City, life and love| Can Delhi, the capital of art fiestas, lend its corners to its buskers?

Remember, Oscar Wilde's famous quote 'Life imitates art far more than art imitates life'. Life is indeed a reflection of art, a conscious ongoing work to find expression through varied art forms. And what is life anyway? Where do we find it? Maybe while driving cars on roads, walking on pathways, sitting across a lake or sipping tea on a stall amid a bustling city. And what connects them? Perhaps, love which binds them all, dwelling amid humanity in myriad ways, simply unacknowledged. And what does a city full of life and love create? Turn the dusty pages of history, and every time what will emerge is Art.

India's capital, Delhi, has been a safe haven for artists for ages. What the city has produced through time is a plethora of poetry, paintings, books, dance and music. The city dwellers have been always seen dancing and swinging to the musical tunes of the artists.

Is the darkness engulfing the spotlight?

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Sadly, the reality seems to have altered its way for the buskers of the city who struggle to showcase their art forms and are held responsible for creating menace in public places.

Buskers, who sing their original songs and dance in their own ways on streets accumulating love and applause from onlookers, have been victims of harassment and misconduct more often. A recent video of a busker being harassed by a police officer and being asked to empty the space went viral after it was shared by Bollywood actor Rajesh Tailang. The video not only brought the law enforcer's unruly behaviour in limelight but also highlighted the blurred laws regarding busking in India, home to the world's biggest entertainment industries.

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When WION reached out to viral busker artist Anshul Riaji, who goes by the name 'Fakira', to understand how the event unfolded in F-block of Delhi's Connaught Place, he narrated, "As you can see in the video, I was singing and the audience had gathered to listen to me. I close my eyes when I perform, and I did not listen to the cop when he called me and didn't see him approaching me. And suddenly, he stopped me from playing the guitar, forcibly closed my guitar bag and asked me to leave. This is so inhuman. His words are still pinching me."

He lamented how the incident will remain etched in his heart like a scar throughout his life.

Humanity, respect, corner – is that too much to ask for??

This is not the first time such incidents of indecent and cruel behaviour against buskers have come in limelight. Another busker Varun Dagar had earlier shared videos of physical assault by police personnel in Delhi's Connaught Place. The video caught attention on social media and went viral as people called out the police officials to behave properly with the artists.

Talking to WION about how the video helped them survive in a better condition, Varun said, "When the incident happened and the video went viral, things changed. Before that, the police used to confiscate our personal belongings. However, after the viral video, they stopped such cruel acts. If my video had not gone viral, Anshul would have met a similar fate that day. However, at least our personal stuff is safe now. "

"Still, it feels oddly humiliating when the police suddenly interrupt us in between our act. The faces are known to us, as they keep coming regularly. A lot of times, I was taken to the police station for performing on the streets. They even call us "beggars" who are simply trying to beg and make easy money by dancing and singing. This is because of a lack of education and understanding among people about what we are doing," Varun sighed hopelessly.

He again dares to speak, "I have been harassed multiple times, mishandled. I have been hurt. I have cried. Not everything can be shared...I fear what if they don't allow me to perform if I reveal it all?"

Such mistreatment of buskers has stoked people to raise a crucial question, 'What do they seek from the city?' The viral busker Anshul says nothing but maybe a silent corner in Delhi's Connaught Place to perform and let the world see the art that hides within the soul.

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The road ahead..... darker or brighter?

It is not just police officials who misbehave and demean such artists. Buskers have faced harassment at the hand of people themselves, who mock them, throw insulting words and laugh at their art. The number of such miscreants has indeed been very less compared to those people who have supported and revelled in the rhythm of buskers.

"Before 8:30 at night, we are likely to encounter people who tease us and mistreat us, for our art. They lack an understanding of what we are creating They try to demotivate us and start dancing in the middle of our performance. It is important that we relay the message that buskers are not beggars and that people give whatever they want purely out of love and not as a beg," Varun says, as he wonders if eyes that gawk at him as if he is a beggar would ever change their viewpoint.

Speaking to WION about the plight of street artists, actor Adil Hussain said, "In India, the culture of busking is looked down upon because most of the street performers are from the lower economic run. We are a nation of performers, still, they have been facing mistreatment right from the beginning of independence because the governments never came up with a policy which would enable or make people aware of the art forms present in all the street performances. So, we failed to educate people to respect that kind of art."

"Anyways, art always gets the backseat in government policies. Only when we have to present something to foreign dignitaries, do we call performers, make them dance and forget them. That's what has been the general practise of consecutive governments since Independence," he adds.

Mistreatment, penury and debarment, artists have been always forced to walk through rough roads and not even cry or wail when pain seems to seep inside their hearts. Who should be held guilty? Why is art still the 'forbidden fruit' of our society? Perhaps, it is the lack of education, which builds the core of a human personality, that has given birth to such closed eyes and closed minds.

"So, there is anyways very low awareness about the importance of art in society and especially in India, though we come with the amazing richness of different and all kinds of art forms since the education system has completely wiped off any artistic practice from the childhood, so people think that is unimportant things that people do," the actor said.

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Cementing the broken path

The question that honks the minds of art lovers and connoisseurs is how do we stop this misbehaviour? What should be done to make Delhi a better place for buskers?

"Buskers need to define and similarly the art of busking. Busking is all about originality. The art should be licensed but the art must be defined, only those performing original art should be included as buskers," Varun demands.

Talking about the steps needed to improve the life of buskers, Adil emphasises how consumerism has been propagated in society and humans have turned into mere consumers.

"The administration is okay with shopkeepers, hawkers and street sellers selling things on the street, so we are propagating consumerism. Imagine we have been reduced to the mere consumer, which is propagated, but an artistic activity which will console your soul and uplift your spirit is not being given an equal opportunity like the sellers are given," the actor explains.

"I think this should be taken up seriously by the government. So, the government should come up with a policy that buskers and artists and street performers should be treated with the utmost respect and should be given space to perform. They should be licensed but the procedure of license should be simple and not a complicated one," he further adds.

Whether buskers will get a defined license in future or not remain unknown, but what we can understand is that this is the society we live in and so do they, if not encourage them, we can allow them to breathe the way they want.

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