A room for those without homes

Noisy hawkers, screeching vehicles and irritated pedestrians vie for space in the narrow roads outside the Dadar railway station where, on the western side under a flyover, is reserved a large, dank room for street children.

It is, in fact, a temporary shelter where a bunch of 30-40 children stay here at a time till they are either rehabilitated or sent back home.

Childline, a nationwide network funded by the federal government to help needy children in trouble, operates from this shelter, known as "Gala No 13", as a group of social workers work on shifts to answer phone calls round the clock.

"In a month there are at least 9,000 calls from children who want help and others informing us of those in trouble or in need of immediate care," Santosh Dhawal, co-ordinator of Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action (YUVA), a non-governmental organisation that works with Childline, told this correspondent during a visit to the shelter.

The numerous calls indicate the higher level of awareness among the public about help that can be given to young ones in distress, he says.

YUVA's members are quick to the rescue of such children - who are either lost, abandoned, abused, have run away from home, taken to crime or vice habits on the streets or just trying to get away from their employers.

The reasons are many and varied but what is common is that each one is in pursuit of a better life, but sadly lands up in a messy situation.

Dhawal says that the rape of a young girl in a suburban train two weeks ago shocked the public and evoked much media attention.

"What happened on August 14 is only a tip of the vast problem that exists of vulnerable children who take to the streets for various reasons, though the root cause is poverty and illiteracy," he says.

Barely 15 days before this incident, on July 31 two runaway girls, aged 11 and 14, were brought to this shelter after they were spotted crying in a Mahim dargah or shrine. They were taken to Prerna, a temporary shelter for street girls and then to the Observation Home.

"After counselling and striking a rapport with the children, our team found out that the two were raped four times by four men," says Dhawal.

According to the girls' statements, they were from Chennai. No case of rape can be registered as both are not allowing any medical tests to be carried out.

Childline in Mumbai covers three different areas: South Mumbai and neighbouring areas are covered by Nair Hospital's Nair Childline, YUVA takes care of the stretch from Dadar to Bandra, Thane and the Harbour Line station, while the Bal Prafulta organisation offers help to children in Andheri and further.

There are around eight temporary or night shelters for street kids, some of who are brought by the social workers themselves as they go out on their outreach projects.

"Many living on railway platforms refuse to come to our shelter as they say they are happy earning and living off the streets where they have the freedom to do what they want," says Vijay Jadhav, the shelter-in-charge at Dadar. Many do petty jobs or steal money to buy drugs.

They are ready to join any entertainment programme but not live in the shelter where kids are given basic lessons in general knowledge, hygiene, relations within family, society and so on.

"We also encourage them to do their own chores and older boys are either sent to schools or for some training like carpentry or screen printing. Most of them don't study much and go only up to seventh or eighth standard."

The homes take care of those who are found to be without parents or relatives to take care of them.

The city also lures hundreds of children from places as far as Uttar Pradesh (UP), Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, Assam and Karnataka. Sixteen-year-old Sumit Singh stole Rs1,500 from his home in Delhi and ran away with his friend, but not before he enjoyed the luxury of spending it.

"We went to a restaurant and spent Rs130, then I bought a Walkman and two audio cassettes, a pair of shoes, spent Rs460 on train tickets to Mumbai and ate quite well on the train. Finally, I was left with Rs20 when we arrived at Dadar station."

His friend went his way, but a boy on the platform accompanied him to the shelter home from where he will be taken back by one of the volunteers.

"I'm only scared of my grandmother and older brother." He plans to go back to his job in a garage.