“I see her leaving
the house every morning. She wakes up even before the sun has spread its
crimson color in the sky, after completing all the household chores she goes to
work. She works there from morning till late in the evening and after coming
back she cooks and completes the other errands. After everyone eats, only then
does she go to sleep. She wakes up before anyone else in the house and sleeps
after everybody has slept, I doubt if she sleeps everyday. She is not very
healthy and is prone to sickness, but still manages to go to work everyday. Her
master is too shrewd and treats her like an animal, he scolds her when she
doesn’t work properly and deducts money from her petty salary. I want to help
her but I am unable to do that. I am younger than her and she wants me to study
hard and become a successful person. As my father is ill, she is the only
source of income. Let it be medicine, vegetables, or any other monetary
requirement, it’s all dependent on her monthly wage. The money which she gets
for so much of hard work is too little to suffice everyday’s meal properly. She
is not too old. She will turn 15 this year. She had a great desire to go to
school and get higher education. But all those dreams were shattered when my
father fell ill. Whenever I tell her not to go to work, she says only one thing
“She ruffles my hair”, and then with tears sparkling in her eyes, she leaves.
She thinks I am too young to comprehend but I understand everything the pain,
the suffering, the loss”
These are the
feelings of a brother whose sister is the only earning hand in the house. This
is how a poor family survives. They struggle everyday, each day is a fight
against fortune, a race against odds, an effigy of desires. Childhood is
considered to be a carefree time but for some it’s just an age.
Just to keep
fire burning in their home, poor parents are bound to let their young children
go for hard and heartless toil. If” hard work is the only key to success” then
why does success and wealth eludes some? Some philosophers argue it saying “may
be they are not lucky enough like other children”, “maybe destiny had planned
their future this way”. If everything has to come down to destiny then what we
are looking at is a vicious cycle of “ ill destined”, “ill timed”, “caught on the
wrong side of the fence “ or in other words just a few people with “bad luck”.
If such is the mindset of “21st
century” India, then we are much poorer then we actually thought not just in
terms of wealth, arms or the much hyped GDP but in the intellectual sense as
well.
I see these days
“LEAD INDIA” campaigns with the slogan “BE THE CHANGE”. If everyone of us
takes responsibility of educating even one child (if we can afford that), the
difference created will be huge. I have seen many people doing that, recently I
happened to read an article about a tea vendor who earns a meager Rs.8000 in 20
days, but still manages to help the needy with all financial aid. You just need
to have a heart and passion for helping. But we the so called “high class”
generally don’t prefer pondering over such issues, we have this habit of
putting the onus on our already “celebrated” government to solve such issues.
Unfortunately our government being too busy with their own political games,
lack time to waste over such futile issues. Why can’t we bring our hands
forward to help the needy and eradicate poverty right from the grass root level?
We can atleast support education for a few children.
According to the
statistics, there were around 150 million poor people in 1950 but today there
are more than 400 billion poor people. For how long would we keep waiting for
some miracle to happen? Instead of believing the Government to make the
“CHANGE”, can’t we ourselves be the “CHANGE”? Think, how would you feel if your
kith is in their place, wont you come forward to help him in all possible ways?
We claim to come from a culture that considers each one of us as brothers and
sisters but in reality until and unless something doesn’t affect us we turn a
blind eye to it.
Forget about who has
done what, because it’s a high time to realize our responsibilities as an
Indian, to care about those unfortunates who are neither our family members nor
friends but are humans, who are not lucky like us, who struggle everyday for
their survival, whose only bank balance is a stack of lost hope and a pile of
shattered dreams, for whom two square meals a day is still a luxury, for whom
everyday is a struggle for survival. Sometimes helping others gives
you more pleasure than anything else, try this. If you could just cushion some
of their pains which life has given them, you’ll be blessed. Let us not let the
future of any child perish in perpetual poverty. Whenever I ruminate about how
to curb such social issues or what is the root cause of the problem, I land up
only on one solution i.e. “approach”. Just bring a change in your approach of
dealing with things, think a bit selflessly, things will change on its own and
obviously a better implementation of strict laws is required. We need to stop
observing such issues and start contemplating about their solutions, let it not
be like all other social issues which are bound to be swept under the carpet.
Chetna Shahi
Editor at STIMULUS INDIA !
