Saktatva

• Photographer
  Jai Thakur

Saktatva, the word in Sanskrit means addiction. Through this project, I would like to throw some light on Delhi’s obnoxious dark secret. The secret of “Saktatva”, the bitter secret of the darkest national capital region, which can be witnessed as the sun goes down. Majority chunk of the street dwellers indulges into the dark addiction especially into substance abuse, majority being children. Most of them are on a perpetual high of smack, brown sugar, marijuana (ganja) and hashish (charas). Those who can’t afford these, are mostly inclined towards easily accessible cheap drugs like ink eraser fluid, petrol, Iodex and glue. Others are hooked to sleeping pills and cough syrup. Most of them are on a cocktail of drugs and share the same needle, increasing their vulnerability to AIDS. When they are high on these substances it leads to different other crimes like snatching, robbery, rapes, and even murder. They are mostly active in the areas like Chandni Chowk, Yamuna Bazaar, Connaught Place, Badarpur, Mahipalpur, Old Delhi, Seelampur and Sultanpuri, railway stations, bus stops and depots, etc… Two incidents which shook me completely were when a boy barely between 4 to 5 years was forced to drag hash, which eventually his lungs couldn’t inhale. And the other incident was where the two kids lying on the streets unattended while their close ones were busy in their obsession. The risk involved here is huge, first is the safety issues of the general public and the secondly the future of our children, the Capital City and India as a whole… it’s going to be just a dark or Delhi will see even darker days?

Jai Thakur is an Indian documentary photographer from New Delhi. The majority of his works revolve around the socio-economic environment of the society. Other than the number of group exhibitions, he is a recipient of various national and international awards including Water Hero Award by Govt. of India (Ministry of Water Resources, RD & GR), National Geographic's MyIncredibleStory and Sahapedia Frames Grant. His work has been published in multiple books and platforms. He appeared in the MX Player web series “Express Yourself ” on River Conservation. As a day job, he is working as an Analyst.