We all know about the problem of child exploitation but how many of us really do something to address the problem at our levels. We all obliviously aggravate the problems of the oppressed since we are so used to committing these heinous acts. Such is an incident I am going to share.
I am an Engineering student at a college situated at Gorakhpur, a small town in eastern Uttar Pradesh. The hostel where I stay is a big one accommodating about 300 students. There are two running messes in the hostel which cater to the needs of these many people. Since all students cannot be served food at a time in the mess, the food is served in Tiffin’s at their respective rooms. This is also acceptable to all of the students as they do not have to go to the mess for having food within the specified meal timings. To provide this hectic service the mess employs young children (cheap source of labor paid Rs.300 to Rs. 400 a month), who are entrusted for dispensing-collecting and cleaning the Tiffin’s. Almost all the messes follow the same format either within the hostels or outside.
These children very often have to bear the grunt of the hungry and howling students if there is a delay in delivery or the complaints if the food is cooked improperly or if the specific demand of a specific person is not entertained. Students also use the services of these children if they need any article from the market, which are often either cigarettes or fetching water from the tap. There is just one cold water tap in the hostel for all. So, often there are queues for filling water, which therefore turns out to be time-wasting and mundane task.
It was a hot afternoon when I was having my lunch when I heard my room mate scolding a child who had refused to fetch water for him in a straight forward tone. So, the punishment he received was a slap on his back and was send to my room to sit until the mess Walla comes to ask for him. The child busted into sobs in front of me. He was such a small child, who looked all withered and wilted by harsh injustices caused to him. He told me that he did not fetch water for him because whenever he did so was beaten by the mess Walla as it caused delay in delivery of the Tiffin’s. He also showed me the marks on his half-clad body shrouded with rugs. And now your room-mate is beating me because I do not do what he asks for. I felt abysmally bad and my heart shrieking out at the sight of that tender and fragile child weeping who hears nothing but scolding throughout the day. Not a word of love or sympathy ever known to this young child far-flung from his family and home. I thought that he too is a small child after all. I assured the child not to cry and also to talk to his master regarding the matter and also gave him an old shirt of mine. Then some-how he stopped crying and went back again to his work.
This is just one of the many cases we seldom care to give a heed to. How cruel we’ve become with our prejudices embedded so deep into our minds that can we keep going on oblivion of such cruel practices happening around us all the time? If we do not have the desire, time or power to address to these problems at most we can avoid not aggravating the miseries of these children by being polite and alleviating their work over-load. Who knows just this trifle effort from our side could herald the weeding out of this menace from our society.
