Broken Smiles

Too busy are we? We leave our homes in the morning after a comfortable nights sleep in our king sized beds. Stepping out in the hot Delhi sun is in itself a tremendous task which sucks the soul out of most of us who are accustomed to the luxuries like air conditioners and coolers.

What? What did you say?

Air Conditioners and coolers are not luxuries but necessities??

Really? The next time you stop at a red-light, roll down your car window and ask the child who keeps knocking on the car windshield and asks you for money or tries to sell you a ‘giffen’ good. And No, the hot air from outside will not roast your soft skin which you managed to achieve after using the thousands of cosmetics products worth tens of thousands of rupees.
For once, look beyond your tight schedule, look beyond your next meeting, beyond your next engagement, beyond your busy life, look at the world, look outside your office window, just open those blinds a little and LOOK!

You will see a child, he has probably been living there for ages now, but YOU never noticed.
That little kid might never have asked you for anything, or maybe he did, you will never know because you did not have the time to look up from your Laptops and Blackberries. Listen to that kid, he will ask you, ‘Sir, where is my childhood?’
“Oh! But he’s a street child, our mother asked us not to play with them and not to mix with the kind like theirs, when we were kids.”
Kind like theirs? They are humans! Not lucky like most of us, not educated like most of us, but most certainly, they are Humans. Imagine a tomorrow when you are homeless, jobless, clothe less and hungry. What difference would there be between you and them in that case? The answer is none whatsoever. Would you refuse to talk to yourself? After all, your mom did ask you not mix with the ‘kind like theirs’.
Imagine yourselves to be ten years old. Ah! What a wonderful time that was, especially the summer vacations, the care-freeness, no studies. Boy! That was fun!
Now ask that ten year old kid we were talking about earlier, and at that tender age, he has to worry about where his next meal is going to come from, whether he will have enough to feed and fend for his family.
“Why isn’t he studying in a school? The government does provide free and compulsory education in government schools…..” you probably wonder, but the sad truth of is that even if the child enrolls himself in a school, there are 70% chances that he drops out of school before the age of 14. When, he cannot afford to eat, studies will be the least of his worries…
But all this thought process will take place only after you notice that little child. The same one who once picked up the Cold drink bottle you threw out and he picked up, you noticed, but didn’t care.
Wake up people! That’s enough snoring for a lifetime, wake up to the harsh realities of life. Look at that child, and if there is even a little ounce of humanity in your hearts, you will agree with us, to BE THE CHANGE.

How to be the change in my own little way?

• Spend a day with a street or impoverished kid.
• Make it a point to hear the child’s worries and pleas, and try your best at confronting them.
• Instead of treating your friends every other day, try treating the unwanted at least once a month.
• Donate surplus stationary and textbooks among the children in or around your neighbourhood.
• Donate a portion of your monthly or weekly allowance or income to a street kid or for his or her benefit.
• Initiate a pool for the spending being made for one or more street kids, consisting for your friends, relatives or neighbours.
• Prevent abuse or mistreatment of street children by authorities or general citizens.
• Avoid products or businesses that are known to or accused of exploiting children, or violating child rights.
• Create public awareness about basic child rights and abide by them in your daily life.

Visit to know further: www.unicef.org/crc/index_30160.html

Suggest or invent new ways or initiatives for helping street kids by comments below.

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Kapil Vachhar and Ankit Kaushik

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