A Journo's Diary

As my car came to a halt at one of the traffic signals on way to south Delhi, a bunch of children dressed in the shabbiest of clothes came running towards me. One of them was trying to sell a box of tissues to me while a teenage girl was holding an infant in her arms and was begging for some money for his food. I rolled up the window of my car and did not look at them. But I was baffled to see the same thing happen at every traffic signal till I reached my destination.

Although I must say, I was quite amazed by the level of their creativity in coming up with ideas to make money. From trying to sell small little items to cleaning the car windows, these children very cleverly invent strategies in order to earn a living for themselves. Last year when I was in Delhi during summers, I decided to know more about their lifestyles by spending some time with them. And after a couple of days, I was absolutely shocked to see the amount of ideas that go behind every act that is put up on the traffic signal.

Before coming to the details of their survival strategies, it is important to get an idea of the grave situation India is facing with regard to street children. We might be the biggest democracy in the world, but we are also home to twenty five million street children across the country. According to a UNICEF report, almost 40,000 street children die every day in developing countries and twenty five per cent of them are Indians. These children normally suffer from undernourishment and have no access to clean drinking water and sanitation facilities. Many of them do not even have access to proper health facilities. They often sleep on pavements and sometimes you may find an entire family having spent a few years of their lives under a large express way or a fly-over. They change locations as and when police officers drive them away, but once the situation cools down they come back.

The children who work at various traffic signals across the country are often taught different strategies by their parents or elder brothers and sisters. A seven year old boy told me that he normally targets an expensive looking car because that’s where he gets some pocket change. He said he never wastes time on small and “middle class” cars. Such is the mind of a seven year old boy who sells box of tissues in the afternoon and sleeps on the street every night in the hope that he will make more money the next day. However, nine year old Rashmi who sells coloured pens for ten rupees each said she normally goes to the cars where she can spot children. “It is easy to persuade children because they immediately start crying for it and then their parents have to buy it,” she added. I asked them where they get these items from. And Rashmi told me that their “bade bhaiyya” (Big Brother) gets it for them. They also have to give whatever they earn throughout the day to him. Many a times these children also indulge in theft such as stealing cell phones or handbags at traffic lights.

They also look forward to Valentine’s Day when they sell a bunch of roses for 10-15 rupees. As soon as the light turns red, they would run to every couple with the bunch of roses in their hands. They would say things like “didi kitni sundar hai, iske liye le lo na” (she is so beautiful, take it for her). More often than not, they are successful as the guy would buy it for his girl. In just a small area of five traffic signals, children earn nothing less than 2500-3000 rupees on Valentine’s Day. It is not just business for diamond merchants but for street children as well.

Just as we are progressing everyday in our lives, these children don’t give up too. Every morning they get up with a hope to bring a small difference to their lives. Six year old Ankit who has a huge fascination for motorbikes said weekends; especially Saturdays are the best time to earn money. I frankly couldn’t understand what he meant by that and thus I decided to visit them on a Saturday. I reached the pavement where these children live along with their families. A bunch of kids, who were dressed in the dirtiest of clothes yesterday, looked cleaner in comparison today. In their hands they held a small steel container filled with oil. On the top of the container was a picture of Shani Dev or the Lord of Saturday, worshipped widely among Hindus.

As I stood there to watch the Saturday Syndrome in action, I realised many people falling prey to this. More and more women would struggle to find some coins in their purses and then put it into the container. I was very keen to know how much money the children make. Once the traffic signal was green, I walked to a girl who was busy adjusting the garland on her stainless steel container. I asked her how much money they normally make. She said each of them make about 70-80 rupees by the end of the day, sometimes even 100, depending on how many people respond to them. I then asked her what they do with this money. Do they give it to a priest in a temple? “Are you mad?” she said, “We give it to our parents and they pay to…” Leaving the sentence incomplete, she ran towards the other children. There was so much of excitement among them. I could see each one of them put his/her hand inside the container to see how much they have collected so far.

It was definitely not a great sight to watch. But I was impressed by the never-say-die attitude of these children. The methods might be wrong, the act might be wrong but their attitude is not wrong. These children work from morning till evening, eat whatever they can gather from the garbage nearby; sometimes if they are lucky they can find a half eaten pizza, otherwise they live on dry bread. But the time they see the lights turn red they leave everything else and run to their work. Numerous non profit organisations are working in trying to impart education to these children so that they can improve their standard of living. The government has been sponsoring mid day meal schemes in schools for children so that they are tempted to come and study. But how unfortunate it is, that despite having both- the right material and the right facilities we have failed to blend the two together. Only when the creativity of these children is put to right places, can we hope for a better future for them.

(This article was originally published at http://www.thesamosa.co.uk/index.php/news-and-features/society/284-life-by-traffic-light-delhis-street-kids.html)

If I was to talk about the best moment of my life, it was interviewing Dr. Kiran Bedi, India’s first and highest ranking women police officer. A dynamic social activist, she is also the founder of two NGO’s in India: Navjyoti for welfare and preventive policing and India Vision Foundation for prison reforms, drug abuse prevention and child welfare.

I spoke to her about prison reforms, police reforms, her opinion on physical abuse of women and most of all her latest television show, “Aap ki kachehri” that has won heavy TRP ratings in India.

From your perspective, tell me about the day care project that is being run by your organisation at Tihar prison?

Well if you don’t have it doesn’t exist. Because we value child’s time and that’s how this project began because we may stop growing as adults but the child grows very rapidly. A child needs health, nutrition, environment, education, care, love, nursing; so that’s what I did. When I went to the prison, there was nothing for the child separately so the child was almost an adult, living an adult life with their mothers. And the only thing they had to play with was those insects and cats moving around. And the only journey that the child would have was to go out to the courts and learn the language of the lawyers and the courts and the sections of law, the language of cruelty and violence which was going out between the accused and the perpetrator or the victim. So that is the time when we started within our system, a separate place in the women’s ward which had about forty-fifty children. We started a temporary arrangement and begged and borrowed for starting a play way. So with the play way, we told the mothers that they won’t be allowed to take the children to the courts because the child has to get away from the super adult violent language. So, that’s the beginning. We put them in uniform and for the first time we brought in the concept of a child’s life inside an adult women prison.

In context of the Indian Police System, what reforms do you think are required by the system?

Oh, It has plenty to do. It needs to be upside down. Upside down means a million plus. Constabulary needs to be fully attended to. That’s the main base and foundation of the Indian Police. So the IPS is just about 3000-4000 in a one and a half million people. So on one side you have the leadership of senior cops called the “Top Cops” but the million and a half base needs to be really worked on. Where to begin?

Can a common man help in anyway?

To become law abiding. Because if he/she is law abiding then that much less pressure on the creaking police force.

What about the women police officers? Have they made their place in the police force?

Well they made their presence but no impact yet. They have not been given position to assert. They have actually been denied positions to assert, they have been kept away. So that they don’t make a difference or leave a footprint. The society wants it but the male leadership must want a different footprint. There is a very long way to go.

But what is your message to those thousands of women who are suppressed and physically abused every day in their homes but are scared to raise their voice?

They have to be aware of what they want. They want to continue to be harassed or abused or beaten or victims of harassment. It’s their choice. The law is on their side now. The domestic violence act is on their side. If they read the domestic violence act and stop the violence from day one, it will go a long way in better quality of life. If they can spend hours watching television shows and movies, can’t they spend twenty minutes reading the law and then applying the law when needed. There is free legal aid provision in India.

You are back with your latest television show, “Aap ki kachehri”. Tell us more about it?

Aap ki Kachehri is envisioned to be a movement of social justice, neighbourhood justice. There is nothing between the victim and police and the Police is inadequate in response many times. Or there is nothing between the victim and the overcrowded court. We need something to come in between them – social justice courts. Aap Ki Kachehri is nothing but a social justice court comprising of educated citizens who know the law and who have the character of credibility and justice.

Finally, you have been doing a lot of work. Even after retirement your enthusiasm for work for public service hasn’t gone down. What keeps you going?

I believe in doing. And I do as long as I want to do. I believe in contributing and using all the skills or energy that I have to a larger good. That’s what my policing stood for always. And now from policing to community service and public life, which is neutral, not political, not based on any one faith. Its humanity is a whole; its cause is a whole.

I think it’s a great sense of gratitude for what I have that keeps me going. What I have is to give.

This morning I left home with the thought of reaching Tihar jail as soon as I could. I was very enthusiastic to spend an entire day and observe a day in the lives of women inmates and their children.

To start with, I was stuck in heavy traffic which spoilt my enthusiasm to reach the jail quickly. Long and boring traffic jams are the worst thing to have happened to me in Delhi this time. Anyway, let me not get started on that. I will go on rambling about it!!

I went to the office of India Vision Foundation first, an organisation started by Dr. Kiran Bedi. The office looked quite sober with a team of people, some on phone, some on their computers. I met Mrs Monica Dhawan, the project manager who was supposed to take me to tihar. A very compassionate and caring woman, she was very helpful to me throughout. On way to Tihar, she gave me an overview of the Day care centre project inside the jail. She told me that children upto the age of five are allowed to live with their mothers who are inmates. They are kept in a creche’ in tihar where they are given an atmosphere absolutely different from the prisons. I was quite amazed to hear all this and it was time to actually notice all this in reality.

We entered the jail through a gate which was huge, maybe not as huge as the gates of Buckingham Palace but these looked rough and scary. As the car kept moving towards its destination, my eyes were on the really tall boundary walls and a police control point at the top of every building. There were directions for different central jail numbers. I saw no less than 8-9 jail numbers. No wonder there are more than 10,000 inmates living in Tihar.

The car stopped in front of the Woman Inmates Cell. I was asked to leave all my belongings inside the car. The only things I carried with me was a pen, a writing pad and my ID card. The Woman Inmates cell was fully covered with huge iron doors. Nobody could see from outside what was inside those gates. The project manager knocked at the door. I could almost hear the opening of the lock from inside. A police official allowed us to enter the gates and then locked it after we stepped in. Upon entering, we underwent a normal security check procedure. I didn’t know that carrying money inside the jail is not allowed at all because they fear that it might be given to the inmates who may then use it for wrong means.

Mrs. Dhawan and I walked towards the day care centres. I couldn’t help noticing the lush green gardens inside. I could see many women, who supposedly were inmates, walking around in the garden. Mrs. Dhawan told me that many of them were under trial. She then took me to a room where a lot of women were busy weaving. This was the part of the rehabilitation training which is being given to women inside the prisons. Known as “Women Behind Bars”, this scheme aims to bring back the confidence and self pride within women who are imprisoned. I stood there for a long time just admiring the work done by them. They all had a smile on their face and some of them even wished me saying “Namaste Didi”.

After spending a few minutes in this room, I was escorted into the day care centre. If any of you have visited pre schools like Jingle Bells or Shemrock pride, you can imagine what exactly I am talking about. A step into this building made me feel like living my childhood again. The room was beautifully decorated with posters of cartoon characters on the wall, stuff toys kept all around in the room at different places. There were benches and a white board where Maths, Hindi and English classes are held for children.

Children were all dressed in uniforms, a white and pink check shirt and white shorts for boys or pink shorts for girls. They were absolutely delighted to see us, especially Mrs. Dhawan who seemed to be very pally with the kids. She knew everyone by name and knew about them individually. I took a step to introduce myself to each of them. I shook hands as I asked their names. For them I became “Priya Didi”.

I spent four hours mingling with these children, painting, drawing, playing, listening to their poems and stories and also teaching them. I noticed how small little things made them happy. Just by the mention of the word “films”, I could see a smile on so many faces. One of them immediately said “Hum aapke liye gaana ga ke sunaaye” (Should we sing a song for you?). And it took one nod from me to get them started. They sang, they danced, and they pulled me to join them too.

I felt them to be very well mannered children who would say “thank you” if offered something, “sorry” if they step on you and address you with respect. Was I in a jail? I don’t know how many times I asked myself this. I was amazed at the discipline. Their supervisor, an inmate from Zambia is under trial right now. She is referred to as “Stella Mumma” by the kids and spends almost the whole day with them till 4, after which these children go back to their mothers and are locked inside the cells. Stella mentioned that while some children were more intelligent than others in grasping certain things, others were good at art. There is a lot of emphasis on art in their curriculum.

I asked many children if they knew why they were kept there. One of them said “hum yahan chutti pe aaye hai” (We are here on holidays). Another one mentioned “Mummy ne galat kaam kiya tha isiliye God ne punish kiya”(Mom did something wrong, that’s why God punished her). But I was absolutely shocked to hear about one kid who says “Mere mummy aur chacha ne milkar papa ko chakku bhonka” (My mom along with my uncle killed my father). She wasn’t more than four years old and to hear such things from a four year old kid is very shocking. I am trying to imagine what will she grow up to be. Will this thought ever leave her? Will she be at peace?

A mix of happiness and some disappointments, my visit today was quite successful. At about 4:30, Mrs. Dhawan came to take me back. I was playing musical chairs with the kids. I told them that I had to leave and they all gathered around me. Some held on to my kurta, some held my hands while some literally hugged me. Their small little fingers telling me not to go, the innocence in their eyes and the warmth in their hearts, who could not fall in love with them? I promised them to come back again. And also promised to get them chocolates next time around.

I have been in Delhi for past ten days now and trust me i have been no less than a tourist all this while. Starting from visiting the red fort to jama masjid, a day at Dilli Haat, to shopping for traditional Indian wear, sandals and Jewellery, its been quite a fun filled vacation till now. Oh yes! I watched a couple of movies as well.

But now starts the actual work. The reason for my visit to Delhi – to work on the last leg of my course, i.e, a thesis and a radio documentary. My radio documentary is on “Neglected Children in Delhi”. I am focussing not only on those outside on the streets of Delhi but also the ones who are kept in prisons for no fault of theirs.

Today I am off to Tihar Jail, the largest complex of prisons in South Asia. Inside the Prison, as I have been told, women inmates can be accompanied with their children, if and only if, they are under the age of five.

An organisation called India Vision Foundation, headed by Dr. Kiran Bedi, India’s first and highest ranking woman Police officer. This organisation has established a day care centre within the Tihar prisons where children are taught and nurtured, away from the prison atmosphere. But the question is, aren’t these children aware of their upbringing within the prison? Is there absolutely no influence on them of the atmosphere they are living in?

I am going out today to explore these and many more questions. In the meantime, here is the project that is being run inside Tihar.

Tihar’s day care project