I heard a very moving story a few days back....
Unfortunately It's all true and as much I would have been pushed towards spamming-mail it I think this thing is not meant to be sent to the many anonymous people in my address book to be read and either pushed into the trash can or forwarded to all. Because I want this story to be read, and not merely read I want people to give me an honest opinion about what in reality makes a person? Is it good education or is it just the adversities he faces? Can really born in a privileged position be any help?
My story starts at a construction site in suburban Mumbai; A flyover was being constructed and a laborer's wife went the family way and our dear Kallu was born. Nothing unremarkable there. These sort of births take in India all the time. And most of them in much more appaling conditions then our dear Kallu here. He got his DDT shots in a nearby government clinic and maybe some kind of food from the local laborers. At the age of 3 and a half months his father died in an accident. Nothing remarkable here too; laborers die all the time all the place.
At the age of 4 Years his mother died of some unknown illness . Who knows what illness who has the money to go to a doctor in this country . His mother had been a God Fearing person and she hoped God would treat her . It seems that this family was one of the forsaken ones....
So we have this family again elder brother and sisters (2 of them) and one younger sister. After the death of the mother everything falls apart. As if disbanded from the army they all break up. Our Kallu is one of these left alone to forage on whatever he could find to eat, beg to have and fight to get.
At the age of 7 Kallu is a maverick of the streets . He is a shoeshine boy + a sweeper of the local train + a tea stall worker + a smalltime coolie.
If you go and have your shoe shined by him he charges 3 Rupees 50 paise for it. And if you decide to go easy on the 50 paise he says "Aye saa'b mere ko mera 50 paisa dedo". His arithmetic is flawless. He has his own place for sleeping inside a very large construction pipe; not very comfortable he accepts...but atleast it is his. Bought for that is... from a "seth". Ask him how much money he has and he tells you he has Three thousand eight hundred and fifty six rupees and twenty five paise. A total you can count and verify. He hides his money somewhere and he challenges "akhha mumbai mere paise nahin dhoondh sakti".
This guy does not have a bank account. This guy does not have a police record. This gut does not have a Birth certificate. This guy does not exist on paper. Never participated in a population census he tells me. What is this guy doing you may ask....
He survives.
Now tell me one thing ... what were we capable of at the age of 7?
We knew A-B-C thats for sure. and we knew a range of things like brushing our teeth and stuff. We knew if we cried really hard our parents would get anything for us.
We could not have demanded the 50 paise with so much conviction.
We would not survive 2 minutes in the same situation that Kallu presently lives.
Yes Yes... We are an educated lot. We studied in schools : there we learnt about science and history and geography, for God's sake!!! We were doing the "Good" stuff.
Think: Kallu did not have a formal education ; he did not have parents to guide him protect him. He was just a toddler thrown forcibly into this world to find his own path among the bushes. Who taught him? Nobody.
Adversities teach us better than schools then? Or do they?
You may argue that both the systems give rise to a very different individual. Catering to different needs of the society... but in the end... It's all about surviving out there. And Kallu's doing it from the age of 7. Just because we were lucky enough to be born in a well to do hospital than under a semi constructed flyover ; are we here where we are.
Think about it.
