The one in the crowd...!!

 

As the snailing traffic came to halt at the signal, out of nowhere kids from age of 8 to 14 came towards the cars in the traffic. In their little hands, they held a spray bottle, filled with white liquid, probably soap water, and a wipe. They would each pick a car and would spray white foamy liquid on the windshield and give it a quick rub with the wipes they held in the other hand and they would then ask for a rupee or two for the little effort they did for the car owners.

 Akhilesh, was quite excited that day, he had worked only two hours and managed to get 100 rupees from wiping 20 or more car screens, but this wasn't going to be enough. He was just short of making the 10th revolution around the sun, and yet he had picked up the habit of chewing tobacco.  He could only help his habit if could wipe some 100 car screens then he would have sufficient money to get his sister the little bow, she liked on the corner store near the signal. But life on the streets is not easy. Seeing the easy money-making model, more kids like him have come to the signal and have acquired the necessary tools by what means, we will never know. 

Akhilesh needs to work hard and wipe as many screens as he could. The more screens he would clean the more he would earn, since the arrival of other kids, the profits are dwindling and there are clashes about who wipes which car. Since not all the car owners will pay even if the kids will wipe their screens are the windshield. so sometimes, a battle ensues for what looks like and big and expensive car and they are literally fighting right there on the streets about who wipes the mirror and by the time the fight resolves or some compromise is reached, there it is the green signal and the kids go out of the road the same they came in, invisible and insignificant noticed by no one.

It's not the story of one signal in one suburb of one city, it is an everpresent picture in mushrooming cities of India where kids the age of Akhilesh mostly come from the families of laborers, who have migrated en masse in the pursuit of happiness.  These mass migrations show an alternative reality that most of us would like to ignore or perhaps deny its very existence. But it exists nonetheless. Deprived of opportunities, lack of formal schooling, no parenting or oversight on the activities, these little harmless Akhilesh would tomorrow not hesitate to gratify his urges by looting someone or may possibly kill someone. Who is responsible for this? Politicians of all colors have played their cards and they are not only lacking in finding complete resolution but also their political will is so weak that few wads of cash are enough to motivate them to look the other way. 

This here right now is the real problem, it's not about what migrants will do or live on it, what infrastructure is there to support their generations and equip them with morals these modern societies hold so dear to themselves.

These kids have zero to no formal school, most migrants who work on real estate projects are already on the tight rope walk. There is a constant and imminent danger of being out of work. Hateful nationalism which has now become the chorus and anthem of some political parties makes the work conditions more insecure. It's not the fault of Akhilesh that when trodden under the modern needs of society one day he would turn up against it. We are collectively responsible for the state where millions of Akhilesh are roaming around the signals of cities of India.

*** The End***

Children do not come with tags, they are as innocent as they as flowers in Eden. A small effort by us, the entire society as a whole to educate them in formal schooling not only will give them the right platforms but also lesson social evils to a great extent.

Sharad