Blossoms in the dust
Photo: Madhu Gurung.
Smiles all around: Sanjay Kumar with his wards.
IN the bleak barracks behind the Vijay Ghat, on the Yamuna Pushta, are growing up small blossoms in the dust. A group of street children have found a home here, in a shelter run by the Ashray Adhikar Abhiyan (AAA).
AAA volunteers had come across many vulnerable street children and their big concern was how to keep these kids away from drugs, petty crime and exploitation and make them believe that another life was possible.
The organisation felt that education was the key. However, no school was willing to admit children from the streets. In many cases their date of birth, father's name and identification were not known and these were major hurdles to admission.
Says Sanjay Kumar, Coordinator, AAA, "We approached Arjun Singh, Minister of Human Development, as well as the Delhi government's Directorate of Education. We asked that the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan or Education for All programme should include the children living in our shelters. After more than a year of going back and forth, I was able to get affidavits for their age. In place of the father's name I put my name. Eventually, in the year 2005, 43 children from Yamuna Pushta gave an entrance test and joined the Feroze Shah MCD School." His persistence has been rewarded with the affection he receives from his wards.
Sixteen years ago Sanjay left his hometown, Patna, to come to Delhi to do his graduation from Kirori Mall College. After that he did his post graduation in history and sat for the Civil Services exams. When he failed, he decided to do something different. He joined the AAA to rise from the ranks and found it was what he had always wanted to do.
Each child's story here is one of pain, loss of innocence and struggle. Anil and his brother stayed with his uncle in Sultanpuri after they lost their parents. Made to work and beaten constantly by his aunt, Anil became defiant. He would steal money to play video games. "I ran away at least 14 times. Once, after a severe beating, I ran away, got into a train and kept travelling up and down." It was when he landed up in Chandni Chowk that some rag pickers befriended him and took him to the shelter. "I am now in class four and I want to be an actor."
Anil and his dimpled friend Pintoo, 10, once acted in a small role in the film "Ahista Ahista" with Soha Ali Khan. "Our role was to do chori and run away with Soha didi's bag. That got cut from the film, so we were not on the screen. Koi baat nahi, next film we will be there." Privately Sanjay admits that once he learnt about his children's role as thieves he told the director that it was the very profession that he was trying to wean them away from.
"We recently had a group from Afghanistan who did not know any Hindi, so Anil did all the translation in English for them and helped them interact with everyone at the shelter. When they left they said that if Anil was in their country he could easily earn a lot of money for his gift. It made me feel so proud."
The pride is difficult to disguise. Sanjay attends their PTA meetings, signs their report cards and pulls them up for indiscipline and slackness in studies. He now feels completely responsible for them. He tries to ensure that each child gets attention. "Recently we celebrated Pintoo's birthday because he kept telling me `Bhaiya mujhe cake katna hai'. We all sang happy birthday, though not everyone knew more than the first line."
The number of schoolgoing children at the shelter has dwindled to 23 over the past year. Many have been reclaimed by their families. Others, who came to the shelter after their homes were demolished, have gone to the village with their families.
Says Sanjay, "For the homeless children, going to school has worked wonders. They love school. It makes them feel they belong. What is most wonderful is that they all have their dreams and are not afraid to say it aloud."
M.G.
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