Flamingo Chapter 2 Lost Spring

Saheb hails from the green fields of Dhaka. His house and field were swept away by the storms. Their poverty and pitiable conditions of life forced him to become a ragpicker in Seemapuri, a suburban colony of East Delhi. He is always looking for gold in garbage dumps. For the children like him garbage is wrapped in wonder and for the elders it is a means of survival. It provides the daily bread for the rag-pickers. Sometimes, Saheb finds a rupee and even a ten-rupee note or a silver coin. There is always hope of finding more. In Dhaka, he was not getting enough food for survival but in Delhi they go to their bed without an aching stomach.

The authoress sees the army of barefoot rag-pickers in her neighbourhood. They appear like morning birds and disappear at noon from the streets. She points that she has seen children walking barefoot in cities, on village roads. She takes this habit of remaining barefoot as a tradition to stay barefoot.

But remaining barefoot among the children is the perpetual state of poverty in their families. She notices many others like the ragpickers in her neighbourhood remain shoeless. For the children who have never owned shoes in their childhood, getting shoes become a dream comes true. Once Saheb gets a pair of tennis shoes with a hole. He wears it and does not mind any other thing. Lack of money is the real cause of not wearing footwear.

Saheb was a rag-picker. By chance he got a job to work at the tea stall down the road. There he was paid 800 rupees and all his meals. But his face lost his care free look. He was no longer his own master. The steel milk canister seemed heavier than his plastic bag. It belonged to his teamster and the life under the master was not a life of happiness.

The city of Firozabad is famous for its bangles. Every other family in Firozabad is engaged in the business of making bangles. Firozabad is a centre of India’s glass-blowing industry. Since generations the families are working around furnaces, welding glass and making bangles for all the women on the land. The bangles are symbolised as woman’s Suhag.

There are bangles makers in the narrow streets of Firozabad in every house. The heaps of the spirals of bangles can be seen on every place there in Firozabad. All the members of the family can be seen welding and soldering the glass bangles in the different colours of a rainbow.

Working in the glass bangle industry is full of numerous health hazards. The children work in the glass furnaces with high temperature. They work in the dingy cells where there is no light and no air. This spoils their health, eye-sight and other parts of the body.

The bangle-makers weld pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. They polish them and the dust of the polishing along with the high temperature flames result in losing their eye-sight before they become adult. They live and work in stinking lanes and thereby their health goes on deteriorating.

The bangle-makers with their families work for the whole day and fail to have enough food to eat. They could hardly succeed in putting on proper clothes and a roof over their head. They remain in perpetual state of grinding poverty.

The glass bangle industry of Firozabad is one of its kind which illegally employs the child labour. About 20,000 are engaged in this hazardous work and do not have an access to education. A vicious circle of Sahukars, middlemen, policemen, keepers of law, bureaucrats and politicians are responsible for their sorry state of affairs and they cannot start a cooperative. Most of them hardly reap their one time full meal in their entire life time.

Tips: -

M. Imp.

Mukesh is a boy with a daring attitude to drive a car. His family is engaged in making bangles. But his dream seems like a mirage. His family believes in ‘Karam theory.’

But Mukesh insists on being his own master. So he announces, I will be a motor mechanic. He repeats “I wants to be a motor mechanic.” He says he will go to a garage and learn. Though the garage is a long distance from his house yet he will walk to the garage.

He does not dream of flying a plane. He is content to dream of cars that he sees hurtling down the streets of his town. This shows that Mukesh has an attitude of doing something different from that of his family.

Due to urbanisation, education, employment, safety and other basic amenities more and more people are migrating from villages to the cities. In the lesson at hand, people have fled from Bangladesh because their fields and houses were swept away by the storm. There they could not get even enough food to fill their belly. The settlement of Seemapuri is a fine example of this kind. In addition to this one can see that the pressure on the land has increased due to population and mechanised farming. So the requirement of labour is very acute. Consequently, people flee towards the cities for work. In earlier days means of education and transportation, etc. were very few. Only a few could get education. Agriculture was their main profession. With extensive and renovated education, the youths run from post to pillar in search of job. They do not want to stay in unhealthy and unhygienic rural surroundings.

Not to speak of this, all sorts of village crafts have been replaced with the machines. The market is full of competition, quality and cheap good. The villagers fail to complete with the new system of heavy industrialisation. So the people migrate from villages to cities.

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V. Imp.

There is no denying the fact that promises made to the poor children are rarely kept. In our modern democratic India, people living in slum colonies, resettlement areas and jhuggi and jhopary colonies hardly have an access to civic amenities and the education. They are meant for casting their votes or show attendance in the political rallies. Their grieves are hardly adhered to by the bureaucrats. The writer has given two current examples of the residents of Seemapuri and Firozabad.

In Seemapuri one can see more than 10,000 rag-pickers who live in strucutres of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. They are devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. They live without an identity except a ration card for voting and buying grain. They remain barefoot and garbage to them is gold. The writer asks Saheb, a rag-picker for school. The boy replies that there is none in his neighbourhood. He further says if they build it, he will go. But this is never done.

In the same way about 20,000 children work in bangle factories and work in glass furnaces with high temperature. They live in dingy cells and stingy lanes choked with garbage. They pass their lives in grinding poverty and fail to get proper food. Thus the poor have no dreams and no initiatives. They are the safest targets of exploitations.

In her lesson, the writer points out that the bangle-makers of Firozabad live in the state of grinding poverty. These people are burdened the stigma of caste in which they are born. All the members of the family are engaged in doing various jobs pertaining to the bangle-making. Before they become adult and dare to do something they fall to their ancestoral profession. They are unable to go away from the God given lineage and believe in Karam theory. Thus they go on looming in their own world.

Further, there are other force that conspire them to work in bangle industry. The Sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen, the keepers of law, the bureaucrats and the politicians, all eat in parts the flesh of the bangle-makers. They cannot run a cooperative. Together they push them to the sorrowful state and became often blind before becoming adult. Thus more than 20,000 children are working in this hazardous profession against the law. The parents, society and the bureaucrats all are responsible to this sorry state of affairs.

Mukesh belongs to the family of bangle-makers who prepare colourful bangles like that of rainbow. But his attitude to this situation is different from others. He is a daring boy and he announces, “I will be a motor mechanic, I will learn to drive a car. Though the garage is a long way from his home yet he insists I will go to the garage and learn.”

The determination and strong will of becoming a motor mechanic and learning to drive a car, seems to be as firm as a rock in Mukesh. That is why he says he will walk to the garage which is a long way from his home. Though his dream appears to be vague, unclear and like a mirage in his state yet he has a different ambition to fulfil.

He can materialise his dream once he walks down to the garage. There he must see the owner of the garage and request him to become a motor mechanic. He must request for any petty work pertaining to the garage. Though his sincere efforts and hard work and the guidance of his owner he can attain the skills of a mechanic and then gradually that of car driving. It is sure that he can get his dream materialised properly.

The glass blowing industry of Firozabad employs local families and these families have spent generations working around furnaces, welding glass and making bangles of different colours. Working around the high temperature furnaces is very injurious to our growing bodies. The dark dingy cells without light and air, worsen the working conditions of the children. The dazzling and sparking of welding light and the high temperature render the situation hellish. About 20,000 children slog their day light hours and often lose the brightness of their eyes before they become adults.

The bangle-makers lead their life in utter miseries and grinding poverty. They could never prosper working in this industry. They hardly get a belly full of meal in their lifetime. Thus they are not only underfed but also prone to ailments and education. The dingy cells and stinking smell of garbage choke their bodies. There are flames of flickering oil lamps, the blinding polishing and the welding work put a deep impact on their complete bodies. Those who work in, they lose their eyesight before they become adult.

The child labour employed in any form of the hazardous work in an offence. It is banned under law. Yet it goes on unabated, at the industrial towns like Firozabad, Shivakasi, Mirzapur and so on.

The child labour is hazardous in nature. It inflicts physical and mental harm to the boys. The work in the glass bangle industry often ends up them losing their eyesight before they become adults. The mind-numbling toil of bangle-making kills all their initiative, drive and ability to dream in life. They are even deprived of the school education and proper growth.

According to Anees Jung about 20,000 children are working in the glass bangle industry of Firozabad. Some of the industrialists conspire in unison with the Sahukars, the middlemen, the policemen and the politicians and then go on stealing their childhood for some extra coins. The only possible solution lies with the government and the society to punish the wrong-doers very strictly; and keep a careful watch and vigil over them.

1. Hyperbole.
2. Metaphor.
3. Metaphor.
4. Contrast.
5. Simile.
6. Metaphor.
7. Contrast.
8. Hyperbole.
9. Hyperbole.
10. Metaphor.
11. Contrast.

The students can make their own surveys and write a paragraph accordingly. However one such paragraph is given for reference.

Generally most of the handicraft and other factories, run on the small scale basis, engage children to work with them because they are cheap and easily available due to poverty. Some of the industries can be named here :

1. Candle making

2. Brick clins

3. Stone crushing

4. Dhabas and restaurants etc.

5. Handlooms

6. Bamboo and cane industry

7. Carpentary and saw mills

Let us study the last i.e. carpentary and saw-mills.

In my neighbourhood there are many saw mills and bamboo factories. In all of them one can see many children helping the workers in doing their work. In the saw mills, there is a work pertaining to the cutting, and sawing of different kinds of woods. During the working they help the skilled people. They remain attached to them. The dust, dirt and the saw ash go on disturbing them. They trouble them and enter in their bodies through nose, mouth and eyes. Some of the boys lose their eye-sight while it is their time to develop and get education.

Cases of asthma, respiratory problems, lung problem, cough and cold are very frequent. In a short span of their life they become a prey to one or the other disease pointed out. Their health deteriorates and the ailments turn chronic. The owners never think of their upkeep but employ them to earn their booty. There are strict laws banning the child labour but none bothers for them. They play with the tender lives of children and do a national waste.

Anees Jung has portrayed two stories in ‘Lost Spring’ and both depict the grinding poverty, pitiable condition of life and the other traditions that condemn the children to a life of exploitation. For the rag-pickers of Seemapuri, garbage is gold and means of survival. The bangle-makers of Firozabad live in dingy cells and stinking lanes. Even after much toil, they do not get full meal.

Saheb is a rag-picker of Seemapuri.

The writer encounters him every morning scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps in her neighbourhood. Saheb hails from Dhaka and he has migrated from Bangladesh in 1971. His house and green fields were destroyed by storm. Their poverty forced them to migrate but Saheb does not have even a faint memory of his original home.

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V. Imp.

On encountering with Saheb, the authoress asks him go to school. Immediately at the second thought she realises that the advice must sound very hollow. On the other hand, Saheb replies that there is no school in his neighbourhood. And he will go if the authorities make one. The authoress asks half jokingly if she starts to school, will he go ? Saheb goes on asking her “Is your school ready?” she feels embarrassed at having made a promise that was not meant.

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V. Imp.

Saheb, along with his army of barefoot boys roam in the neighbourhood of Anees Jung. They go on scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps. They appear like the morning birds and disappear at noon. The authoress is in a good position to recognise each of them very well as she has watched all of them with good interest.

Throughout the country, the authoress has seen the rag-pickers roaming about in the streets barefoot. More than 10,000 children of Seemapuri are engaged in their task of survival. On asking about not wearing chappals some reply that it is a tradition to stay barefoot. It is not the lack of money. The authoress feels that it is an excuse to “explain away a perpetual state of poverty.”

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M. Imp.

The writer comes across many barefoot rag-picker children. On asking about not wearing chappals, they offer very solid excuses. One answers that his mother has not brought them down from the shelf. Another points out that he will throw them if she brings. The third one replies that he has never owned a pair all his life. The writer concludes that walking across the country barefoot is a tradition.

Once the writer meets a man from Udipi. About the shoes, he tells that as a young boy, he would daily go to school past an old temple. In his way he would stay there for sometime to pray to the goddess for a pair of shoes. His father was a priest at the temple. Finally, he got a pair of shoes and became contented.

The writer recollects the story of a man from Udipi when he was a child. It was told that while going to school he would pray the Goddess for a pair of shoes. But the young boys like the son of the priest now wear shoes. The rag-pickers at her neighbourhood like Saheb remain barefoot. This exhibits the different phrases of society.

Seemapuri is still in wilderness but it is no longer empty. In 1971 it was inhabited illegally by more than 10,000 rag-pickers from Bangladesh in 1971. It is on the periphery of Delhi yet it is miles away from it metaphorically. People live in structures of mud, with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. It is devoid of sewage, drainage and running water. They have got ration cards for votes and buying grains. They have no identity. Women move in tattered saris. Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking.

Seemapuri is a place in the outskirts of Delhi. The rag-pickers scrouge gold in the garbage dumps. For the children garbage is wrapped in wonder and for the elders, it is a means of survival. A group of women say that they pitch their tents, where they find food. They become their transit homes. There the children grow and participate in the process of survival.

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M. Imp.

More than 10,000 rag-pickers of Seemapuri live in squatters. For them garbage is gold and it is wrapped in wonder. For a child, it is their daily bread and more than this since he is hopeful of getting more. Sometimes a child can find a silver coin or more in a heap of garbage. For the elders it is a means of survival.

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Imp.

The rag pickers of Seemapuri play a crucial role for their survival An army of barefoot children, women and elders can be seen searching through the garbage. All work for their survival. Seemapuri means rag- picking. In reality that have become professionals. It is no more a dirty job. It has acquired the position of a fine art.

The rag-pickers of Seemapuri are the illegal occupants of public land. They have been living here for more than 30 years without an identity or without a permit. They have ration cards to buy grains and cast their votes. They live in mud structures without sewage, drainage and running water. As the end of the day they go to their beds without an aching stomach.

One morning the writer saw Saheb standing by the gate of the neighbourhood club. Two young men were playing tennis. Saheb was in tennis shoes. On enquiry, Saheb told that some rich boy discarded them because there was a hole in one of them. So he felt no harm in wearing them. It was rather good on his part that the dream of wearing shoes had come true.

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Imp.

Saheb gets some job at a tea stall. There the owner pays him Rs. 800/- and all his meals. The narrator now finds him with a tin canister on his way to the milkbooth. But he has lost his carefree look. The canister seems heavier than the plastic bag he would carry so lightly on his shoulder. This was his own bag but the canister belongs to his master. Thus Saheb was no longer his own master.

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V. Imp.

Mukesh belongs to the family of bangle makers in Firozabad where each family is engaged in bangle making. They live in half built huts and stinky lanes. On asking, Mukesh says,, “I will be a motor mechanic. I will learn to drive a car”. Thus he wants to be his own master.

The family of Mukesh is engaged in making glass bangles of different kinds like the colours of a rainbow. But Mukesh does not want to adopt his family profession. He wants to be a motor mechanic and will learn to drive a car. His dream seems like a mirage to the writer as it is vague and unclear amidst the dust of Firozabad streets.

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Imp.

Mukesh belongs to the family of bangle-makers. He tells the writer to become a motor mechanic. He will learn to drive a car and does not hesitate to go to the far off garage. He has no desire to live and become the victim of poverty. He says “Jodo anything else means having some lare and the same is flashing on his face.” In this way Mukesh will surely realize his dream.

More than 20,000 children are illegally working in glass-blowing factories in Firozabad. They work around furnaces in high temperatures to weld glasses. They work in dingy cells without light and air. Their eyes are adjusted to “the dark than to the light outside. Many of them become victims of losing their eye-sight before they become adults. They work all day long.

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V. Imp.

Subbu had the ability to look cheerful at all times. He always worked for some body. He was very much loyal to his Boss. He used all his energy and creativity to the advantage of his Boss. He was a tailor made for films and was a very talented actor. He gave definition and direction to the Gemini Studios. If the producer had some difficulty, Subbu would come out with fourteen more alternatives. Thus he was a many sided genius and had attained prominence of being number two at Gemini Studio.

Working of children in the glass bangle industry is against the rules of health and hygiene. They have to work before the furnaces amidst high temperature. They have the chances of skin burn and losing their brightness of the eyes. Sitting in close proximity to furnace and staying in dingy and dark cells trouble all.

While walking with Mukesh, the writer passes through the stinking lanes duly choked with garbage. Then she comes across the hovels having crumbling walls and wobbly doors. They have no windows for ventilation. She saw animals and human beings existing together in a primeval state. Thus they live in most unhygienic conditions.

Mukesh brings the writer to his own hut. It is a half built shack. Its one part is thatched with dry grass. Then she sees a firewood stove having a vessel containing spinach leaves for boiling. In a large aluminium platter, chopped vegetables can be seen. A frail young woman cooks food for the whole family.

The daughter-in-law in the house commands respect as the ‘bahu.’ There is custom of putting veil on their faces when an elder enters in the house. She will go near the wall and brings her veil closer to her face. It is their custom that the daughter in law must veil their faces before the male elders.

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Imp.

The father of Mukesh started his career as a tailor. But soon he turned to become engaged himself in bangle-making. Inspite of doing hard labour, he has very small achievement on his part. He has even failed to renovate his house. He has not been in a position to send his two children to school. He has taught them only bangle-making.

The grandmother of Mukesh laments that her husband became blind with the dust of polishing bangles. Her son could teach his sons only the bangle making. She says, ‘It is his Karam, his destiny. He cannot go beyond the god, given lineage’. Born in the caste of bangle makers, they have learnt nothing except making bangles.

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V. Imp.

Savita is a young girl whose hands move mechanically like the tongs of a machine. She is aware about the sanctity of bangles and the importance of married woman. A bangle symbolises an Indian woman’s Suhag, i.e. an auspiciousness in marriage. She will also come to know of it when she becomes a bride.

People prepare spirals of bangles in the seven colours of the rainbow. They lie in mounds in the unkempt yards. After piling them on a four wheeled handcarts, they pass the narrow lanes duly pushed by young men. In the dark hutments, women and people of all age group weld pieces of coloured glass into circles of bangles. Their eyes Eire adjusted to the dark than to the outside work. In this way the work goes on.

The bangle-makers live in the state of utter poverty. Years of ‘mind-numbing toil’ have killed all their dreams, hopes and initiatives. They have fallen into a vicious circle of moneylenders, middlemen, police, politicians and bureaucrats. They never allow them bo organise into a cooperative.

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M. Imp.

The writer finds two distinct worlds in Firozabad. The fist one belongs to the family of bangle-makers. They are caught in the web of poverty with a stigma of caste they are born in. The other is a vicious circle of the ‘Sahukars,’ the middlemen, the policemen, the politicians and the keepers of the law. They ensure that the exploitation of the bangle makers go unbatted. So they never allow them to organise a cooperative.

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Imp.

The elderly woman laments very much over her ‘Karam’, i.e. destiny. She says that during her life time, she has not had a full meal. Instead of hard toil, they loom in perpetual state of poverty. Her cheerless eyes are the ready example and recognition of it. The bangles symbolised her ‘Suhaag.’ The homes of the bangle makers cry for money.

The years of mind numbing and hard toil kill the desire of making new attempts to improve their conditions and the ability to dream. In Firozabad doing any other work needs dare, strong will and determination of the bangle makers want to do anything else, they need dare. The same is very much absent on the part of the younger ones.

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Imp.

The title ‘Lost Spring’ conveys and pictorises that childhood is like the spring. As everything blooms in this season, in the same way the childhood should bloom but through the poverty of Saheb and Mukesh, we come to know about their stolen childhood. It is being destroyed and dumped in the web of poverty, dirt and dust. They have a strong desire to come out of this poor situation and work hard for this. Let us make a strong determination to realize our dreams.

The family of bangle makers were caught in the vicious web of poverty. They are forced to practise their ancestral profession. They remain ill fed and ill clad throughout life. They have no money to switch over their profession.Their hard work is mind numbling. The police does not allow them to form cooperatives.

Saheb is a rag-picker from Seemapuri whose parents migrated from Bangladesh in the year 1971. The writer encounters him every morning with barefoot in her neighbourhood. He is scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps.

He is unable to go to school because there is none in his neighbourhood. Saheb-e-Alam is his full name though he does not know its exact meaning. It means ‘Lord of the universe.’ It is ironical on his part that a poor fellow roams in the streets picking up the rags.

For the rag-pickers of Seemapuri, Garbage is wrapped in wonder. Sometimes one can find a rupee, more of a silver coin and they always hope to find more. They live in squatters with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. They have no identity except a ration card for voting and buying grain. They are devoid of sewages, drainage and running water. Survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. At present Saheb is working at some tea stall. The writer sees him with a steel canister. He has lost his carefree look of his early days. He is not happy with his work because he is no longer his own master.

The narrator, Anees Jung encounters Saheb every morning scrounging for a gold in the garbage. He roams in the streets with an army of barefoot boys. They are too poor to afford to purchase shoes or chappals. One morning, the narrator sees Saheb standing by the fenced gate of a club. Two young men dressed in white are playing tennis. Saheb is much changed. The authoress is impressed to note that Saheb likes the game of tennis and goes inside when no one is around. He also swings there. He is wearing the discarded shoes of a rich man because there is a hole in one of them. His face is beaming with joy. It seems his dream has come true. Now he works in a tea-stall and get 800 rupees and all his meals. However, he has lost the carefree look because he is no longer his own master.

The authoress, Anees Jung has been encountering the army of barefoot rag-picker children for many months. She asks one why he is not wearing chappals. Another adds if he gets, he will throw them off. A third boy says that he wants shoes, he has never owned a pair all his life. The authoress Anees Jung recollects a story of a man from Udipi as he told her. As a young school boy, every morning on his way to school he would briefly stop at the temple and pray the goddess for a pair of shoes. When he had finally got a pair of shoes, he prayed, “let me never lose them.” The goddess had granted his prayer.

When Saheb wears pair of discarded tennis shoes due to a hole in one of them, it does not bother him. For one who has walked barefoot even shoes with a hole is a dream comes true. The reality of life on this earth is that there are millions of innocent children who lose the spring (youth) of their lives under the threat of grinding poverty which exploit them under the demand of nature for satisfying their hunger for their survival. It is not due to lack of money but a tradition to stay barefoot, is one explanation. This is only an excuse for the continuing state of poverty which is the cause of the children staying barefoot in cities or on village roads.

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V. Imp.

A squatter occupies the public land without the government licence. The squatters have migrated from Bangaladesh to Seemapuri in East Delhi. they have settled there are setup their transit camps in a wilderness on the periphery of Delhi. The structures are made of wood with roofs of tin and tarpaulin.

The squatters are devoid of basic facilities like water, drainage and sewerage. They have ration cards to buy grains and for voting purposes. They look for gold by picking rags and there dwell more than 10,000 children. They move in the streets barefoot. Sometimes they find a coin but continue scrounging garbage in hope of find more. For the elders the garbage is gold. It is a means of survival for their children and is wrapped in wonder. They are abused but, can practise any criminal activity.

Anees Jung encounters a rag-picker boy named Saheb daily in her neighbourhood. He is engaged in rag-picking and tells that he is scrounging for gold in the garbage dumps. He points out that they can find a silver coin, a rupee, a ten rupee note or more. More than 10,000 barefoot rag-pickers roam in the villages and the city roads.

In her visit to the settlement colony of Seemapuri, the writer finds them living in the structures of mud with roofs of tin and tarpaulin. They are devoid of sewage, drainage or running water. More than 10,000 rag- pickers have occupied illegal places to live and they have been living for the last thirty years or so. They have been living there without permits. Only they have ration cards for grain purchase and to cast the votes. They have no identity, so food is more important for their survival. Through discussion, the writer comes to know that they consider food as the chief ingredient of their survival. At the end of the day they go to bed without an aching stomach. They pitch their tents wherever they find food. Thus, they become their transit homes. Children grow up in them and become partners in survival and survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. For them garbage is their gold, food and everything for children it is wrapped in wonder but for the elders it is a means of survival.

There was a time when the villagers were self-sufficient by having their interdependence on one or the other. They had the least desire of fleeing towards the cities.

With the rapid speed of changing time, modernity, commercialisation and so on, the villagers started migrating to cities in search of job, education, knowledge, better civic facilities and the glamorous life. The village-craft has lost its meaning so they have become unemployed. In order to fill up their belly, they have started moving towards the cities.

They flee to these places wherever they can get work. In addition to this, certain natural calamities like drought, flood, earthquake, and cyclone, etc. force them to move to the safer places since the cities are more protected than villages. The rag- pickers of Seemapuri is a current example of this type. In the villages, there are insufficient facilities of education, accommodation, profession and other requisite of life. One can find unhealthy and dingy atmosphere there in the village. To avoid any kind of trouble, people migrate to the cities. Very often the policies of government turn the barren land into fertile one. So the people run there for earning their livings.

Tips: -

Imp.

Mukesh seems to be a strong determined boy belonging to the family of bangle makers. He has got courage and dare to move away from his traditional work. Since the family is engaged in the God-given-lineage but he is prone to his occupation. He is well aware about the inconveniences, health hazards and the role of many people who conspire to keep them engaged in the bangle industry.

When Mukesh takes the writer to her home, she finds them living in stinking lanes choked with garbage. She is much perturbed to see their miserable living conditions. Mukesh realises that his parents have nothing except a roof to cover their heads under it. They can’t provide them even the basic necessities of life. So they are unable to bloom like spring. He frankly tells the writer that he will become a motor mechanic. He will learn to drive a car and he will not hesitate to go to the far off garage. He has no desire to live and become the victim of poverty. In the true sense he dreams of the cars that rattle down in the dingy streets of Firozabad. His remarks to do anything else means having some dare and the same is flashing on his face’. Thus the dream of Mukesh does not seem to be looming like a mirage, he will cherish it very soon.

Anees Jung is deeply moved to hear the woeful tales of the bangle-makers who pass their lives in the perpetual state of grinding poverty. They are the victims who loom in the vicious web of poverty. They are unable to get full meal. Their elders even lament for not providing better opportunities for their words. The bangle-makers had a hellish life and live in strinking lanes. They stay in two distinct world.

They are very much burdened with the stigma of the caste they are born in so they are unable to depart from the God given-lineage. Not to speak of this, these people stay under the net of Sahukars, the middlemen, the politicians, the policemen, the keepers of the law and the bureaucrats. All collectively mar their courage and impose the baggage on the children that they cannot keep away from this for generations together. Before a child becomes an adult to know about the new world, he finds himself suffocated and choked with his family to work. He is left with no alternative except to bangle making. Thus there seems no way out to be free from the clutches of this vicious world.

The houses of the bangle sellers are located in stinking lanes choked with garbage. Their homes are like hovels with crumbling walls, wobbly doors and without windows. They are crowded with families of humans and animals like the ancient days. The impoverished bangle sellers are not in a position to send their sons to school except teaching them the art of bangle making. The workers usually go blind with the dust from polishing the glass of bangles. The bangle makers of Firozabad make beautiful bangles of all colours. They make everyone happy. But they are ill fated to live and die in squalor. Their women have no light in their eyes. They never eat one full meal ever in their life. The hard work breaks their backs. They are ever afraid of the police if they form cooperatives. Those who give cheer to others are lotted to live in gloom.

152-New City

Firozabad-29

5th January, 200....

The Editor

The Hindustan Times

New Delhi-5

Sub : Child labour rampant in Firozabad.

Sir,

Through the columns of your newspaper, I want to draw the kind attention of the regarding 20,000 children engaged in glass blowing industry at Firozabad. They work in dingy cells and weld pieces of glass bangles at high temperature. They even polish the bangles. Both these works are unhygienic and unhealthy. Most of the children lose their eyesight before they become adult. Not to speak this, they are passing their hard time in the vicious circle of poverty. They are unable to start a co-operative because of the interference caused by the bureaucrats, politicians, middle-men, policemen and the Sahukars. Whenever they try to do some work, they are roughed up by the policemen. They exploit the small children and kill their all initiative and ability to dream. As they are to live, so they work in industries and fail to get even the primary education. They hardly get sufficient food to fill their belly. In these circumstances, it is the need of the hour to plan and save the children from future exploitation. I hope the authorities will take tangible steps to improve the lot of these children.

Yours faithfully

Ashok

Social worker (CPC.)

The houses in Seemapuri of the ragpickers and the houses of the bangle-makers of Firozabad are either of mud with tin and tarpaulin roofs. They are with broken wall, no windows, wobbly doors and animals and humans co-existing. The streets at both places are foul smelling and fully unhygienic. The poverty-striken families of Firozabad are compelled to undergo such miseries under the conspiracy of caucus of responsible officers in connivance with the middlemen and the sahukars. Together they impose this illegal baggage of doing hazardous work on the shoulders of the children which they can’t put down.

On one hand there are the families of the migrants, on the other generations old bangle maker families, both are being grounded under poverty and customs continuously. Though these families at both the places are living in hellish situations yet they are shown struggling for survival. Food is more important than their identity or doing anything else. In one case the rag-picker barefoot boys are shown to be completely carefree and they are their own masters. While in the case of the children like Mukesh of the bangle-makers, are shown dreaming to become their own masters.

The nature (storms) rose against the families of the rag-pickers once, and vicious circle of middlemen who trapped the fathers and forefathers of the bangle-makers, are still at work against them. The grinding poverty and the traditions at both the places ‘condemn their’ children to a life of continuous exploitation.

Tips: -

V. Imp.

54, Seemapuri

New Delhi-81

December 1, 200...

The Editor

Indian Express

New Delhi-110002

Sub. Providing shoes for the rag-pickers.

Dear Sir,

Through the columns of your esteemed newspaper I want to create an awareness among the executive members of the NGOs and such other agencies about the life of barefoot army of ragpickers of Seemapuri, Delhi. It is an army of 10,000 children who roam about every morning in the streets of adjoining colonies ragpicking. They all disappear at noon.

Everyone will be very much surprised to see that hardly anyone of the rag-pickers, has shoes. Most of them roam about in streets barefoot. After all, they are children whose childhood is stolen due to their continuing grinding poverty. They all are in great need of pair of shoes. To provide each of them pair of shoes, will make a dream come true for them.

Therefore, all the members of the NGOs, other such agencies alongwith the kind-hearted people are requested to provide pair of shoes for the rag-picker children. Even the used pairs in good condition can be deposited at the Community Centre of Seemapuri on every Saturday and Sunday this month. For any query contact the Community Centre incharge from 8.00 a.m. to 8.00 p.m. every day of the week. With thanks
Yours truly
Chander.

Tips: -

V. Imp.

The authoress presents a very pathetic picture of bangle-makers of Firozabad since they are born in poverty, live in poverty and even die in poverty. They lead a life of trouble, torture, tension, deprivation and poverty and for generations together they have been engaged in this trade. They work in dingy and dark cells sitting before high temperature which often makes them blind before they become adult. They labour very hard at a very little profit.

They live in a small and dingy houses which are called “hovels”. They have crumbling walls, wobbly door and without windows. All the members of the family live in the same house so they are overcrowded with humans and animals. They have their own social customs and traditions. The old man in the house has the authority to do everything. They remain uneducated and poor. They cannot adopt another profession due to interference of the middlemen, money-lenders, politicians and policemen. Due to lack of a tangible and bold leader, they are unable to organize themselves into a cooperative. So they remain poor throughout life and lose the ability to dream. They can talk but do not act to improve their lot.

More than 10,000 rag pickers of Seemapuri live as squatters. For them garbage is gold and it is wrapped in wonder. For a child, it is his daily bread. Sometimes, he finds a silver coin in a heap of garbage. He hopes of finding more and more. It is a source of survival and earning of daily bread for the elders.

Running the glass bangle industry is full of hazards. Workers are not easily available. The temperature of the glass furances is very high. There is neither sufficient light nor air in the dingy cells. This spoils the health, eye-sight and other parts of the workers’ body. The low-paid workers leave their jobs of suffering a perpetual state of grinding poverty. The owners of industries have to employ the child labour illegally. Such children have no access to education. They are contrained to lose the brightness of their eyes before they become adults. Their industries are nicknamed ‘slaughter-houses or cripplers’. If the industrialists pay higher wages to labourers, their margin of profit will be lessened. As a result, they would be forced to lead a life of misery and deprivation. Above all, there is an intervention of middlemen, moneylenders, politicians and policemen.

Anees Jung has a chance to see Mukesh. His home is amidst the dusty streets of Firozabad, a town famous for the bangles. Every other family is Firozabad is engaged in making bangles since generations. His house is like a half-built shack. Its one part is thatched with dead grass. On the fire-wood stove there is a large vessel of sizzling spinach leaves. The bangle sellers are born in poverty, live in poverty and die in poverty. They lead a life of trouble, torture, tension, deprivation and poverty. Both humans and animals live together in small and dingy houses. The family is doomed to remain uneducated and poor. It is grounded under customs. The family struggles under hellish situations for survivals. Food is more important for them than their identity. The hereditaiy traditions condemn the children to a life of continuous exploitation. The future of the children is cripped like the crumbling walls and wobbly doors of their hovels. The whole families are engaged in mind mumbling hardwork which kills all initiative and ability to dream at the cost of their eyes and health.

For adults rag picking was only a means of survival but for children, a lot of excitement was associated with the same for they often found unexpected things as a ten rupee note in the same. There was always a hope of coming across unexpected surprises and so garbage was wrapped in wonder for them.

Saheb had left rag picking and he took up a job at a nearby tea-stall. He was not happy working at the tea stall because he had lost the freedom of working at his own terms. So, he lost his 'carefree look'. Even though he earned 800 rupees and all his meals, he was less contented than before.

Garbage was a means of survival to the people of Seemapuri. However, it had a different meaning to the children, for whom it was a mysterious package that held unknown valuables.

Seemapuri is a settlement of more than 10,000 rag pickers. It is a place on the Periphery of Delhi. Those who live here are squatters who came from Bangladesh in 1971. They live here without an identity and without permits. They do have ration cards that enable them to vote and buy grain. Food is more important for them than their identity. Children grow up to become partners in survival. And survival in Seemapuri means rag-picking. Through the years it has acquired the 'proportions of a fine art'. An army of barefoot children appears in the morning with their plastic bags on their shoulders. They disappear by noon. Garbage has a different meaning for children. For them, 6it is wrapped in 'wonder'. They may find a rupee even a ten rupee note or a silver coin. There is always hope of finding more.

Seemapuri is a place on the outskirts of New Delhi. Those who live there are unlawful residents who came from Bangladesh in 1971. It is a place where about 10,000 rag pickers live. They live without identity and have no basic amenities, yet they are happy here because they get food which is more important than identity. It is a slum where they could find many things and rag picking was their only means of survival.

Rag picking was the means of survival for the rag pickers. According to the author, it is their daily bread, a roof over their heads, even if it is a leaking roof. Thus, it is equivalent to gold for them. Besides, for the children it is wrapped in wonder for they, at times, chance upon a rupee, even a ten-rupee note.