In my hometown, I had gone to a
neighbouring sweets shop after a long time. I found that while other sweets
were handed over to the customers inside the shop, for samosas we were
asked to take from the outside stall. When I went to the stall, I saw that
there was a small boy of about 10 years old packing and handing over samosas.
When I visited the shop the next time, it was the same arrangement. But this
time I noticed that the boy was not only packing and handing over samosas, but
also frying it in a big iron kadhai.
Since samosas are typically consumed
as evening snack, and by evening the weather is already tolerable, it was fine
that day. But when I went there for third time, it was day time and hence
sunny. Even during the daytime, the same boy was making samosas, frying it in
kadhai, packing and giving away to the customers who paid for the same inside
the shop. I was shocked to observe that there was no real roof above stall
since the stall was made outside the shop. The boy was standing in partial
shade and partial sunlight and making samosas whole day. This time, the boy was
appearing weak, perhaps he was not keeping well at that time. His hand was
shaking while picking up hot, fresh out-of-pan samosas.
I felt really bad this time seeing
this child-labour happening in front of me. When I went home, I told my mother
about all this. She gave an instant solution by asking never to buy anything
from that shop again in future. After doing a little ponding if that will
benefit or harm the kid, since such situations are complex in real life, I
concluded that it was a better idea not to buy from that shop. I did not want
to inform the government authorities because child labour cases are rampant all
across our hometown and if I complained about that shop, the boy may just get employment
somewhere else.
I can remember boys of similar age
working at kirana shops, welding shops, painting shops, etc. Even in the 21st century
and amidst so many claims of good governance, this child labour is happening
rampantly. And in most of the cases I can see only boys and not girls working
in such shops. When people talk about “male privilege” etc on social media,
they forget to check real life on the ground. It also reminds me that many
people like us take childhood for granted, believing it is always beautiful for
all of us, without being aware of many such kids who skip whole childhood for a
few rupees. Thanks to human greed which has no limits.
After that incident, I have been to the
sweets shop area and purposely avoided that shop once. I plan to continue doing
the same in future. It may not improve the overall situation in the city, but
at least I can feel a bit better that I am not part of it.
- Rahul
