It being an awesome day, I took a long walk to my bank that is a couple of kilometers away from my office. After finishing all that I had to be done at the place, I was about to cross the road, when I saw this little girl, not more than 4 years old trying to cross the road. She was obviously a road-side dweller and should be one among those who live under the bridge near Cybertowers. The kid was frantically trying to cross the road and didn't realise there was a bus that was coming whizzing towards her. I was right on the divider and was petrified. I kind of screamed at the kid and she stopped on the other side of the road as the bus grazed past her. Again, almost unperturbed by what was an extremely scary encounter, she tried to cross the road , when a guy with a CTS bag, stopped and held the girl back.
By this time I had crossed the road and in my broken Hindi asked her if she was out of her mind. The CTS guy parked his bike and took her across the road, while I walked back all shaken up.
The girl was tiny! By normal standards, she would be in kindergarten using Crayolas making stick diagrams for her parents to put up on the refrigerator or their office desks.
Something about all this is incredibly sad. And knowing that I can't really do anything to change any of this makes me feel like a piece of insignificant lint.
What is the bloody use of having a government that doesn't bother about children begging on roads? It is a travesty of the entire concept of pursuit of happiness, democracy and all those big political words.
Life seems to be ruled only by probabilities. We are what we are because some dice seems to have been rolled that way.
What a shame!
Tuesday, July 06, 2010
Shame!
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7 comments:
Your post is sincere.. Its not like you are helpless.. There are organizations like CRY that are there to help children like these.. You can make contributions to organizations like these and help them help the children in need.. There must a lot of other organizations as well.. One suggestion, contribute a part of your salary every year to CRY. I did that with my first salary and it made me happy. You can do that too..
Way to go..
While its true that the Govt has to be blamed for this plight, it is also worth pondering how we (the lucky ones) can contribute to their upliftment. All thoughts and ideas in this front hit a roadblock beyond a point. Still i keep thinking. Maybe some action instead of mere thinking might help.
@Vineeth- It isn't actually about the money that we can give the organisations,nor about what could be done. It is more of why people, educated civil servants, the shameless politicians, the ones those who shouldn't have let such things happen.
@Ashmur- Truth.
@Uttara: true.. but come to think of it.. it really is difficult to point to one govt machinery that works well.. that's precisely why our country needs NGOs. All I'm saying is, we can do our part..
This is one of the things that the country and we as its people cannot feel proud of. It feels so bad looking at the signal beggars with children, who in all probability are drugged (I have never seen an active kid when they are begging. There was a scam sometime back in Bengaluru when a well-to-do toddler left with a caretaker at home landed up regularly as a begging aid). What could the Govt do, possibly? Put them all in a rehab from which they go back to square one !!! No easy solution, this, for it needs not just Govt, but some form of sustainable livelihood for them, maybe via NGOs. Sad state indeed. The dice may not be in their favor now, but could definitely be improved.
You can definitely do something to help kids like her. For starters, you could try not to buy products that are made with child labour, or you could try not to employ domestic help that is below 18 years of age. There are a whole gamut of things you can do using your creativity and conscience. Lack of care and protection for children is not the concern of the government alone. It is equally the concerns of citizens like you and me.
Also, next time you see a child in distress, do call 1098. It is a toll free number that can be used to help children in distress - supported by Dept. of Telecommunication. It is a very active line and has been helping children in distress for many years now all over India. Perhaps that could address your grievance that the govt. is "doing nothing".
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