Street Children

Marker mustached street child and entertainer

Seeing begging street children is one of the realities of living in India.  Before moving here, I wondered what I would do and how I would feel when a 7 year old child, holding a 2 year old baby, walked up to me begging for money.

For some reason, the begging children gravitate towards me (Tim).  The most intense experience happened a few weeks ago when Karen and I were leaving a mela, which is a really neat craft/music/gift bazaar.  Outside the main gate, there was a young boy casually talking with a man who looked  to be 45 yrs old.   I saw the boy before he saw me and I knew, damn!, it's about to go down. When Karen and I reached the gate, the boy, who looked to be about 10 years old, noticed us and hopped towards me at a startling pace. His hop was due to the fact that half of his left leg was missing. He latched onto my arm and made his way down to my hand, grasping my right pointer finger and pinkie. I stopped to comprehend this situation and the strength of his wrestler-like grip. He motioned with his eyes for me to look at his gnarled leg that ended just below his knee.  Pleading "please, please, sir," he put one of his hands to his mouth expressing his great hunger. After the initial shock wore off, I realized I had to keep moving or else I'd be there all day holding hands with this young boy. People around me tried to "shew" him away in their native language, Hindi, but that didn't help.  His dirt drenched hands tightened around my fingers even more.

UNICEF conservatively estimates that there are 11 million street children in India. If you haven't seen the movie Slumdog Millionaire, it is great!  It's an interesting and entertaining movie that gives you a glimpse of what goes on in the the lives of many street kids in India. I won't go in to much detail, but it shows that many children are lured into bonded work that they are unable to escape from due to unscrupulous and cruel proprietors/owners/"uncles". Some of these "uncles" maim the kids just so people would pity them more and, therefore, give more money. Due to this fact, I cannot give any begging child money.

Back to the story outside the mela. Most likely, the man who was talking with the boy earlier was one of those "uncles". Karen said the man watched the boy latch on to me with a keen eye.   Eventually, I had to, with a lot of guilt, pry the boy's fingers from my own.  I repeated this 4 times while quickly shuffling my feet over to an auto rickshaw that was near.  Karen and I jumped in to escape that situation.

There is a tour in New Delhi given by former street children.  It is coordinated by the Salaam Baalak Trust, an organization that helps get kids off the streets.  The tour starts at the railway station and goes throughout Delhi.  Many of Karen's co-workers recommend it.  It's organizations like this that I keep in mind when a child walks up to me begging.  I feel money can be better utilized by these organizations than by the "uncle".  To slightly diminish the guilt factor, Karen and I are going to start taking granola bars or some kind of food with us.  Interestingly though, we've had a few conversations with locals and expats who carry food and they've expressed that most kids don't want the food!  That's when you know there's some racket operation using these kids.

All this being said, don't get the impression that all the children here are sad and begging!  This past weekend, Karen and I made a wrong turn and faced the beginning a long residential dirt road near a tourist spot called Hauz Kauz Village.  People were everywhere.  They were eating, cleaning clothes, preparing food, sanding furniture, playing cards, etc.  Amongst the throng of people were about 40 shoeless kids playing along the street.  I was petrified looking at what was ahead of us!  The only interactions I've had with children since moving here involved sad faces and begging.  Impressively, Karen led the way and this terrifying walk down this random dirt road turned into the most exciting experience I've had since being in India.  The kids waved and smiled at us saying "Hi, Hi, Hi."  They were some of the happiest kids I'd ever seen and they definitely made us feel very welcome in their neighborhood!

If you are wondering who the young boy pictured at the beginning of this post is, he stars in a short video of a recent auto rickshaw ride near our neighborhood.  I taped it on my phone to show the auto rickshaw experience and ended up getting a performing street child with a marker mustache!