What is the mother? They asked me. And then found the desired
answer without my consent and suddenly I became a cover story for that news
channel.
Dekhiye iss mother’s
day pe, ek bin maa baap ke bacche ki tadap.
You can find an eleven
year old boy near the square begging every day. He starts when the signal turns
red. Every vehicle that stops at the signal has somewhere witnessed his plea. Some
of them ignore, some of them push him away, some give him a penny or two and
some of them just pass by.
But! No one ever
bothered to think about him, about his background that why is he begging? Where are his parents? Are they alive or
dead? If they are dead why the boy is not sent to any orphanage? Why begging?
Is he alone or is there a racket? Is there someone who is forcing him to beg?
What is his story? What
is the story of the boy who begs?
The boy refused to tell
anything so we decided to cover him one full day. A team of cameraman followed
him from morning to night and what we got at the end was shocking…
And they told what I do all day. I come to the signal in the
morning, I beg with my friends. We get the money. Give it to Sahab, behind the hotel. We eat wadapav near the station and then we
enter the railway station and beg. In the evening we handover the final amount
to Sahab. Trice a day that we go to
the signal for begging. Morning, afternoon and night when there is maximum
rush. At night we often go to beach and beg.
We tried but couldn’t
find the link that dragged him to this cruel business of begging. And he is not
alone, there are many like him. We have seen these boys and even girls sobbing
in the corner, they miss their parents, they say. The only words that the boy
said were, “do you know where my mother is, I miss her”.
On this mother’s day,
our team asks the nation to stop and see the miserable condition of these
beggars and their urge to meet their parents… their mothers.
They lied in the TV show. I don’t miss my mother because I
never had one. I have no clue of where was I born, how I grew up and who
brought me to this signal. I am not allowed to say who make me beg. But this is
the world I live in. All that I can do to survive is begging. But why is it a
story for people. Why is it a matter of concern? I beg to live. May be I can do
better things, go places and earn more, but how does it matters to the nation?
I have seen people, so many people. In cars, trains, bikes,
buses. They travel; they are together, with family. They wear good clothes, eat
biryanis, they have family. They must
be rich, they enjoy life. But what if I don’t have these, still I breathe;
still I earn and feed my stomach. Only thing that I regret is giving my earning
to Sahab. He is selfish; he uses our
money to feed his family. His wife wears jewelleries. His kids go to school,
they don’t work like us. Oh! That is why family is important.
May be I could save myself from Sahab if I had a family. Then I could have all my earnings with me
or I would not be working at all if had a family. I never thought this way. But
what now? Can I get a mother now? The TV
show said people should adopt us. But why will they? But! If they do, if a
mother can save me from Sahab , then
I surely need a mother.
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