“After all, that’s how almost everyone treats us — like dogs. I have been called one on many an occasion,” said Lokesh Yadav, 17, who lives — “when the policemen allow me to” — at Nizammuddin railway station. Yadav was one of the 15 slum and street children from the Capital who attended a special screening of Slumdog Millionaire at a West Delhi theatre on Sunday morning.

Hesitant initially to talk about their lives as portrayed in the film, the teenagers soon opened up about how some of them were pushed into begging, or how they have to always watch out for the policemen who do not think twice about using their laathis — “just like Jamal”, the protagonist.

Jeetendra, 17, said he held a bunch of odd jobs like collecting waste and polishing shoes in the last 12 years he has spent at Okhla railway station. “When Jamal got selected to be in the show, it reminded me of the times I sometimes watch shows like Kaun Banega Crorepati or Panchvi Paas Kaun,” he said. “I always knew some of the answers, and wanted to be a part of the show. But I was always too scared to call up: they would never select people like us.”

Lokesh, who, much like the protagonist, has taught himself a spattering of English, said events portrayed in Slumdog are very close to reality. “It’s a struggle every day,” he said, narrating a day in the life of a slumdog. “A bunch of us wait for the August Kranti Express to pull in every morning around 11. One of us collects the newspapers, another the empty water bottles, yet another searches for any valuables left behind by passengers. And two of us sneak in to the pantry car to steal the leftover paranthas.

“That’s how we get our breakfast — by evening, we usually collect Rs 40-50 by selling water bottles and newspapers.”

Sanjay, 25, though walks like a beacon of hope among the teenagers: having spent most of his life at the station, he is now an administrator with the NGO Chetana, which organised the screening, and reaches out to help them either find a job or go into de-addiction. “Why do you think they wear dirty clothes and look unwashed?” he asked. “They can afford to wash themselves and their clothes but if they look too clean, the cops will harass them.”