‘I count their breaths’: A homeless mother protects her children in Delhi

Nights are the hardest. Abida sleeps semi-upright, the bulky bag under her head, holding Soni against her chest, five-year-old Hamir and seven-year-old Roshni curled around them. “I count their breaths,” she whispers. “I’m always afraid someone might take them away.”

About 5am on a cold November morning in 2023, Abida and her children were sleeping, wrapped in a thin bla...