My InTeRvIew With the AmArAnThinE

My InTeRvIew With the AmArAnThinE : a nonstop- never retiring- never resting mobile cover seller.

Mumbai : 28th June 2009


“PANCH ka ek...PANCH ka ek...” (5Rs for 1).....

...... Were the words meticulously uttered repeatedly without any fatigue or any pause until he found a passerby passenger of the dadar local station halting to take a glance at the collection of lustutors glossy plastic mobile phone pouches and trying to make a deal with the kid with the mobile accessorises, a bunch of mobile rappers.

“ ek ka PANCH? “ (1Rs for 5) I offered a bargain, just to make a conversation with this kid, who was looking not older than 8 yrs, with his shorts and shirt matching white and holding a bunch of covers of various colours and hopping around his two legs, may be to avoid the stress caused by continuous standing at one location.
The kid hurried in to laughter after hearing my bargain call and continued with his work, perhaps he is used to these bunch of putz who try to hamper the concentration with funny remarks and arguments.

“Sonu” said the boy in a tender scary voice when i asked what his name was and reported he was from a nearby locality. When asked regarding his business strategy, he told me he would purchase the pouches for Rs 3 and sell it for Rs 5. Well surely, this is a perfect example for the height of his innocence for he so openly tells me his selling tricks. But for a profit of mere 50 Rs per day, Sonu supposedly stands at the station walk way bridge from morning 7 am till evening 5 P.M.
Well , a thing that I could comprehend from my scarce interaction with the kid on the railway platform who is survived by his father is, that all the days hard work he puts in at this age, where he is supposed to busy playing and studying in school , is jus to fill his stomach. Yes just to survive the hunger he is forced by his situations to take up such a painstaking job that subjects him to continuous stress and fatigue & sometimes tensions with the ongoing public traffic.

Well let us once think out of the table or say out of the edge....

What if ? ? ?

What if ? ? ?

Had he been guaranteed his meal ? ? ? for free by our gregarious government ? ....Kids do deserve it....after all the MID-DAY-MEAL is guaranteed for children of primary sections in government run schools but I wonder how kids on the streets like Sonu miss the meals provided or at least why cant they be included in to the system ? well they would be imagined to be much of a burden to the government who instead spends amounts of money in to extraneous works like heavy public meetings or erecting their own statues up on the streets, where as the kids on streets are simply averted as a quantum of burden

Well anyways, What if ? ? ? was my point of chew


It would have been like definitely this....


Sonu would never have had to think about fulfilling his stomach to overcome his hunger...at least for his age, it’s a way too much of a burden for his little heart of 7-8 years old.. So instead of spending nearly 10 hours together standing and bargaining with moving crowd for earning his meals, he would have spent, at least some of this industrious effort he puts on selling his stuff, on something like education or sports, he would definitely, with the sort of sincerity and determination he posses he surely would strike gold in whatever he ventures in to.
Surely , SONU is one of those millions kids around the country, our developing country who are going undeveloped and are simply neglected as if they don’t belong to any one of us.

The sooner we realise this fact that our countries future lies within the hands and fate of these charming


I hope sooner or later we would open our eyes to wake up from the sleeps where we are dreaming of a developing or almost developed nation with developments in IT and many other sectors but with the children of our nation lagging back day by day, the development we are witnessing in nothing but a mirage and helping us burglarise our own nation with our own hands

: its government & public, U & me together, can bring a change
Education is the solution to all the problems. Educate to eradicate Problems.

My InTeRViEW WiTh The SAViOR

Visakhapatnam: Jan-2007

“I need to take care of my old mother, how can I study when I have to earn money to run the house? “

This is the question that was shot furiously or rather helplessly towards me when I asked Raju about his ambitions regarding his education, clearly expressing his strong desire to study, which were amputated by his current situation like a flower that were plucked even before it blossomed, halting the inflorescence, hence smouldering by his situation responsible for not enabling him to pursue his desires. Indeed The savior of his family.

It was a regular evening in Visakhapatnam and I happened to visit an Irani tea stall near my home where I met Raju, who descended from his town Machilipatnam along with his brother to Visakhapatnam in search of work. Raju was around 14 when his destiny fled him from his home to the city of destiny. He now works as a Tea server in this Irani Teashop serving hot tea cups to the costumers and washing them after being used. Raju works from dusk till dawn, from 6 in the morning to 7 in the evening. He then sleeps in the shop itself and wakes up the next day to get back in to his routine duty. Raju is an example of the devilish practice that prevails in India and most parts of the world, The Child labour that prevails in every look and corner of the country.

Child labour, or child labour, refers to the employment of children at regular and sustained labour. This practice is considered exploitative by many international organizations and is illegal in many countries (courtesy: Wikipedia.org)

Child labour and improvisation of labouring children is indeed insane but the question that arises here and which I would like to point out is that ” why would any kid in this world, be it rich or poor, would want to indulge himself in to activities which, demands extreme physical strain working from dusk till dawn, subjects them to weathering to all types of seasons from humid summers to chilly winters , subjects them to all kinds of stress, getting beaten here and then and being forced in to dirty waters and also importantly preventing them rather depriving them from enjoying the best part of human cycle i.e. the childhood.

The answer is known to all, a crystal clear NO.

Well even the street children or the so called child labours wouldn’t want to do what they are doing but are unfortunately made to. Not by their employers but their circumstances. Their circumstances make them choose this sort of hard life. A hard life in which there is nothing else but pain suffering and regret. For the mistakes and wrong decisions made by their parents or due to the bad fate given by god, these children are forced to chose this sort of life , which no one would never even think of in dreams.
Childhood is the era in which every individual enjoys to the maximum limits. The fun filled days where every individuals gets a chance to experience the nascent joys that springs from their experiences with nature, the fun filled days where every individual experiences a huge amount of love care and attention from their parents friends and loved ones, are the essence of childhood era. Indeed a common wish to god from every individual is to retrieve them back their childhood.

But, for these child labours, Childhood is one phase of life which they would never want to retrieve back and indeed regret for what they undergo. The sole desire to survive in this world is what drives these children in to working at the age of studying or having a good time.

So what could be the possible solution for solving their problems? A simple dabbing incomplete survey and then chucking the children out of work isn’t going to solve all the problems. Thanks to the child labour rights personnel who hurriedly bail the child out of the job and file a case on the employer. These things would only add to the woes of these children and do little to solve them permanently. They would remain jobless for some time and again get in to another job or would remain jobless for the rest of the time and then divert themselves in to anti social activities, after all it is the matter of hunger, survival and family.

One must be sure that before cutting ones form of income, another should be shown to them.

The permanent solution is what is to be desired and it lies with the roots. The root of the problem is at the places from where they heir.

According to my survey, child labours are of three main varieties.

Firstly, the child may be an orphan. If so he should be properly counselled regarding the dangers of what he is getting himself in to and then explain him the benefits of going to a hostel and getting himself educated. This can be done by anyone amongst us. It doesn’t take much time have a simple chat with these kids where ever you find them. He may not listen to you in the first instance but on a longer note you may surely bring a change to his lives.

Secondly, most child labours are run away from homes. The same as the above process applies to these but also effort should be made to send them back home. Also importantly, further fleeing of children should be checked. This can be done by putting a check at the root, the villages from where most children flee. As in the above post, I mentioned about bablu yadav, who fleed from bihar, hence many bablu yadavs flee everyday and this should be checked and it can only be done by counselling repeatedly the importance of education and about the stress they would be undergoing had they ran away from home listening to some negative elements and running away.

Thirdly, some Child labours are responsibility acceptors. Like Raju, many children indulge themselves in to works so they can run their family. Efforts should be made by government and society for making education available to these children along with safe work and also a source of income should be made available to their elders in the family. This problem is not something that could be eradicated overnight, it should be tackled strategically with patience and it should be met as our countries future lies with these children.

These children may not be related to us by blood, but they are our brothers and sisters by nation and certainly one should remember that our nation’s future is decided by the state of these children’s growth. By neglecting them we are indirectly neglecting ourselves.

Well at the end of the day, it is up to you to decide whether you take up this problem seriously or as a super hero tale but i urge you to think for a moment and take up your decision and plan of action.

MY INTERVIEW WITH a MISSED HERO

DATE 9/9/08 : MY INTERVIEW WITH a MISSED HERO

While I was on my way to the Surat city from Hazira, I happened to board an auto for transportation.

A young little boy boarded the auto along with me. A boy who looked not older than 8th or 9th class (around 13-14 year old), who had he been studying at a school would have carried books in his hands and would have been approaching a class or a tuition instead of going to a petrol bunk with an empty can in his hand to buy diesel for refilling his own driven truck. Yes indeed he is a truck, heavy vehicle driver. He was a very charming little boy, quick to grasp whats going on around him. He was sitting to the edge of the seat with his empty can in his hand. Laughing unwontedly to the sarcastic jokes on his state Bihar and his favorite real life hero Lalu Prasad Yadav.

I managed to drag him in to a little conversation wherein he told me about his journey from Bagalpura, BIHAR to Hazira, Gujarat to earn some money so he could run his 4 member family back home, 4 member family where 3 members are penniless, father due to his old age and brother who is jobless. He is certainly an example of responsibility.


He happened to run away from his home with a sum of Rs 1500 which he borrowed from a friend’s home, the friend who lured him about the money that he would be earning if he managed to escape out of his home. Little aware of the dangerous and hazardous places he would be made to work ,instead of supplying the much needed education to his budding life, instead of spending his childhood with in his mothers courtyard ,cherishing the love of his mother, which millions are deprived off, HE ran away from his home to the mirage of money.
Babuly yadav, age 16, as told by him, as told to him to be told to others, so that he is not caught by any govt. Authorities under child labour. But still he is underage to drive a heavy vehicle across the highways though. His MAALIK (boss) got him an illegal license to run the heavy vehicle in the national highway, which could be lethal for him as well as anyone who is traveling along with him.


Bablu yadav manages to earn around 3000 to 4000 a month from which he sends more than half of money to support his family back in Bagalpura. He aims to own his own truck in future when he grows big, as big he might have the privilege to own a legal license also. When asked about his happiness in the decision he has made, he happened to tell me he regrets the decision he has made but its too late for him to rebuild his life back home but he surely doesn’t lack the enthusiasm to work his way through his life to achieve what he wants.

In areas where industries dominate the location, there will be many children like Bablu yadav, who are misguided and brought to these places for working in there. They surely reduce the labour cost and can also be made to do double work.

It is time now to cut this infiltration of children from villages to these places and it is high time to put a check on this trend. Government and society should take a step forward to make these innocent children understand long term of benefits of education.

By looking at the charm and attentive nature of Bablu yadav, i realized that India had just given away a good engineer or a doctor, who could have served millions of people, instead of a MAALIK and his trucks.

Hundreds of Bablu yadavs are created everyday and millions of people of our nation lose much needed man power to serve the country.