Children of a lesser God

He walks with a swagger, with a smile. And he walks with a bounce , not knowing what tomorrow holds for him! Mangal is a ten year old who knows not what life is , or where his next meal is coming. No ipads, no smart phones , no gizmos , nothing. Just how to go about life everyday and where the next roti is going to come from.

Punjab is a melting pot of all the migrants who leave their homes for greener pastures (pun intended). They come from all the states like Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and the maximum come from UP. At the farm, we have groups and groups of children, with their parents who come to work seasonally to earn their living. Such a boy is Mangal, who has come with his father and his stepmother brought here to earn and eat his living. When one looks at him, you see this tiny, short, dark as anything boy merely a seven year old. The striking looks, matched with bright as a button eyes proudly claims his age as ten years. Well, Mangal ran away to a nearby village because his stepmother was beating him and then we got him back at the farm.

The little boy is here with me, and his intense looks mesmerize you. What is his fault? Is it his stars? The particular alignment that is blamed for every problem in our lives according to the pundits.  When I gave him mis-matched clothes, a pink pajama with his blue cardigan the smile he gave me was priceless! In fact, he lit up with his warm clothes, as earlier he was clad in a torn shirt with loose pants, with red color on his body. When I asked him, why do you have color on your body? He remarked wisely, saying, everyone knows, no one is going to stand for me, so that’s why they put the marka (screen print color for the gunny bags) on me!

These kids have no one. India, is progressing but at what cost? Elections are around the corner, but the cacophony of voices is just over slander and mudslinging to the nth order. No one thinks about the nameless, faceless children who are lost in the system, living, working worse than animals, losing their innocence in this society. We have tall statesmen, society NGO’s who preach the most but they all get shoved under the mat after elections, before that they are poster boys of garnering votes.

Children of lesser God, deserve better, and I think it is up to us, to change and pave the way for these nameless Chotu’s and Nikkis, rather than asking the political party to change the way. Do your bit and see the precious smile that can light a thousand ships.