'This was written by me a couple of years back...Was due to get published in college souvenier which itself never got published.So now taking advantage of my 'own publication' online...thanks blogspot..'
That day my car was stuck in the traffic lights beside a petrol pump. Looking there I saw a little boy of 5-6 yrs of age with filthy clothes , soiled hands ,bare feet leaning on a railing and watching the latest model cars come and go, His small age and little world saw the golden petrol rushing into their ‘rich cars’ tank, the dealing of hard cash and then the quick burning of the fuel to push them from before his eyes in a few seconds. I wondered what might be going through his mind. Was he dreaming ? Or was he repenting of his birth in the streets? Couldn’t afford to get an answer but a deep pain bore into the core of my heart.
Its all so blatant but sometimes thinking above everything I ask, Why only a birth of a child is enough to decide that one is going to work from seven and another from twenty-two? Why remiss is an inherent part of their upbringing? I shouldn’t also let me be hopeful that we could change the picture. Instead if only we can change their painful lives . if only we just try and get acquainted with their daily agonies!
Almost all the underprivileged families having children of 8-9 yrs of age send them to work as servants or labours and whatever might be the persecutions on them , their parents don’t seem to care when they get the wages cause the children should be paying off for their birth! Nice logic indeed...And the biggest reason is of course “ all of us do the same thing!”
Recently on newspaper there was the story of the child labours near Bihar border . The owners of the brick kilns get hold of these children from the rural areas through some old workers who though get a commission from the owner also seize an amount from the children themselves .The helpless children have to work for 17-18 hrs per day and obtain only twenty bucks .They are not provided with proper food and even when they are sick they have to work the whole day to get the medicine. On top of that they are beaten if not working properly and they don’t have the courage to speak anything against their owner because that will end up in even more torture.
Here also in the slums in Kolkata it is the same story everywhere. Sandip Das ,a 14yr old boy whose mother have left him when he was 3 yr old is working in a garage since 10 and is quite used to the daily anguishes of his step mother. Few days back on paper was the story of 7 yr old Suraj Kumar who was working as a private servant in a house where thee ‘hospitality’ of the owners have led him to be a psycho patient . Daily he was provided with cigarette burns and despite a spacious flat he was supposed to be sleeping in the garden and often slept without having food. The owners were kind enough to let him sleep in the garden.
Their story is never ending…..
And even after knowing all these if our conscience urges as to do something on their behalf somehow, some reason will get through our minds preventing us from really doing anything.Maybe the least thing we’ll end up doing is intellectually discussing the matter with a group of people who are suffering the same attitude. Or maybe consciously we’ll drive the idea from our minds that ‘Yes , we will brighten up their lives’. May god bless the people who are on their process to help these deprived children . May god bless the people who can give them the little bit of love that they require. May god bless the people who knows that the tears that fall are we….
That day my car was stuck in the traffic lights beside a petrol pump. Looking there I saw a little boy of 5-6 yrs of age with filthy clothes , soiled hands ,bare feet leaning on a railing and watching the latest model cars come and go, His small age and little world saw the golden petrol rushing into their ‘rich cars’ tank, the dealing of hard cash and then the quick burning of the fuel to push them from before his eyes in a few seconds. I wondered what might be going through his mind. Was he dreaming ? Or was he repenting of his birth in the streets? Couldn’t afford to get an answer but a deep pain bore into the core of my heart.
Its all so blatant but sometimes thinking above everything I ask, Why only a birth of a child is enough to decide that one is going to work from seven and another from twenty-two? Why remiss is an inherent part of their upbringing? I shouldn’t also let me be hopeful that we could change the picture. Instead if only we can change their painful lives . if only we just try and get acquainted with their daily agonies!
Almost all the underprivileged families having children of 8-9 yrs of age send them to work as servants or labours and whatever might be the persecutions on them , their parents don’t seem to care when they get the wages cause the children should be paying off for their birth! Nice logic indeed...And the biggest reason is of course “ all of us do the same thing!”
Recently on newspaper there was the story of the child labours near Bihar border . The owners of the brick kilns get hold of these children from the rural areas through some old workers who though get a commission from the owner also seize an amount from the children themselves .The helpless children have to work for 17-18 hrs per day and obtain only twenty bucks .They are not provided with proper food and even when they are sick they have to work the whole day to get the medicine. On top of that they are beaten if not working properly and they don’t have the courage to speak anything against their owner because that will end up in even more torture.
Here also in the slums in Kolkata it is the same story everywhere. Sandip Das ,a 14yr old boy whose mother have left him when he was 3 yr old is working in a garage since 10 and is quite used to the daily anguishes of his step mother. Few days back on paper was the story of 7 yr old Suraj Kumar who was working as a private servant in a house where thee ‘hospitality’ of the owners have led him to be a psycho patient . Daily he was provided with cigarette burns and despite a spacious flat he was supposed to be sleeping in the garden and often slept without having food. The owners were kind enough to let him sleep in the garden.
Their story is never ending…..
And even after knowing all these if our conscience urges as to do something on their behalf somehow, some reason will get through our minds preventing us from really doing anything.Maybe the least thing we’ll end up doing is intellectually discussing the matter with a group of people who are suffering the same attitude. Or maybe consciously we’ll drive the idea from our minds that ‘Yes , we will brighten up their lives’. May god bless the people who are on their process to help these deprived children . May god bless the people who can give them the little bit of love that they require. May god bless the people who knows that the tears that fall are we….
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http://www.pankhudifoundation.org/
you might wanna join this.
i remember you asking me about learning web designing to help one NGO....we couldnt fulfil that dream but its always late than never. all the best.