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When did I lose it? #Innocence

‘Swami ondu cheese sandwich kudi’, I asked the NC guy.

The NC guy shouts atop his voice, ‘ONJI CHEESE SANDWICH!’

I pay the bucks and turn my head to the left and a boy small enough to be in school starts to spread butter over the slices of bread. Occasionally he would wipe his nose, and simultaneously sniff the overhanging mucus. Drops of sweat would roll down his cheek. Invariantly some mass would get transferred from his nose to his hand and finally to my sandwich! Bonn appetit.. ;)

What do I do? I assume I suffer from short term amnesia and eat my sandwich.

‘Na tumne kuch kiya, na meine kuch dekha’! ;)

He was not alone, there were two more kids, much younger to him, one of whom served vada pav and the other was in charge for the cold beverages.

Then I began to wonder,1.45am in the night, when boys their age should be sound asleep, all set to go to their learning hubs the next day; These kids were catering to the needs of the ever hungry NITKians! As I learned out later, the sandwich kid was the Egg man’s son and the other two lil fellas were related to the Chef incharge for the Chinese dishes!

Some family tradition must say. We Indians are renowned to extend our *Khandani biznesh* Academic aspirations always loses the race with the family profession. Be it that of a priest, politician or as in our case a ‘do kaudi’ ka Chef!

Me: Tum log kya school jate ho?

Kiddos: Nahe, time ella. Raat ko 3 baje sota hai, school jana kaisa subah?

Daddy ko help karna hai kaam ko..

Me: Tumhe padhna nahe hai kya?

(seriously, If someone had asked me this question, my answered would be in negative!)

Kiddos: Admission ke liye Paisa nahe hota hai..

Me: Padhne ke liye Paisa nahe, bas iccha mangta hai..

Yeh lo Rs. 200, kise bhi school ka uniform khared lo aur jao baito class mein. Hindustan ki abaadi itne hai ki kisi ko farak bhi nahe padega!

Kiddos: aur Pakda gaya toh?

Me: Pakde gaye toh simple. Kisi doosre school ka uniform kharedlo!

Rancho is a pure work of fiction, unrealistic and inexistent in the ‘Real World’. Needless to say, this scene of ‘3Idiots’ didn’t actually take place… :-/

All I could do was tweet my thoughts and write a blog. There are people who are assigned to deal with child labour, and I am not among them! Then Why I am writing this post?

Well, it pains to see kids of your own brother’s age being drilled in ways as cruel as torture. (This torture is in no way related to the torture elder bros give their younger bros!)

An eccentric Biologist once performed an experiment. He made a lamb starve for 20 days, the only source of energy being its own body fats. On the 21^st day, the scientist provided it with a slice of Chicken breast, a food not a part of the traditional goat platter. To his utter disbelief the goat cherished every last bite of the meat. From then on, Chicken was a part of its daily diet.

Desperation drives beings crazy. I don’t see the kids unhappy or sad in what they are doing. On the contrary they are proud in aiding their Dads. The lamb and the kids don’t complain, they have adjusted to the new lease of life!

Although when the lamb looks at other goats of its age feed on lush green bushes, it does feel a bit weird, but then playing with bats and balls are for immature kids.

LIL KIDS…

Kids who are INNOCENT,

Something which the lamb irreversibly lost down the memory lane…

Side tracker: Some time back, there was this play at NITK, “The Death Trap”. Well, the objective of the play was to collect funds for issues pertaining to education of the girl child, school dropouts etc.

*Charity begins at home*

With the hope that this post reach the concerned people, with the ability to make a change, a hope not to be greeted with these children next time I go to the Night Canteen;

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