On a late afternoon in Nehru Nagar, Juhu, the sun hangs low, and the heat shimmers off tin roofs. A half-deflated football lies muddy and worn beside a rusting shack. Barefoot children race through narrow lanes that we walk past, their laughter bouncing off peeling walls. A boy disappears into a shaded corner, palms cupped to his face, inhaling quietly. 

Hafeem. No one stops him. No one notices. There’s little space here to play. The alleys are too cramped, the streets taken over by traffic, bodies, and survival. The nooks and crannies that might have once held dreams now cradle addiction. On a stoop, two teenage boys sit slouched, eyes glassy, too still. 
Still unnoticed.

For children long boxed into narrow lanes, Total Football Academy is an escape from drug-induced peers. Pic/Nimesh Dave