Stolen Childhood

"Hello! What is your name, Behenji?" I asked hesitantly. "Why are you picking bottles?" The girl was feeble and her body emaciated. She seemed to be out of her wits as she turned to look at me. I could see her eyes gleaming with hunger. Before I could throw another set of questions, she suddenly ran towards a bigger version of her who was on the other side of the road. I did not notice her presence at first but she was probably the mother. As the little girl ran, the clanking of the bottles could be heard and the bag was thumping on her back. I was hesitant to approach them but I drew up all my courage, took a deep breath, and walked in their direction. I started to question the woman and she looked at me with suspicious eyes. Then, there was a sudden change in her eyes. It was filled with pain, sorrow, and regret. One could tell from the look on her face that hope no longer thrived in her. My assumption. came to be true when she said that she was the mother of five children, the little girl being the fourth one. The girl was shy and did not want to talk. I had no choice but to speak with the mother. "Her name is Sanjana", she answered, her hand folding the mouth of the sack due to the strong wind.

The father died a year after the birth of her younger sister. The two eldest sisters were married off on completion of their matriculation. They migrated from Bihar to Shillong. "They went to Shiksha Vidhalaya School", she answered proudly, though there was a deep tone of regret in her voice about not being able to fulfil her precious daughters' dreams. Though she was able to provide for the education, there was no ray of silver lining to their far-fetched dreams. Yes, till the father was still alive she could provide for them the necessities of life as well as education. But the death of the father was a bolt from the blue. The widowed wife could no longer afford their school fees. Now only the third daughter was still in school. The little girl, her fourth child could no longer attend school with her sister as the mother could not afford it. Sometimes, they would starve and even skip meals only to pay her elder sister's fees

So she took to rag-picking with her mother from morning till evening, venturing half of Shillong's town with her innocent feet and her back carrying the burden of the family. Her pair of eyes which could see the future, which could venture deep into the beauty of the universe, was now confined only to the view of the garbage on the roads and drains, hoping to find bottles and other recyclable articles. Her fresh, young innocent mind, which could revolute the world went numb only to form images of bottles and rags. Her stolen dream was now no longer a dream but a fantasy. The only image, the only hope she could cling to was to accept her fate.

"Hey! Chotu", I yelled out to the candy floss sellers. They came running towards me arguing with each other about the quality of their candy. "I am buying one each from the two of you", I said, which seemed to settle their argument. I took out a hundred rupee notes and though they had the change, they seemed to conflict and one of them dashed out to find the change. I did not want to lose the opportunity and I asked the boy, "Why do you not go to school?" "I did go to school", he answered. "I studied till the fourth standard." He confidently said that he came to Shillong along with his uncle for a vacation and he was going back after a few weeks.

His name was Laajan. His father passed away leaving behind his mother and ten siblings. The mother worked as a housemaid. He was brought to Shillong from his hometown by his uncle for a vacation and was meantime working for him as a candy floss seller. He again said, "I am going back after the vacation." His dried, cracked, pinkish hand was holding the long bamboo stalk of the candy floss. This indicated his long hours and weeks of labour making candy floss for his uncle. I asked stupidly, "What do you want to be in the future?" To this, he murmured with no confidence. He had no plans and said that he would be as per what fate had in store for him.

The other candy floss seller finally returned with the change, it seemed that he watched and intentionally returned at the end of the conversation. After having made the transactions, I asked him some questions. He refused to answer and suddenly rushed down the busy road. I was shocked. I asked the other boy about his strange behaviour. He said that often few people questioned them and then reported them to the police. I was not surprised. at all. In this busy road and town, many come and go, many ask questions. But I was certain that something illegal, something evil was dwelling on that busy road. After careful observation, I came to realize that my suspicion was not ill-founded, which led to the fact that these so-called uncles were involved in illegal activities. I discovered two problems as per the information obtained from the facts given by the boy selling candy. One is that the cops were being bribed and in the end, the poor children suffered. And the other being that they were threatened and harassed with dire consequences if they ever were to spit out such information. Is it corruption or the greed of men which is the reason behind such evil activity on this busy road?

Their family was lost, their mind was numbed, they were tricked and taken to be enslaved by the evil ways of the world, and everything was lost for them which could no longer water the spring of their stolen youth. Even then they cling to false hope believing that working hard enough would grant them freedom, and someday they would go back to their hometown. But even if they did, then what...?