Wednesday, December 17, 2008

ITS JUST A LITTLE SPAN OF LIFE....!!!!

**P.S. this is a bit long post. still read it with heart.

It's not Blah...blah...blah...this time!!!! something serious about the most important time of our lives. A time when we learn, when we enjoy the beauty of our life. we play in the rain, run along the stream, write on the slates, read aloud, leave boats in the tub of water....and what not??? everything. This is the time when we really enjoyed our lives. we knew only this kind of childhood.

but today this is not the case. there are two kinds of childhood. one has only happiness while the other is buried in sorrow. we see children carrying colorful bags and going to school and also we get to see children working in the roadside hotels. we see children enjoying in the amusement parks and we see some of them cleaning roads leading to the park. The saddest problem our country is facing today is CHILD LABOR.

Even though it is a crime to recruit children below 14yrs of age, it seems like no one is actually concerned about the law. As a result of this, around 20 million children are working to earn them their food and help their families. people who put them to work say its "their FATE" but is it so??? there are poor parents who give birth to a bunch of them and don't find any means to feed them and of course, cant afford to send them to school. Instead they force them to work and their livelihood and help them too. Is it the mistake of the children to be born in a family who cant afford for a day meal or a little education???

while this is the case of children working under a roof, there are lot many others who don't have it too.....and we call them STREET CHILDREN. they pick thrown away papers and covers in the hot sun, beg at every door step and a bus station, get wet in the rain yet don't rest anywhere. no good food to eat nor good dress to wear...but they never complain. they stand at the school gate seeing the rest of the children study but then remember their work again. this is the childhood they are enjoying. they never complain it to be the mistake of their parents or anyone else in the world.

there are lot many NGO's working to eliminate child labor and street children problem in India but what's the use when the people here are not concerned about it or if the government never tend to think about this problem.

if this is the problem with the children of the poor section of the country, there are children who are still not enjoying the beauty of childhood. they are asked to study their subject, by-heart the rhymes and yes, learn some new things every day, and finally on a Sunday there are hobby classes, Abacus classes waiting for them. they don't like doing them. they want to play with their friends and enjoy the beauty of childhood. but which parent in the world is concerned about all these??? they just want their child to be the winner even thought after knowing that only "ONE" can win.

Childhood is a very small span of life and so lets come together to eliminate these problems and give a wonderful time to the little world.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Well voiced Yamini...
What ia worse than what these children undergo is the tags people give them... "Street children".
What brought them to the streets, they are not bothered with.
Creating awareness alone does not seem to be the only solution...

RiverSoul said...

This is one post, that the Gateway authors are proud of.
Very rightly spoken, Yamini. Child labour is now illegal, but everyday we see more and more instances that show that it is still as prevailent as ever Bfore. Children working in bakeries. Children in Dhobi Ghats. Children in construction sites, and many many other places where a child should never be seen at all.
The first step to curbing this is proper implementation of the child labor law. Nxt step would be to rigorously punish those who violate it.
The final step would be to see to it that the children are sent to the one place where they should be seen. Schools.
Well written, yamini.
:)

Anuraj said...

Almost 2/3 of people who read this will know about this problem. We all are speaking and writing about problems we all know about. Instead we should try to figure out what will be the solution for that. Should not we stop talking about problems and start thinking about solutions. Lets all try to find a way to make people around us get a good education and their basic needs at least.

Lets all stop depending on others like government. We should not think of helping million people, instead if we help one around us and if we insist our friends to do the same, it will reach millions. sorry for being harsh. For my part am sponsoring three kids for their education and needs. Am happy that make my friends to do the same.

Anyways something is better than nothing. good post. keep it up guys

RiverSoul said...

I thank you, Anuraj.
:)
And i salute your initiative.
Very few do this . . ..
While i do agree with your views, i must say, that if any thing must be done, it is necessary to determine and accept it as a sillies problem. For this, we need to bring this to the notice of people.
This is what we do here.
:)
Do visit again.
:)
Thank you,