Today as I walked back from the HDFC Bank in Bathinda, I saw two urchins sitting outside and scribbling on a piece of paper. I asked what they were writing and were shy at first but then showed me a discarded receipt from which they were trying to copy numbers. I asked them if they went to school though I knew the answer already. No they did not go to school. One of them said "hamari kismat nahin hai" - a line obviously learnt from their parents. Further conversation revealed that their father had tried to get them enrolled several times but the school wanted Rs 5000 for enrollment. The boys had been sent out to beg but were too busy trying to write on the back of a discarded receipt. They said they were beggers, their names Aman and Happy (they were maybe 10 or 11 years old). They showed me the pictures of gods in thalis which they had in their laps as their begging tool. They said they were hungry - I asked what were they hungry for, The answer was for 'roti'- I told them I would buy them a half dozen bananas (since I didn't want to give them money)- they walked with me to the old bus stand where I bought them bananas. On the way Aman, by way of conversation, mentioned that he had no slippers. Sure enough he was barefoot. I asked them to stay exactly where they were and went to a Liberty showroom close by and bought him a pair of slippers. When I walked back to give them to him, they were where I had left them, having finished their bananas and still totally engrossed in writing on their scrap of paper. That's how I left them, feeling helpless that I could do nothing for them since it was my last day in the city. If I had more time I would have liked to go to the school where they were supposedly refused admission and tried to do something to see if they could attend school. I felt helpless and angry that I could do nothing. But the story of Aman and Happy on the streets of Bathinda is less than a drop in the ocean of dreams that are lost to povery and corruption in India....
Is there anything we can do at an individual level to help even one child have a better life?
1 comment:
well one incident i recall so fondly (and a bit sadly too) is from the late '70s. I was walking in the the inner circle of Connought Place when I came across a Sikh begging . Yes, actually begging. While I was crossing him, another Sikh (well to do) just stopped by and gave him a tight slap ! I was shocked. I was young - in my twenties. He then pulled out his wallet, and all the notes that wre inside. He just handed them over w/o looking at them and tild the "beggar" - 'If u need food go to the Gurudwara, you can sleep there also. But dont ever let me see you begging again." Lord ! I was touched ! I wish I could have embraced that man............
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