THE UNFORTUNATE KESHAV…

New Delhi: Well, with the inauguration of the CWG-2010, the seven year old boy Keshav from Puducherry is introduced to the international audience; who kept mesmerizing with his Tabla performance in the inaugural ceremony in Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium in New Delhi on October 3. He was highly opportune enough to steel the show and be the first shining star among the (about) one thousand drummers who performed along with him in the gala opening. So still the question may disturb us: in spite of using the launch pad of XIX CWG the first ever CWG that India hosted how could he be counted as unfortunate? Yeah…but my story has a very little comparative connectivity to him rather than his awesome performance.

It was nine in the morning of October 4, and I thought to go out from the NISCORT campus to hunt for human interest stories. I headed towards Vaishali sector-II and in a little while I came across a small boy about seven years old, walking opposite to me with a half filled small sack on his back. He was silent and quick enough to spot a garbage site and engaged to pick up small plastic bottles like any other rag pickers. I stopped and watched him for a minute. The uncombed and shabby looked boy was happy enough to identify his item of interest and grabbed with out wasting time. “What is your name?” was that I suddenly uttered to draw his attention as he was gently placing his items in the sack. But I was disappointed…the boy did not even show any reaction rather sped up in his search…after a few seconds I pointed out a bottle that was underneath, he picked and placed in the sack and walked away carrying his belongings. I just looked him for a few seconds and resumed my walk. I was a bit disturbed, not that I was never introduced to this situation but rather to understand his attitude towards life. Had he been born in a well to do family, to rich parents! Had he been given good education, nutritious food and expensive clothing! The imagination was endless.

Comparatively speaking, what I encounter was only a sample to that of thousands of usual incidents of our country. If I could sense right from his point of view; may be he had to collect at least a good number of bottles that will bring him handful of money either to support his family or to meet his necessity, which compels him to think beyond bothering least the Right to Education…and Mid Day Meal. This unhappy incidents act as the guiding force to embrace the label “Child Labor”. Media talks…how often does it talk? to what extent it talks?... does not it only showcase the utter poverty and hunger of this unfortunate ones only to top the TRP rather than to sympathies and bring out a drastic change in clearing off the stigma from the society. In the one hand media is active to bring to the limelight the charisma of Keshav in the CWG opening ignoring the multitude of his age group who are not even aware of their rights. If you permit, can I call this boy the “Unfortunate Keshav”…who only represents a larger group of his kind, working hard to make ends meet, not knowing where to head for a better future?

Photo Courtesy: Google