Aakesh

 I would like to share a rather unusual experience from my travels today across the city. The boy in the picture, his name is Aakesh. I met him on the train today. He got on at jogeshwari

station (Mumbai) . I stood near the gate as suddenly a man 

started screaming at the top of his lungs. When i turned to see what was going on, i saw that he was scolding aksesh because he was standing at the door of the train which caused a problem for 

for the commuters to get in and out .I interfered in the midst of all the yelling because i could see how terrified aakesh was. I offered him water and

asked the man to stop shouting as it was not such a big deal. At this point, everything was fine..

 I, then asked Aakesh  why he was so scared he told me that he wanted to get off at

dadar sation but he couldn't as the train was really crowded.. Finally when he got an opportunity to get off at a particular station, the train was past andheri...

 So he again boarded a train to dadar.... I got on at andheri and that is the story of how i fit into this whole picture and got to have a conversation with him... It went somehing like this..

Me-How old are you?

Aakesh- I am 18 years old

Me-what do you do ?

Aak-I work as a cleaner

Me-where do you live ?

Aak- near chembur station

Me-where are you from?

Aak-rajasthan(bhilwada)

Me- what's your education?

Aak- I am illiterate

The Train reached dadar and both of us had to get down but I somehow humbly requested him to spare 10 minutes for

me as I wanted to get to know more about his life..

we first had lime juice then he started narrating me his story..This is what he told me....

"My father works as a farmer. We rent land and farm on it.. My

father sent me to Mumbai so that I can earn some money.. I was 8 when I came to

Mumbai I used to live with my cousin sister and her husband. But after 2 years they

aske me to move out and find a different accomodation. So i currently live in the factory i work at...

Cleaning clothes is what my job is. I live there alone..

I had a few more questions that i wanted to ask him...

Me-When is your birthday..

Aakesh- don’t remember     

Me-Aakesh do you know how to write your name ?

AAkesh

- ‘NO’

Me-Why did your father sent you to mumbai to work at such a early age??

Aakesh- Because my father borrowed 9 lakh rupees loan for my brother's wedding and now my

elder brother and I have to work so that we can repay that amount. My elder brother

works as a servant and his wedding did not even last 2 years...

This is indeed very tragic and unfortunate...A man, just for the sake of throwing a fancy wedding to upkeep a fake reputation, caused his sons to suffer terribly...

Dadar Market

Dadar station is one of the busiest railway in Mumbai. It is also famous for its market. It’s said that one can get all possible things in dadar. It is a popular shopping destination for residents of central Mumbai. So I went to the flower market as it is the nearest one from the station it was crowded people buying and selling flowers the market  was full with different kind of flowers like Nelumbo lily, lotus, golden shower tree, marigold, jasmines etc

The thing which bought me to this place was children I came to know that in dader I will find children’s living a life no less then hell. Dadar is also very famous because of its political history . Mumbai some of the most powerful people live in dadar. Mayor of Mumbai lives in dadar and fomus sena bhavan is also located  dadar  . MNS chief Raj Thakeray lives their and many more. Starting from the station I saw this girl and boy selling flowers on the station

I waited there for at least 15 minutes hundreds of people passed from there but no one showed a concerned to them. Then I came out of the station on the western side.

This was the picture outside dadar station can you imagine living your life in such a dirty place even for a hour. The children’s  you see in the picture live there for 24/7 is this less then hell

The boy you see must be one or two years old is this how a boy shuld be treated. What should we call this, nothing but brutality

Is this the writ age to work you can imagine what will be the feature of this child. His life will end selling flowers. Whom should we blame it to was it his fault to take birth in a family which cant even fulfill his very basic needs no it was not. We all are sitting on such positions were we have some power to change things. We always wait for the time to come or else we leave it on others. This blog for days back was just 20 numbers.it was not importance more then that I am leaving you with some more picture. If we really have work for children’s first we have to understand them

Understanding is the only thing we don’t have and without it we cant change there anything.

   

It’s become dark now and my phone’s camera doesn’t have a high resolution to

provide you the brightest pictures that I wanted to collect from the streets the earlier day.  But the pictures which I clicked are in the very happening of the event which is impactful at large. This is Krishna but trust me, definitely not treated as one. In India, every thing’s related to god achieves respect and love but these real gods’ sitting on streets struggle for even one time meal. I got to have a quick conversation with Krishna’s father i.e Yogesh. He told me that they belong from Rajasthan and traveled all the way to Mumbai to make some business for their survival. Even after selling such balloons, they don’t have a place to take shelter or food to eat. Listening to this, I got nostalgic as there are many in this city who get nothing and ultimately walk on the path which is illegal. Without thinking a lot, I decided to walk without wasting much of his time as he was busy selling. There are factories all across the globe which manufactures toys for children. Toys are made to bring a curve on sad faces and make children happy and occupied. One must’ve have played with a toy too in his/her life and can understand the joy of playing around with toys. But can you feel the pain of a child selling toys? In the age where he should be playing with toys, he is selling one. Furthermore, this is Deepraj with his 2 sisters selling toys. He is 13 years old and I don’t know if he should be doing this or not but this is his mode to survival. He has to sell toys for his family so that they can get timely food and a shelter to sleep. Like Deepraj, I saw a lot many guys standing on the road side. There was one thing which was in common with all of them and that is that they had a smile on their face but with deep pain in their eyes.

Bal Ganesh 2

Gandhi  traveled India after coming back from south Africa. He always believe that the change starts from our own self. He traveled across INDIA to observe the real problems and its solutions. That’s how this idea of traveling from goragaw  to varsova came in to my mind all thanks to bapu. He most of the time use to travel on his feet and after Appling same formula  to my life I was able to know that if you have to explore  the real problems of children’s in India you have to walk(talk)  so I kept on walking.  I reached oshiwara which is a posh are of andhari(w) there I meet this wonderful bunch of musicians(boys) carrying heavy dhol’s on their back

I interacted with them I came to know that all of them where bellow, the age of 16 years . the smallest of them Mahesh was 9 years old. that left me with no words. I still decided to ask, where are you going ? They answered. We are going to next destination where we have to again play the band for four hours. So that some people and lord ganesha can enjoy. I kept on moving next image was of  Ganesh and bal Ganesh siting together without no concern for their safety. They both with one adults where sitting on the end of a truck with no barricades.

 India is full of religions, but why are we forced to follow a religion without knowing about it. if  a adult has all rights to choose a religion why not a child. He must also have all rights to choose his religion

When we choose best school for children

When we choose best clothes for them

When we choose best food for them

When we try to do our best so that we can provide them with best life style

Why do we surrender all our best in front of  religion      

Let them also fly and see all the colures of religion and choose the best out of it

I will keep walking just be with me, as it is great to share the journey with you all 

Dhruv Souran

(M.A.C.J.)