Children of slums
–Anamika Chowdhury
The misconception which has been instilled in the minds of people that money cannot buy
Happiness is so erroneous.Money does buy Happiness but cannot buy PEACE OF MIND ..
As I was sitting cozily inside a Restaurant about to enjoy my evening snacks and coffee ,a little
boy shabbily dressed carrying some plastic flowers in his hand in order to sale, stood behind
the glass window and was watching others relishing their food. I felt so awful, the Boy could only stare at people eating their food but he could not even afford a piece of bread for him .
The pain in his eyes which was clearly visible made me thoughtful .In our society I have noticed when life throws at us some difficult times we immediately start complaining and show grudges, we feel devastated and shattered interesting part is we forget to feel blessed that at least we are able to buy happiness by paying for something we crave for but what about the little Boy who has neither PEACE OF MIND nor MONEY TO BUY HAPPINESS. Enquiring about the boy I came to know that he lived in a nearby slum area .
Slum dwellers in urban city make their shelter anywhere in the pavements,under flyovers or
near busy roads .We have often seen them selling artistic and fancy items, toys, wall hangings, balloons, Car decor items, flower, mats, paintings, furniture, mosquito nets, pens, roses etc. migrating from place to place.They are not beggars instead hard workers putting sole efforts struggling to make their both ends meet but sadly enough at the end of the day they are able to earn only a few pennies.
People who live within the slum areas face many problems such as poor sanitation, water
scarcity, poor health facility, lack of the living spaces, lack of drainage facility, lack of lighting
facility etc.
Children are the worst sufferers as it comes with huge social and health disadvantages.
Adults and families all over do not have what they need to support their children with, and many children and infants die at a tender age . Besides proper Sanitation and Money Slum Children face many challenges thriving to survive. Children that do not die in the slums and survive have to go through pretty much hell every day in piles and piles of garbage.
Conditions in the slums are not satisfactory to human needs and cannot be tolerated, parents need help and children need to stop dying so they are pushed to various anti-social activities like selling drugs, joining prostitution selling bodies.
There are tons of problems they are destined to face on a daily basis. For example, police
beating, sexual assaulting, getting tortured, human trafficking, false charging, health
problems, infections, diseases, no education and so much more .
Now I raise a QUESTION: Who CARES FOR THEM ?
Isn’t it our responsibility to elevate our responsibilities to bring them out from such disastrous situations?
We always juggle around stuffs and
blame each other for “no development of India”.
How will India develop if these people never get a chance to grow up a normal life .
So next time take out your valuable time and visit these poor children at slum areas who are just striving to live alive .
