Harsh Mander, who describes himself rather humbly as “a peace and justice worker” despite the breadth of his social interventions and accomplishments, has a marvellous ability to remind you of how deeply ensconced you are in your privileged bubble, and how rarely you bear witness to the suffering of fellow Indians who have been let down both by the state and by society at large.His new book Under Grey Smoggy Skies: Living Homeless on the Streets of India’s Cities (Yoda Press, February 2026) is a shocking punch in the gut. A collection of 20 essays, published by Yoda Press, it draws from 25 years of his work with “unhoused people living rough on harsh city streets”. Distilling insights from conversations with street-dwellers in Delhi, Chennai, Patna, Madurai, Ahmedabad, Mumbai and Kolkata, it builds a rich, complex and wholesome portrait of their lives.Interestingly, the author refers to them not as subjects, informants or beneficiaries but as “sisters, brothers and children”. This is not to be mistaken for a patronising attitude. His choice of words reveals a relationship of familiarity, care and even intimacy. He is acutely aware of the daily indignities that the homeless have to endure but he does not reduce them to victims. Throughout the book, you cannot help but notice how sincere and heartfelt his engagement is. He makes sure that you get to see them as people with self-respect doing their best to survive against all odds.Under Grey Smoggy Skies: Living Homeless on the Streets of India’s Cities by Harsh Mander, Yoda Press, February 2026: Photo: Yoda PressFor starters, Mander challenges the pernicious assumption that homeless people are wastrels and freeloaders. He points out that they work as rag pickers, barbers, car cleaners, rickshaw pullers, mechanics in garages, and vendors at tea stalls, or earn a living by polishing shoes, reserving seats on long-distance trains, assisting caterers during the wedding season, and through sex work.In emphasising their willingness to work, the author ends up rubbishing the stereotype that homeless people are either beggars or criminals. In fact, he portrays them as people who are not lazy but hardworking, resourceful, and eager to take up occupations with few entry barriers.Mander is well-placed to write a book like this because he is the founder, convenor and editor of the annual India Exclusion Report, in his capacity as the Director of the Centre for Equity Studies. Moreover, he has been the driving force behind decriminalising begging in India, and making the provision and maintenance of homeless shelters a legal duty for state governments. He also teaches courses on subjects such as poverty, governance and social justice in India.One of the most striking observations in this book is that “homeless life is very expensive”, proving that homeless people cannot depend on charity alone. Since many of them do not have a place to cook, or to store rations and utensils, they have to buy food. If they do manage to cook, they use branches and twigs or cow dung cakes rather than fuel to light a fire between bricks. They are expected to pay to use public toilets and bathrooms. Many of them also spend money on drugs to lull the pain of loneliness, or to cope with hunger, sickness and aching limbs.Mander’s estimate indicates that there are around three million homeless people in urban India. Their stories are narrated with empathy, and in great detail, so that you do not view them as a homogenous mass of people that you can make hasty generalizations about. They are mentioned by name, and their background is established to help you understand their unique circumstances.People happen to be homeless for various reasons: they might have run away from sexual abuse or physical violence at home, or been thrown out because they are old, disabled, or afflicted with leprosy. Many have migrated to cities to find work and support family members in villages. Additionally, there are people who are homeless because of the land mafia and slum demolition.If you were under the impression that procuring food must be an easy task considering the fact that temples, churches, gurudwaras and dargahs often have homeless people queuing up outside, Mander provides a reality check. He writes, “They are compelled to jostle with outstretched cupped palms, and eat what they get squatting on a pavement or under a tree. Often they are forced to be pitted against each other in an effort to access the limited food that is served.”Raised in “the egalitarian and humanist traditions” of Sikhism by his parents, the author was dismayed to find that Gurudwara Sis Ganj Sahib in Delhi’s Chandni Chowk, which is located “at the centre of the largest concentration of homeless people” bars the so-called “dirty poor” from entering the langar area. He also discovered that Gurudwara Bangla Sahib, near Delhi’s Connaught Place, does not allow them to enter the main shrine but has a separate langar at the rear, outside the precincts, where the same food is served “but without the same respect”.While Mander offers an example from the religious community that he was brought up in, he holds up a mirror to any group of people that takes pride in practising generosity and service as a spiritually meritorious activity but forgets that it needs to be done in a spirit of humility.This book also draws attention to the violence that homeless people face at the hands of the police. They are beaten with sticks, their meagre belongings are confiscated, and their food is thrown away. This inhumane treatment is unacceptable, and deserves to be penalised.‘Invisible to the state’Unfortunately, there is not much that homeless people can do to seek justice because, in the absence of “elementary markers of citizenship” such as “ration cards and voters’ identity cards”, they are “invisible to the state”. Lacking a formal address, they sleep on footpaths, in public parks, near highways, under flyovers, and in the courtyards of various places of worship.They are exposed to numerous hardships, including the threat of rape on the streets, harsh weather conditions, and the lack of financial resources to avail of quality healthcare in times of sickness. In the absence of social security measures guaranteed by the state, homeless people often build close bonds and create chosen families that support each other through ups and downs. Many of them, however, die lonely deaths, and end up as unclaimed corpses.This book will serve as an eye-opener for citizens who have grown numb to the plight of India’s homeless urban population, and hopefully as a guide for the government whose job it is to provide the most vulnerable with assistance related to housing, employment, and healthcare.The most heartwarming bit is Mander’s memory of watching Danny Boyle’s film Slumdog Millionaire (2008) with 30 “former street boys” at a cinema hall. He writes, “…what most said they liked best was the portrayal in the film of the younger street children, their cheeky attitude and the ways the film affirmed that they could never be crushed by the grimmest of trials”.Mander insists that the beggar mafia exists “more in the middle class imagination than in real life”, and points out that only one in 10 street children begs because they hate the humiliation that comes with it. He celebrates their sense of humour, their courage in walking away from alcoholic fathers, their desire for freedom, and their determination to get their own food even if it involves foraging for leftovers in garbage dumps or earning by selling trinkets at traffic signals.It is disheartening, however, that the book refers only to men, women and children living on the streets. It does not even mention let alone discuss transgender persons who are rendered homeless after they come out or are outed to families that abandon them for fear of social ridicule. Hopefully, this omission will be rectified in subsequent editions, especially in keeping with the Indian Parliament’s recent assault on the rights of India’s transgender citizens.Chintan Girish Modi is a writer, journalist, educator, and literary critic. His work has appeared in various anthologies, including Borderlines: Volume 1 (2015), Clear Hold Build (2019), Fearless Love (2019) and Bent Book (2020). He can be reached @chintanwriting on Instagram and X.