The street is their home

In a very recent incident, seven-year-old Sachin Singh was reunited with his parents in Mumbai, two-and-a-half years after he was kidnapped. He was found begging on the railway station alongwith the woman who kidnapped him. She had cut off a piece of his ear and burnt his stomach with hot tea, in order to make him beg. She would daily pull his jaws to change his face and pull his tongue to change his voice.

Today, Sachin can barely swallow food, is distressed and is finding it difficult to come back to terms with life. UNICEF estimates there are more than 30 million street children in the world, amongst which India is a home to a staggering figure of 11 million. Most of these children are either kidnapped, abandoned, runaways or orphans. The street is their home. They are found usually begging, polishing shoes, rag picking, washing cars or selling small things like flowers, statues, books and more. Ragged and dirty, they run around on the hot pavements, bare-footed with the scorching heat for company. With no security whatsoever, they lead their lives, with most finally becoming future undertakers of the new lot.

Unlike Sachin, who was forced on to the streets, there are others who choose to run away, harbouring beliefs of a better life. When Javed narrates his tale of how his stepmother would hang him upside down and burn chilli powder under him, one cannot criticise his decision. Then there are others who dream to meet their favourite film and cricket stars and unknowingly join the life on the street.

The ideal pick-up points of these children are the railways and bus stations. Any child travelling alone is bound to find company as soon as he descends. With promises and assurances of a good job, they steadily join the bandwagon. When the truth dawns upon them, they are left with no choice but to accept and make the best of what life has to offer. Those who retaliate are either beaten up or have to undergo unimaginable situations of physical and sexual abuse. Those who manage to run away usually get absorbed into another racket.

An average age composition of street children reveals that 40 per cent of them are in the age group of 11- 15 years followed by the age group of 6-10 years. The girl child is barely seen on the street, mainly because she is often picked up for prostitution.

Struggling to fight and survive, most begin to lose any contact with positive human emotions of compassion and love. The anger is stored within and finally let out in a violent outburst. These vulnerable lots are often picked up by the underworld and made to steal, kill and sell drugs, paying back the society in vengeance.

And there remain those who are saved owing to the NGOs tireless work towards the cause. Nesa Karam, an organisation working for street children, has a desk at the Egmore station in Chennai. As soon as a confused child gets off a train, he is picked up by the organisation and treated accordingly. For children who have already made the street their home, organisations like the Ruchika School Social Service Wing and VOICE, hold classes on the platforms of railway stations in Mumbai.

Other organisations specialise in providing shelter for these children. CRY (Child Relief & You) also collects funds and donates them to these organisations. However, the numbers still remain large. So, whether one calls them 'homeless' in the U.S., 'young rascals' in Papua New Guinea, 'mosquitoes' by the police of Cameroon or 'shoot them at sight' in Brazil, Columbia and Guatemala, they predominantly remain the same street child, in search of a direction, but unduly caught in a vicious circle, actually created by society itself.