It's 12th June.
And no, it isn't your poodle's birthday.
I could throw out a bunch of statistics and facts at you right now, regarding children who don't get the chance to be educated.
I could put one of many millions of images of children in waterlogged slums, in shoe-polish factories and cotton industries around the world.
I could share with you how at the tender age of 11, a little boy has already had a career as a miner.
I could start off with a well-meaning quote from a celebrity to put an end to child labour.
There is much more eloquent prose on the subject on the internet, than you can ever expect to read on this blog. That does not stop me from talking about it.
Because unless one talks, one can never be heard.
An issue like child labour can be completely eradicated in a country like India if every person does one simple thing: stop feigning ignorance of the reality you see around you.
Stop ignoring little Chotu who brings you your tea at the roadside dhaba.
Stop acting like you don't see the little child who carries clothes heavier than his own body weight as your presswala.
That's all I ask.
We write off many experiences in life as 'the price to pay' for our given status.
Being lonely at the top. Being harassed on the streets if you wear a short skirt. Being chided for coming out of the closet. Being married off when you're just 14. Being made an errand boy at age 7.
Question this self-anointed price tag.
Drench yourself in the puddle of reality, rather than choosing the comfort of the pavement and umbrella.
As of today, there are 10 million children in India that work rather than study, that battle intense pangs of hunger and thirst than struggle over simple division, that dance in the rain with no warm place to go back to.
The children are not the problem, but the solution.
That's 10 million solutions.
Simple mathematics.
When friends ask me why I choose to go into slums with open, overflowing gutters to talk to children for a school enrollment campaign, and look at me as if I'm insane- I just smile. Because I'm too busy envisioning a world with no poverty and children happily going to schools every single day. That's not my bold idealism talking, it's a reality we can all create if we choose to. In fact, it is imperative that we do.
Happy Anti Child Labour Day.
And no, it isn't your poodle's birthday.
I could throw out a bunch of statistics and facts at you right now, regarding children who don't get the chance to be educated.
I could put one of many millions of images of children in waterlogged slums, in shoe-polish factories and cotton industries around the world.
I could share with you how at the tender age of 11, a little boy has already had a career as a miner.
I could start off with a well-meaning quote from a celebrity to put an end to child labour.
There is much more eloquent prose on the subject on the internet, than you can ever expect to read on this blog. That does not stop me from talking about it.
Because unless one talks, one can never be heard.
An issue like child labour can be completely eradicated in a country like India if every person does one simple thing: stop feigning ignorance of the reality you see around you.
Stop ignoring little Chotu who brings you your tea at the roadside dhaba.
Stop acting like you don't see the little child who carries clothes heavier than his own body weight as your presswala.
That's all I ask.
We write off many experiences in life as 'the price to pay' for our given status.
Being lonely at the top. Being harassed on the streets if you wear a short skirt. Being chided for coming out of the closet. Being married off when you're just 14. Being made an errand boy at age 7.
Question this self-anointed price tag.
Drench yourself in the puddle of reality, rather than choosing the comfort of the pavement and umbrella.
As of today, there are 10 million children in India that work rather than study, that battle intense pangs of hunger and thirst than struggle over simple division, that dance in the rain with no warm place to go back to.
The children are not the problem, but the solution.
That's 10 million solutions.
Simple mathematics.
When friends ask me why I choose to go into slums with open, overflowing gutters to talk to children for a school enrollment campaign, and look at me as if I'm insane- I just smile. Because I'm too busy envisioning a world with no poverty and children happily going to schools every single day. That's not my bold idealism talking, it's a reality we can all create if we choose to. In fact, it is imperative that we do.
Happy Anti Child Labour Day.
2 comments:
Why would your friends look at you as if you are insane? Time to change friends maybe? Just saying.
Its a pleasure teaching kids in one of those crumbling municipal schools. I sometimes think I am not their teacher but the other way round. The first day I actually came back home and sobbed. But then, its better to fix things (or attempt to atleast) than lament over how unfair the fucking world is. And these kids are REALLY REALLY smart! When we started teaching them they couldnt write their names, and at the end of the year, I kid you not, I CANNOT explain the feeling of listening to them WRITE & READ an entire paragraph in flawless English (on why they love school) :) :) :)
We may not be there yet, but we are getting there. I can more and more youngsters actually CARING about them, leaving good corporate jobs to do something worthwhile like this. All they need is a little nudge. We are getting there. Keep the faith! :)
Cheers,
Annie.
We need more posts like these. Thank you for writing this. I think we've all just become insensitive to child labor (among other evils of our society) because we see it all around us, all the time.
It's a comfortable position to be in, you know. And that's the darn problem with all of us. We're just too comfortable to care.
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