It seemed like any other day. I had returned from the office. I was just wondering what to do next and the door knocked. Who is it? Who would come to visit me in this lonely place? May be it’s Sam, my only friend here. Excited, I opened the door and found a 10 yr. old boy standing with a tiffin. He said, “Saab, apka tiffin“. I almost laughed at Saab. I let him in and decided to chat with him. His name was Shankar. He belonged to a village in Haryana. His father sent him to Delhi to work and earn whatever he could. I asked him about school. He looked down and said he used to go to his village school and liked it very much. I asked him to leave.
He left my room but certainly not my mind. I sat there thinking why this 10 yr. old has to work whereas I used to go to school at his age. I hated school but was made to go there daily and this boy loves it but is made to work. I read in civics that there is a law which bans employment of children under 14. But is this one too meant to be broken? I wondered who should take up the cause of such children. Should I do it? I certainly earn more than I need. I can comfortably put aside a small sum for this. But what will happen to the iPod for which I’ve been saving for months? No, I can’t do it. I have just started my career and I can’t be thinking of all this.
Ggrr grrrrrr.. It’s that drilling machine again. In the neighborhood, a pot bellied marwari is expanding his house. He sits all day in his chair smoking beedi and yelling at the laborers. He seems very rich to me. Why doesn’t he help Shankar? Why is he building another storey when he already has two? He can make a school instead. But then what will the government do? If it can’t enforce its own laws what’s the use? In States you dial 911 and it’s done. Do we have such a number? I sat in my room very confused and disturbed. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Is it the marwari? Was I loud? Did he dial 911? I opened the door again and found Shankar again. He had come to take the tiffin back. I saw some chocolates on my desk. I gave them to him. He smiled and said, “Thank you, Saab“. This was it. That smile took away all my anguish. I happily went to bed humming,
Kisi ki muskuraahaton pe ho nisaar
Kisi ka dard mil sake to le udhaar
Kisi ke vaaste ho tere dil mein pyaar
Jeena isi ka naam hai
Neil Armstrong said, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.”
He was right.