sites, in the garment factories. I feel great pity for them. None should look down upon them as they contribute considerably to the nation building work.