New Delhi: You have walked past these kids in market places or at traffic signals but have been in a sea of ignorance about them. These are not just those kids who beg, because they make themselves prominent enough for you to take a look at them, these are the ones who work. They glance at you and probably remember your face because your life and theirs are worlds apart. These are the kids who feel invisible in the busiest of places.
One can come across these kids at the prominent places like Chirag Dilli red light, in front of Citywalk, ITO, and India gate among others. While men and women shop and hang around, these kids are sent to earn a living from a very tender age. This is something even a 20-year-old educated individual wouldn’t have to do for several more years.
Whereas one looks through the showroom glasses in the hopes of purchasing what they want, these under privileged children look for a warm-hearted soul who might buy something for them out of sympathy.
While navigating through the busy streets of the city, this correspondent came across eleven-year-old Pooja. The girl was more mature than her age demands. She approached the correspondent in the hope of selling the last few pens that she had. It is not something that she does on a daily basis. It was simply one of those unfortunate days when her mother had been taken ill.
Pooja is the eldest with five brothers and a sister to look after. They live in Seemapuri in a fatherless family, who she claims to have run away. Despite her ordeals, she remembers him.
During their conversation, Pooja recited the English alphabets for this correspondent. However, she fumbled and did not remember it by heart. She goes to school when it is possible. Sometimes two teachers provide her tuition in a nearby apartment. She dreams of becoming a teacher, the only profession she has been exposed to.
One might presume that Pooja does not have a tenuous grasp of reality. This is absolutely incorrect. She is the boss of her own world. While even the educated have a feeling of doubt when boarding the Metro, she doesn’t falter. She knows from which side the Metro has to be boarded and where to change the line. Though she hasn’t received any basic education at school, it has not hampered her life in a metropolitan city.
Withal, she is not the only one in the quest of living a normal life. Like Pooja, there are thousands of children on the busy traffic intersections earning their bread and butter by selling goods. Some are forced by their parents to earn a living while others lend a helping hand to their respective families to run their day-to-day lives. They struggle and they survive.
