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Mukesh Kumar ran away from his home in the summer of 2002, only to get shelter in the walled city of Delhi, which is the home to the most homeless people in the country. I met him at the small dhaba (eating joints on the street) opposite Ajmeri Gate Railway Station, New Delhi where he is working these days.
Mukesh is a fourteen year old boy with a lean and slender built. Every time I have met him he has worn a wraparound below his waist and the upper part of the body bare with lots of rashes on it. Mukesh looks like a tired and uninterested boy but interacting with him one would see that he is a soft spoken young man with smile on his face. His pale and mysterious eyes speak of everything he has been going through.
Mukesh ran away to Delhi from Bhagalpur (Bihar) without ticket by boarding barh baje wali (12’O clock) train. He has studied in a government school until fifth grade. Mukesh has three brothers and two sisters and he is second in the birth order after his eldest brother. His father Shri Vijay Poddar runs a small shop in his one room house, the only property the family owns.
Teen aged Mukesh was sick and tired of the beatings and the indifferent attitude of his father. “Papa chhoti-chhoti baton pe bhi bahut marte the aur hamesha bolte rahte the jahan jana hai jao, kamao, humko koi matlab nahin hai.”(Dad was beating me for every small and petty causes and he always scolded me to go away and earn, and he was not concern for me).
The feeling of being unwanted, constant beating and nagging resulted in to leaving home for earning. Never the less bad educational facility also propelled him to take the step of running away. He said “Padhne ka man pahle karta tha lekin book wagairah nahi milta tha aur papa se bhi bolne pe maar hi milta tha. Aur “Sarkari School” tha to padhai bhi nahi hoti thi”, teacher sab bhi koi dhyan nahi dete the-isliye padhai se koi fayeda nahi tha” (Earlier I liked studying but without books and other things it was difficult. And if I asked my father it was inviting lot of beating. Since it was a government school the teachers were also not interested. I felt like I was wasting my time”. He says with a bit of anger and looking up at a blank sky, “Ab padhai chhod diya aur fir kabhi nahi padhunga.” (“I’ve left studies and I’ll never start it again”)
The first few days in Delhi were not easy for Mukesh. He was a complete stranger in the big city. He was afraid and over whelmed by the people and the life of a big city, as it was the first time he was away from his small town that too all alone with no acquaintances. The little money he had was running out very quickly. But luckily for him he was in the vicinity, which is the business hub of the capital city of Delhi, and supposedly it never sleeps. Mukesh got a job of Rs. 1000 per month in Chawari Bazaar in a card-printing unit. His working hour was from 10 o’clock in the morning till 8 o’clock in the night. He used to sleep on the roof of the place of his work. He worked there for little over a month but he was asked to leave because he got another boy who hailed from his city a job with him, but the boy ran away. Thus he lost his job because of the other boy whom he tried to help.
Mukesh was once again in a lot of problems, jobless with no place to sleep. He searched around the area for the boy, who was working in the dhaba where Mukesh works these days. When he saw Mukesh, the boy ran off again, and Mukesh got his job. In the roofless dhaba he works morning ‘till night, under all kinds of weather conditions. He does everything from washing big dishes to cutting vegetables etc. He doesn’t like this job that much as here he just gets to eat and a very little money. Since, he doesn’t have any other place to go he is choiceless. He says "bada bala bartan saf karne me bahut dikkat hota hai, aur sab ka jhutha dhote rahte hai kya krain?" (Washing the big utensils by hand with so much less water is very difficult and cleaning the dishes all the time is painful too). He sleeps under the sky on the ground after finishing the clean up.
Mukesh doesn't want to stay in Delhi for long. He hopes that he will return back to his home after 3-4 months with some money so that he can prove to his father that he is of some worth. I've met many homeless people near Ajmeri Gate who have not gone back to their home for years just because they never assimilated enough money that they would have liked. But most of the them are addicted to Ganja (Grass), and/or gambling unlike Mukesh. So I hope Mukesh's wishes get fulfilled. The good thing with Mukesh is that he wants to go back and he misses his siblings and especially his mother a lot. Talking about his mother he says with almost wet eyes "Maa ki bahut yaad aati hai, papa jab marte the aur mummy beech mein aati thi to wo bhi mar khati thi." (I miss my mother a lot whenever my dad use to beat me my mother would take some of it as she was coming in between in order to save me, and I don’t know how she is these days.)
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Writer Profile
Sid
I'm a normal human being who has studied a bit to know how much there is to learn. I've studied social work and psychology so civil society and human beings are my interests and concerns. I'm fighting and trying to oppose non complied-changes in little ways I can. Come and be with me, give your opinion, views and share as much as you can.....Live in here and now and Let it go.....
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Comments
roxanne | Jul 10th, 2004
You`ve written a sad story with so much of compassion..i think you are a true social worker. Keep the good work.
andi | Jul 20th, 2004
A very touching story....reflecting on the much needed reformation on the eductional structure in India...very well written!
I wish to go home eskay | Jul 19th, 2005
This story brings back the memmories of Salaam Bombay!.
It is so heart wrenching story of children suffering at the hands of a Parent and business owners. We must strive to educate the parents of how important it is to give love and focus on their overall development. I do understand that pverty plays a major role in creating a depressive situation at home, but parents must take the responsibility of taking care of their children lest they leave home and become vulnerable to traffickers and bad business owners.THANKS!
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