‘I felt like a demon’, Africans in India point out on Mandela Day

18th July, the day Nelson Mandela was born, is marked as Nelson Mandela International Day. For 67 years, Mandela devoted his life to humanity — as a human rights lawyer, a prisoner of conscience, an international peacemaker and the first democratically elected president of a free South Africa.
As the world celebrates the 99th birthday of the leader, we explore at the state of Africans in India.
Indians and Africans: Existing together, living separately
On a rainy weekday morning, while driving past wedding venues and upmarket eateries on New Delhi’s Chattarpur road, I took a left into Rajpur Khurd to enter a different world altogether. One that looks much like any other slum of the capital city, this one is inhabited by a sizeable number of Africans.
Having visited the Tibetan and Afghani settlement in the city, I expected it to be a colourful melting pot of authentic street food, cafes and other notable demonstrations of the community’s presence. I was mistaken — there was no palpable sign of their existence — even though all of that was absent, it was a pleasant surprise to see a fairly large number of Indians as well. “They coexist together,” the overwhelming thought clouded my head. On asking, they confirmed that several “habshi” reside here. I am unsure if any of them even knew what that meant. The terminology was used without realising the sensitivity around it. Most of them happened to use it with harmless intentions.