All of us live our lives in our own small world. People see, hear and think things but they consider them out of their small world never trying to give it a slight bit of seriousness. One of such things is the unwanted childhood that some children are forced to live. I am calling it an "unwanted" childhood, but for these children it is the only childhood that they can think off. Because like us they also have their own small world beyond which they don’t see.
The problem with having a small world of our own is that it does not allow us to look beyond a capsule in which we enclose ourselves. But sometimes we break this capsule and peep beyond what we usually see, hear or think. I also try to do it. I try to see world from others' eyes quite often. Daily I travel one and half hours in local train of Mumbai towards my workplace and that is when I try to explore others' worlds.
There are better things and there are worse things. I see both kinds of things. But worse things catch my attention easily. One such thing is the "unwanted" childhood of the "unwanted" children of the society. Life is lived only once and when I think of these children living such life, I feel bad for them. I see children on tracks, on platforms, in trains, on traffic signals. Each time I see a different kind of childhood. Sometimes I see it picking rags, sometimes polishing shoes, sometimes begging and sometimes washing cars. The other day I was traveling in train and this kid came in the compartment with his little kit of polishing shoes. He asked each and every person sitting in their compartment, stopping at everyone for some time, in the hope that at least someone would get his shoes polished. Nobody was interested. I was looking at him. Finally he stood there at the passage still looking at people. It was touching. The look on his face was to be pitied for. He looked hungry. Then when he was sure nobody wants a polish, he quietly kept his brush along with other stuff in the plastic bag and stood there till the next station. I thought of helping him by paying some money. But he was not a beggar. He was earning his bread. I didn’t want him to convert from a person working for his food to the one who begs for it. Even if I would have given him that day who would have given him the next day? But the amazing thing that I noticed was that nobody else even cared to have a second look at him. And that worries me. It tells me that may be people have taken it for granted. May be having such kids around is OK for this society. And when such thinking creeps in nothing can happen. Because people don’t see it as a problem. And when there is no problem what do we need a solution for? But there is problem and that kid deserves more than this. He deserves a good childhood.
Most of us love our old memories – when we were children. One day these children will also grow old and will have their memories too. What kind of a memory will that be? They will ask who is responsible for such a memory? They were innocent so they are definitely not. In some cases may be their parents. But to a large extent it’s the society to be blamed. If a society is ok with its large section to have this kind of childhood then who else can be blamed for it.
The problem is that we have accepted it. We have accepted that if a child spends his whole day picking rags on the railway tracks with sun blazing on his head and still he earns not enough to feed himself, it is because it is his fate. We have accepted that after all this effort when he goes to buy some bread and some policeman takes a major part of that earning, then it’s the way it has always been. We have accepted that if there is a mafia involved in making children physically disabled and using them for begging, it is just one of the many problems in India. We have accepted that educating these children is of no use because they do not have that sharpness of mind required to get educated.
I am sorry…They don’t have sharpness of mind to get Educated???
Do you remember a small child once picked your pocket - that requires sharpness of mind. Have you ever seen a small child selling newspapers with some big news. You buy that newspaper and read it only to see the same old stories - this requires sharpness of mind.
Some people take initiatives for making society a better place. There have been cases where people sponsor the education of a child. But on some occasions they stop sponsoring them because they find child uninterested in studies. Why should I waste my money?? To such people I would ask that if their own child starts disliking the studies then would they stop his studies or will they try to motivate the child? Educating any child needs constant motivation because in many cases children don’t understand what is good for them and there comes the role to be played by the guardians. These children also need guardians.
Most of the times we leave this role to be played by the government. Ideally we should leave it to government only. It is also government’s duty to take up such issues. But I personally have no faith in government. The problem with government is that it is a highly complex organization with lots of hierarchy and lots of people. When there are lots of people involved things have to go wrong, specially when there is no control. And that’s exactly what happens when government takes up such issues as child education or child labour. I am very sure that some people truly want to lift these children to better life but I am also very sure that there are many others who don’t give a damn about anything else other than themselves. They also want special programs to be arranged for these children not because they care for them but because it opens a possibility for them to soak their hands with the money flowing for such programs.
But for how long can we ignore this issue. Not for long to be sure. If India as a whole needs to succeed, this section of the society also needs to be educated. Literacy acts as an asset for a country and Illiteracy as a liability. We have a major chunk waiting. Now we have to decide whether we want to convert them into an asset or a liability. Society needs an awakening. Nobody else will do it for you. If we want to accept illiteracy of children as their fate than nothing is required to be done. Let there be increase in liabilities which again will be a liability for the society and its people in terms of underdevelopment, increased taxes etc. On the other hand if this section gets converted to asset we will be having more hands contributing to economy. If we want India to stand tall in world this section of society cannot be ignored. And the choice does not seem so difficult.
The problem with having a small world of our own is that it does not allow us to look beyond a capsule in which we enclose ourselves. But sometimes we break this capsule and peep beyond what we usually see, hear or think. I also try to do it. I try to see world from others' eyes quite often. Daily I travel one and half hours in local train of Mumbai towards my workplace and that is when I try to explore others' worlds.
There are better things and there are worse things. I see both kinds of things. But worse things catch my attention easily. One such thing is the "unwanted" childhood of the "unwanted" children of the society. Life is lived only once and when I think of these children living such life, I feel bad for them. I see children on tracks, on platforms, in trains, on traffic signals. Each time I see a different kind of childhood. Sometimes I see it picking rags, sometimes polishing shoes, sometimes begging and sometimes washing cars. The other day I was traveling in train and this kid came in the compartment with his little kit of polishing shoes. He asked each and every person sitting in their compartment, stopping at everyone for some time, in the hope that at least someone would get his shoes polished. Nobody was interested. I was looking at him. Finally he stood there at the passage still looking at people. It was touching. The look on his face was to be pitied for. He looked hungry. Then when he was sure nobody wants a polish, he quietly kept his brush along with other stuff in the plastic bag and stood there till the next station. I thought of helping him by paying some money. But he was not a beggar. He was earning his bread. I didn’t want him to convert from a person working for his food to the one who begs for it. Even if I would have given him that day who would have given him the next day? But the amazing thing that I noticed was that nobody else even cared to have a second look at him. And that worries me. It tells me that may be people have taken it for granted. May be having such kids around is OK for this society. And when such thinking creeps in nothing can happen. Because people don’t see it as a problem. And when there is no problem what do we need a solution for? But there is problem and that kid deserves more than this. He deserves a good childhood.
Most of us love our old memories – when we were children. One day these children will also grow old and will have their memories too. What kind of a memory will that be? They will ask who is responsible for such a memory? They were innocent so they are definitely not. In some cases may be their parents. But to a large extent it’s the society to be blamed. If a society is ok with its large section to have this kind of childhood then who else can be blamed for it.
The problem is that we have accepted it. We have accepted that if a child spends his whole day picking rags on the railway tracks with sun blazing on his head and still he earns not enough to feed himself, it is because it is his fate. We have accepted that after all this effort when he goes to buy some bread and some policeman takes a major part of that earning, then it’s the way it has always been. We have accepted that if there is a mafia involved in making children physically disabled and using them for begging, it is just one of the many problems in India. We have accepted that educating these children is of no use because they do not have that sharpness of mind required to get educated.
I am sorry…They don’t have sharpness of mind to get Educated???
Do you remember a small child once picked your pocket - that requires sharpness of mind. Have you ever seen a small child selling newspapers with some big news. You buy that newspaper and read it only to see the same old stories - this requires sharpness of mind.
Some people take initiatives for making society a better place. There have been cases where people sponsor the education of a child. But on some occasions they stop sponsoring them because they find child uninterested in studies. Why should I waste my money?? To such people I would ask that if their own child starts disliking the studies then would they stop his studies or will they try to motivate the child? Educating any child needs constant motivation because in many cases children don’t understand what is good for them and there comes the role to be played by the guardians. These children also need guardians.
Most of the times we leave this role to be played by the government. Ideally we should leave it to government only. It is also government’s duty to take up such issues. But I personally have no faith in government. The problem with government is that it is a highly complex organization with lots of hierarchy and lots of people. When there are lots of people involved things have to go wrong, specially when there is no control. And that’s exactly what happens when government takes up such issues as child education or child labour. I am very sure that some people truly want to lift these children to better life but I am also very sure that there are many others who don’t give a damn about anything else other than themselves. They also want special programs to be arranged for these children not because they care for them but because it opens a possibility for them to soak their hands with the money flowing for such programs.
But for how long can we ignore this issue. Not for long to be sure. If India as a whole needs to succeed, this section of the society also needs to be educated. Literacy acts as an asset for a country and Illiteracy as a liability. We have a major chunk waiting. Now we have to decide whether we want to convert them into an asset or a liability. Society needs an awakening. Nobody else will do it for you. If we want to accept illiteracy of children as their fate than nothing is required to be done. Let there be increase in liabilities which again will be a liability for the society and its people in terms of underdevelopment, increased taxes etc. On the other hand if this section gets converted to asset we will be having more hands contributing to economy. If we want India to stand tall in world this section of society cannot be ignored. And the choice does not seem so difficult.
