Princess of the Slums

Princess of the Slums

in Kathputli Colony in Delhi
Kathputli Colony is a colony of street performers in Shadipur Depot area of Delhi. For the last 50 years, it is home to some 2,800 families of magicians, snake charmers, acrobats, singers, dancers, actors, traditional healers and musicians and especially puppeteers or kathputli-performers from Rajasthan. This makes it world’s largest community of street performers.
The colony is undergoing an in situ redevelopment plan by Delhi Development Authority (DDA) of Government of Delhi.
The name Kathputli Colony comes from Hindi language word for puppet, Kathputli.
The colony started in the 1950s, as a cluster of makeshift tents in an open field on the outskirts of Delhi, set up by itinerant puppeteers from Rajasthan, which gave the colony its name.
In 2010, Government of Delhi initiated the redevelopment project of the colony on public-private partnership basis.
Amid protests by residents and controversy, in early 2014, ahead of the April 1, 2014 deadline, some of the 2,754 families started shifting to transit camps built at Anand Parbat area 2 km away.