Wake Up

That was a wonderful day. Anu was returning home after participating in a Tech fest. Sitting in the train, she took out her wallet, made of pure leather, bought from an expensive branded shop in Kolkata. Only very rarely did that wallet carry money greater than its MRP!

Rs 5000/- for a team of five. So each person gets Rs 1000/-. That was a handsome reward for bagging first place in a Treasure Hunt. She counted the money once again and safely stuffed it into her original Wrangler jean. Anu looked at her Fastrack watch. The time was 4:10 pm. The train would start in 5 minutes. If it started on time there's no other delay, she would reach home at around 7 pm. Plugging the headphone into her ears, Anu slowly lay back. She felt very relaxed on listening to her favorite track "Where You Are"...

Anu always fancied being known as the ‘Branded Girl’ of the school & college. How her heart beat when she held Ray-Ban glasses or Lee T-shirt… and the happiness of owning one… She felt like a Princess…… Now this money she earned will be going for a Reebok shoe :)

The train grudged and growled and finally started off its journey. There were more vendors inside the train than the passengers. Anu got so irritated. She increased the volume or her I pod and closed her eyes. Now she felt much better.

Anu opened her eyes again. A voice was piercing her ears. She looked up and found a teenage girl, along with a small child, probably her sibling, selling pens. Though she had no intention of buying that pen, Anu inquired its price, just to start a conversation with her. One pen cost Rs 20/-. Anu carefully examined the pen. It was "4-coloured" as the lad demands; black, blue, red and green. It was made of low quality plastic and two out of four colors of the pen that Anu tried, were unemployed (i.e., they were not in working condition). On one end, there was a funny face wearing a cap, with long thread attached to it, to wear around the neck.

"Twenty rupees is excess. Can you give two pens for twenty five?" Anu was in for a bargain. But she never expected this girl to settle for it. Anu had no other option but buy two pens for Rs 25/-

From the short conversation, Anu came to know that the girl's name was Lachmi.

"Lachmi, why do you waste your time and energy selling things in train?" Anu asked her.

"Doing a job and making money is better than just begging around"

"I mean why don't you go to study?"

"I come from a very poor family. Our parents are doing the same job. They can't afford to send us to school. If I do a job, that will be a suport for my family" she blushed.

She also said that her dream is to send her little brother to school!

Anu wanted to tell her about the free schooling programs and bans on child labour. But she wondered whether this girl would understand such things. Moreover, the girl chose it herself. She was very determined and had a big dream (even though the fulfillment of that dream was a big question mark in front of her).

There weren't any more questions. Anu took out her leather wallet. She counted all her cousins and second cousins, all of them studying in Lower Primary or less. There were twenty five of them. Anu took out a fresh 500 rupee note from her branded wallet......

While stuffing twenty five pens into her Diesel bag, she managed to take a look at Lachmi's face. Her eyes were wide with surprise. She thanked Anu and walked away...

The Anu of this story can be you or me. Anu could have stopped her from doing this job. She could have called to the helpline number 1098. She could have saved Lachmi from these sufferings. But she didn't do that. Why? Ask yourself. May be because we all suffer from the TBTC (Too Busy To Care) Syndrome. Let this not happen to another Lachmi. Let us fight against child-labour.Let us provide children with their basic rights of food, shelter, clothing and education. Let us wake up............