The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Independence Day means little to them

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Thursday, Aug 14, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

Independence Day means little to them

D.V.L. Padma Priya

Little children sell flags at traffic junctions for a living

— Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

INDIA SHINING?: A little boy selling flags ahead of the Independence Day at a traffic junction.

HYDERABAD: Independence Day for many of us rekindles our sense of national pride. For six-year-old Kamala, however, the day fills her stomach.

She sells flag pins, tiny ones you could pin on to your sleeve, and slightly larger ones, to adorn the car dashboard and tri-coloured fans resembling little windmills, at Paradise circle.

Trotting beside cars, tapping on the windows, shoving flags in front of bikers, tugging dupattas of ‘madams’, Kamala and others of her ilk do anything to convince people to buy the flags.

Day’s target

“Madam one flag madam, will look nice in car, please take,” says eight-year-old Sunil in broken English. Rain or shine, the toddlers have a target to meet everyday. They have to sell at least 50 flags per day.

Although, they sell the flags in the price range of Rs. 10 - Rs.15, they earn just Rs. 5 per flag.

Running between vehicles at signals, for the traffic constable, they are a nuisance. “I am constantly worried if they would be run over by a vehicle, if that happens I will be held responsible,” says the traffic constable.

The children inform that middlemen supply flags to them and assign junctions. All through the day, children chase vehicles at junctions hoping to infuse ‘patriotism’ and swell the sales.

Although they don’t know the true meaning, yet trained by their ‘boss’, they chant slogans like ‘Mera Bharat Mahan’ and ‘Indians are the best’.

“We start work at 8 a.m. and we work till 9 p.m.,” says Rani, a twelve-year-old.

“Most of our customers are parents who are on their way to drop children in school,” says Kamala.

Another kid Satish, who was rescued by Child Helpline from a construction site and admitted in a school, says he was mistreated. “I ran away from the school,” he says proudly.

Dreams

Despite the odds, the kids keep dreaming to make it big. Kamala wants to know if she would get a pretty uniform and a car that would take her to school.

The kids hope that sales will peak on August 15. Apart from selling flags they also hope to take a sneak peak of the Independence Day celebrations at Gymkhana Grounds.

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