The kid inside ........

"Saheb , paalish ? Karo naa, sahab. Ek dum chakachak karega." I was fidgeting with my phone, don't know what I was searching for in the god forsaken thing, but I was hooked to it. I didn't budge. A small, frail creature's hand reaches for my shirt, tugs at it. I get irritated. Look up with the most intimidating face I could ever produce, sort of like when you haven't answered an urgent nature's call for quite sometime, move my hand away hard and fast..He had to let go. And then suddenly the most innocent pair of twinkling eyes hit me, stun me and I can't continue. Hunger, poverty,misery, destitution, all of them right there in those black pearls. It was then that I realised what I had done. He stood there, standing with a bag in one hand and a wooden stand meant for shoes..Something came over me, a strong feeling, something weird that made me cry inside. With a choked voice, I managed a meagre, "Chottu, kuch khaya kya ? Bhoonk lagi hain ?" Surprised , he looked at me in disbelief, almost as if he had seen a ghost. I smirked,it was my turn now to return the favour. I put all that I had in my voice and went again ," Abe, khayega kya ?" He nodded in the affirmative, with tears and replied,"Pichle teen dino se bhoonka hoon. Woh daadhi wala mere saare paise le jaata hain aur bas ek pav khilata hain. Maarta bhi hain." Both of us walked down the street. I watched in silence as I stood looking at the small thing devour a vada pao with such gusto. "Aur?" Three down and a big smile, all for me..............

The kid got me to think, how many of such kids would be on the streets ? How many of them would be easy pickings for drug addicts, pimps and paedophiles ? All of them should have been in school, studying, fortifying their future, our country's future, but instead they are forced to beg,have sex, work at such tender ages, when they don't even know what is going on around them..........

Come to think of it, what an amazing time I had as a kid. Daddy I want "this" and daddy gets "this" for me. Momma ran behind me just to grapple me to the ground and force me to open my mouth so that she could feed me that one last morsel of rice. Granny's lap was my fantasy land stop, where I played with all my make believe friends and enemies - fairies, kings, queens and dragons, trolls. Yeah God met me there too........ But for them .......???? Simply nothing..... All of them just prey to the harshest side of reality that life is a bitch and a bad one at that.

Is this our dream for the future ? Is this what the "Sarva Shikshan Abhiyaan" aims at ?How many of these kids will be able to get a decent education, maybe learn to write their names for starters ? How many times will a pair of love bereft eyes stare at us before we understand what they go through ? How many kids can we keep feeding every time we encounter one of them?

My way out is, I CRY for them, Oh, yes I do...... My pa showed me the way.