One Small Step..

 It seemed like any other day. I had returned from the office after "hard work" with Python, at least my boss thinks so. I was just wondering what to do next and there was a knock on the door. Who is it? Who would come to visit me in this lonely place? May be it is Sam, my only friend here. Excited, I opened the door and found a 10 yr. old boy standing with a tiffin box in his hand.

 He said, "Saab, apka tiffin". I almost laughed at Saab. I let him in and decided to have a little chat with him. He told me his name was Shankar. He belonged to a small village in Haryana. His father sent him and his brother to Delhi to work and earn whatever they could. I asked him about school. He looked down and told me he used to go to his village school and liked it very much. I knew that I had just had a conversation after which you wish that you shouldn't have had it.

I asked him to leave. He said he'll return in an hour for the tiffin. He left my room but certainly not my mind. I sat there thinking why this 10 yr. old has to work whereas I used to go to school at his age. I hated school but was made to go there daily and this boy loves it but is made to work. I read in civics that there is a law which bans employment of children under 14. But is this one too meant to be broken?

 I wondered who should take up the cause of such children. Should I do it? I certainly earn more than I need. I can comfortably put aside a small sum for this. But what will happen to the IPod for which I've been saving for months? How will I buy my Enticer for which I have longed since childhood? How will I make my own Farmhouse like the one shown in Yash Chopra flicks? No, I can't do it. I have just started my career and I can't be thinking of all this. But then who exactly should do this?

 Ggrr grrrrrr grrrr grrrrr....It’s that drilling machine again. In the neighborhood, a pot bellied marwari is expanding his house. He sits all day in his chair smoking beedi and yelling at the laborers. He seems very rich to me. Why doesn't he help Shankar? Why is he building another storey when he already has two? He can make a school instead. 

 But then what will the government do? If it can't enforce its own laws what's the use? In States you dial 911 and it’s done. Do we have such a number? I sat in my room very confused and disturbed. Suddenly there was a knock on the door. Is it the mota marwari? Was I loud? Did he dial 911?

 I opened the door again and found Shankar again. He had come to take the tiffin back. I saw some chocolates on my desk. I gave them to him. He smiled and said, "Thank you, Saab".  This was it. That smile took away all my anguish. I happily went to bed humming,

                        Kisi ki muskuraahaton pe ho nisaar,
                        Kisi ka dard mil sake to le udhaar,
                        Kisi ke vaaste ho tere dil mein pyaar,
                       Jeena isi ka naam hai...

Neil Armstrong said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."

He was right.