It was cloudy this morning and by 9:00 am there was a downpour. While the shower was gone as soon as it came, the sudden drizzle promised a respite from the heat. I opened the doors of the bedroom to let in the fresh air.
As soon as hubby left for office, I sat down on the bed, with a cup of black coffee, looking beyond the balcony at the buildings, road and a certain expanse of land. It was one of those rare days when I was not sipping coffee and rapidly answering emails on my laptop, before marching of to work. For once I stole a few moments to just gaze at life, seven-storey below and beyond my balcony, all inspired by an overcast sky.
Amidst the maze of buildings and a dark grey road with office-goers and regular traffic, I found my sight resting on a piece of untouched land. I was contemplating that soon a multi-storey apartment would come up here and block the span of vision. From the distance, I saw a horde of people nestled on this vacant land. Oh! Laborers have already gathered; construction plans were crystallized even as I sat wondering why this piece of land was unused. I saw a truck slowly pull into the site and my thoughts were confirmed. Or so I thought!
The truck quickly offloaded using a lever to lift up the attached trolley, and the group of people waiting there rushed with sudden ardor towards the truck and scampered into the great mound that the truck left behind. I was amused. I got up and strained my vision further and saw that these people carried sacks and were rummaging through the mound and filling their sacks. It was then I realized that these were children – scavengers - and today was one of the very few pleasanter days of work for them, with at least a light breeze blowing.
I shook my head in dismay to see the plight of these scavengers, eagerly foraging through dirt and debris to earn their livelihood. For these children, each new day is a battleground, a new competition, where they shove, push, scavenge, and fill their sacks, all to win their war against want and poverty. From dirt to dearth, some children surely belong to a lesser God; where our children’s ragged dolls and our empty tuna cans provide them with sustenance for a day.
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snigdha Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 2:32 pmHi Ansy,
Down south also I have seen almost all the small time hotels employing young children. Be it a tea stall, grocery shop, fruit sellers. All of them have children as workers.
Talking of scanvengers, there is a photographer on flickr, Dr. Vivek Menon who you can get in touch with in case you are looking for an insigt in these kid’s lives. He has done a project on Scavengers and have closely seen their lives.
felinemusings Says:
May 14th, 2008 at 3:43 pm@Snigdha, yes its very tragic that in a country where space exploration and nuclear technology is linked to growth; and moview, media and cricket are a multicrore industry, children have to scavenge for a slice of bread. I will surely visit the Dr Menon’s page on Flickr.