Heartbreak corner

Mogal Mukhia, a farmer from Supaul in Bihar. Mogal, who has throat cancer, has been living in a shack in Mumbai for the past one year. "I never knew that, in this city, you have to pay for so many things. I spend more than 0300 a day and I need to stay for many more months for my treatment. How will I survive here? I just want to get back to my village. This city has taken everything that I have."

Shivlal, from Palpur village in Uttar Pradesh. His son, Mahinder, 16, has cancer in the knee. For the past five months, father and son have been living in a shack on the footpath in front of the Tata Memorial Centre in Mumbai. "I spend sleepless nights. The monsoons in Mumbai were the worst time of our lives. I had to spend the entire season wearing wet clothes, which has made me very ill. I have to face all these inhuman conditions to save my son. We are living like animals."

Ranjeet, a 16-year-old from Shapal Bimbari village in Maharashtra suffering from bone cancer, after a treatment session at the Tata Memorial Centre. The TMC, one of the best cancer care centres in India, receives as many as 50,000 patients a year—much more than it can accommodate. On any given day, one can see at least 150 outpatients camping outside the hospital for treatment. They live in small, squalid shacks to save on the cost of accommodation in the big city. In their battle with cancer, they brave mosquitos, rats and the weather.

Pradip Yadav, a cancer patient from Alampore in Bihar, with his mother, Kuntidevi. For such patients, food and medicine often come at the cost of personal hygiene. At Rs 10, bath-water is too expensive for them. They might as well spend the money on a plate of vada pav and a strip of painkillers.

Kamini Devi, a cancer patient from Muzaffarnagar in Uttar Pradesh, has been living in a hut for the past five months. The care these patients receive, however, does not make their existence any less miserable. But they say they would rather not give up. Hope, as they say, springs eternal.