The tragedy of being psychosocially disabled is being seen as a burden by your own family and community, and eventually, being pushed to the margins.

Some abandoned by their families, others having tolerated an eternity of disrespect and abuse in silence, to finally take charge and walk out. Now homeless, fighting battles with their own minds every single day. The agony of nowhere to go, nowhere they can cry their hearts out, where a thousand eyes would not stare at them with disgust, eyes that easily ignore their pain every day.

What is it that they have a better understanding of? What is it that they can offer to teach the world, a world that has forsaken them, sees them as an abomination? They know, better than anyone, better than they know themselves, the reality of home. Even if they cannot comprehend their own thoughts, some of them don’t even completely remember their homes, but they remember how it made them feel, why they left, why they are on these streets, why they would never return.

This photo essay explores their idea of home**

This photo essay is about those who are not fortunate enough to have a real home, not one with money, luxury, not one with four walls,  with all the things one can own, but, a home with love. A home that could accept them for who they are, because all they wished for, was to be loved, to be cared for.

Having run away, having found solace and peace on the streets, even though at the end of the day, the feeling of loneliness weighs in on them, they would never set foot in a home that hurt them beyond repair. The world is their home now, you are their home now, we are their home now. This essay hopes to make you understand their pain, listen to their stories, realize they are as human as you are.

To encourage everyone walking down the street to offer a smile to those who don’t belong anywhere. To spread love and brotherhood. So, the world can live as one family. Embodying the true spirit of “Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (the whole world is a family), a feeling handed down through generations and entrusted to us to take forward.

This photo essay is created and conceptualized by Lisha Charly, a student intern who spent a month at Iswar Sankalpa understanding our work, the issue, and the plight of homeless persons.

**All photographs have been taken with the consent of the person