Stinking Reality

Ghar se to nikle the khushiyaan baantnein, apni kaksha mein hasil kiya gyan baantnein
apni shiksha ki seekh gareeb bachchon mein jagayen to sahi.
A,B,C to kya sikhate, unke paas to rehne ko ashiana bhi nahin.

Time: 5 PM, Date: 26th March 2007, Venue – 36 Market, Chandigarh.
The We Volunteers assembled again to follow-up the task undertaken a month back to woe small children away from the menace of begging and make them aware with values of education and self-respect.
Call it a chance or whatever-we met the same child bully who accompanied us to the lake sometime back for an outing. Bheem, Sonu, Rakesh were absent from the scene.
As the new volunteers into the project tried to get into a conversation with him, asking him about his “Motive of Begging.” The same answers flowed out of his mouth and ignorance towards whatever we told him was visible on his face. Another thing that came into light was his ability to fabricate answers impromptu. Anyways, this question-answer session did not last long as one of the volunteers eager to transform his fate, mentioned “School and Education” in the talk. As soon as he finished the question, Manoj (the subject) turned and ran away (he attended school just for one day)
So what conclusions can we draw from this? Well, with a couple of sessions with the child beggars who once went to school, has brought out certain facts about the begging and the drop-out from school.
~~~Most of them beg due to peer influence.
~~~There is no particular motive associated with begging.
~~~They beg just to eat some snacks and drink some cola.
~~~Some parents are unaware that their children beg
~~~Most of them dropped out of the school after a beating from the teacher in class.

Anyways, we handed him our contact numbers again and just as I was composing this write-up, I got a call from Manoj. He and the kids will meet us at the same place tomorrow at 5.

Preet, Rajat, Karan stayed back at 36 and me(Ankush), Rajdeep, and Dr. Sudheesh Moved towards sector 35 to look-out for some more children begging at the eating joints and parking lots. Surprisingly, we could find none……has Chandigarh changed? No beggars???
Neh I don think so….well one reason could be that the sector was still not alive. The party and date hours had still not started. The Flashy cars, roaring bikes, beautiful damsels and the cool hunks had still not descended on the scene (the “business objects” for beggars).
Meanwhile I got a message from Kaval to regroup at the Fragrance Garden with the “Alternate Source of Income Group”. So again we rode our bikes and zoomed to the spot.
The “Alternate Source of Income Group” has done a great job. Making Hand bags out of waste clothe, Paper Bags from the waste newspapers. Great job. And we are ready to put them on sale with highest price tag of Rs. 130 for the Large hand bag. Some boutiques have agreed to buy the Paper Bags with an order of 500-1000 bags per shop.
Ok so the “Beggar Rescue Team” again left for 35 to catch hold of some beggars. Making our way through the back lanes of the Showrooms to save parking fee:)
As we parked our bikes, we saw a boy and girl struggling to push their cart laden with stinking garbage from the shops and houses. When we asked their names, pat came an excited reply from the little boy, Shahrukh KhanJ. Then we talked to the girl and asked her name. Well this seemed more realistic, “Sabeena.” Then later he told his name was Ali. They were brother and sisters with no parents and living with their maternal grandmother. The boy went to school once but dropped out due to a beating from the teacher. They get five rupees from their grandmother daily who is a rag picker aswell.
A little more talk about their whereabouts, family and interests.
“Jheel Dekhi hai?...
Nahin dekhi.
Humare saath shanivaar ko chaloge jheel par?
They wanted to go but could not say a yes (after all we were strangers). But they were excited.
We asked them to take us to their grandmother so that we could get her permission and take them for the excursion. They pushed their cart along the busy road, through the cruel traffic and we followed them on our bikes towards their so called “Jhuggi.”
On reaching their habitat, we were aghast, agape and speechless.
If you think that your dustbin stinks and only insects and germs stay in sewerage pipes, then you better get your notions redefined.
Now Jhuggi in my regards is still a better term than the squalor in which they were living.
Residing in huge pipes left waste by the Municipality along the road, smoke rising from their “open kitchen”, flowing stench from the household garbage they collect, heaped all over the area. You will not even notice these souls while riding your bikes or driving your cars and tuning in to the latest FM.
There were some 15 children, an elder woman (the grandmother). She told us that they have been residing in and around Chandigarh since 20 years and still they do not have a house. Wherever they put up their makeshift houses, the Administration razes them to clear away the land. So in these conditions, how can they go to the lake? How can we ask them to study? How did they bear the harsh winters and the rains that swept the city few days back? Answers are disturbing to think.
On being asked, they vented out their names with enthusiasm, smiling over the dark realities they have been living in, with no shelter and not much future. Sabeena, Ali, Mohabbat, Muskan to name a few

So what was shining in India a few years back?
Nothing more to say from my side

Feedback: Need to get them a roof first of all