City walk: My experiences

I was asked to write about my experiences of the city walk, but as I sit here to write, I realize that I haven’t come to terms with what I saw as yet. Its very difficult to put in words but I would try none the less.. I had been looking forward to the city walk since the time Damini first mentioned it to me when she told me about this workshop. It sounded really interesting even though initially I had no idea of what it could contain. It started raining cat’s n dogs in the morning when we were supposed to go for the walk, but not once did the thought of not going occur to me. (As Shivani once said, the chance is being given, its up to you to avail it, if u don’t, its just one opportunity lost).I would say it was a very tiring day, not so physically but yes mentally it was very disturbing..

Shekhar led the walk telling us his story, a story of being the son of a Govt. official in a far away district of Bihar. People would come to her talking about her addicted and spoiled son mocked at her for no fault of hers. A guilt of a child to b the reason of his mother's tears, his frustrations eventually led him to run away from his home and he landed in Delhi. Big dreams in small eyes struggling to survive on the streets of the metro, feeding on garbage for months together, got trained to be a thief, but look at the irony of the situation. In reality, it was he who was being robbed of his right to a healthy and happy life. He smoked away his years of perhaps the most beautiful phase of our lives which makes our fondest of memories, a phase called 'childhood' where every child has every right to live a life like a free bird, where there exists no prejudices, no biases against anyone, where innocence rules and unconditional love survives, But its so different for these kids.

Physical abuse... sexual exploitation… poverty... hunger... big words aren’t they?
But do we know wat it means?

Do we realize what it is to sleep with n empty stomach for days together; can we ever understand the plight of these children?

I don’t know... Something scares me... and I don’t want to think about it. Its a reality we choose to overlook as its so displeasing to the eyes and the mind that we all tend to almost believe that it doesn’t even exist in the dream world ewe live in. I don’t feel the same way anymore... I saw it happen… I saw the kids sniff the drugs, eat the leftovers from food packets... I saw it all happen in front of me... aur ankh band karne se sach sirf chup sakta hai... khatam nahi hota.. par ise humein khatam karna hai.. main nahi janti kaise.. par iski hum sab logon ko sath milke kuch larna hoga. aur shuruaat ho chuki hai..

We went to the Salaam Baalak Trust shelter home and I saw the walls painted with the jungle story… yes, the hope is still alive, the work is being done. Small steps are being taken which will eventually make a difference… and I shall take it forward, all of us will… the stormy clouds will give way to a bright sunny morning and one more thing, Shekhar would become a bollywood star. Inshallah. :-)

Written by: Saman Quraishi

Minor Edits: Akif Ahmad