Delhi is the national capital and a metropolitan city with good housing, transportation, healthcare, drainage and sewage facilities. Shopping and food outlets are visible in every nook and corner of the city.
Seemapuri is a place located on the outskirts of Delhi. Occupied by squatters from Bangladesh, who came back to India in 1971, the place has nothing to offer its residents. Mud houses, with tin and tarpaulin serving as rooftops, cover the grounds of Seemapuri. This place has no sewage, drainage or running water services for its residents.
When compared with middle-class people who earn their money through providing services at public and private firms, residents of Seemapuri make their living through rag-picking. They get their food with the help of ration cards and can rely on no other trade than rag-picking to make money. They have no identity as they haven't got any permits.
Even though Seemapuri offers residence to ten thousand rag pickers, it lacks the basic necessities of life, easily available in the national capital. Hence, when the author compares these two places, she observes that even though Seemapuri is located on the periphery of Delhi, yet metaphorically, Seemapuri is miles away from it.
