DNA: Living off the city’s mean streets: July 25, 2008

Can you help me remember how to smile,
Make it somehow all seem worthwhile,
How on earth did I get so jaded,
Life’s mystery seems so faded.
It seems no one can help me now,
I’m in too deep,
There’s no way out,
This time I have really led myself astray

These lyrics from the song Runaway Train by rock band Soul Asylum can probably give us an insight into the minds of India’s street children, many of whom have chosen a life away from home to escape abusive parents, relatives and abject poverty.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, India has the largest population of street children in the world — around 18 million, of whom nearly 2,50,000 live on the streets of Mumbai. Most of these children get by working as porters at bus or railway terminals, as mechanics in auto-repair shops, as vendors, as street tailors or as ragpickers.

“Most children take to streets due to problems at home like poverty, an alcoholic father or an abusive mother, or due to the death of their parents,” says Father Lester Fernandes, Shelter Don Bosco, an NGO which offers free accommodation to street children. The shelter at Wadala follows an open-door policy and children can walk in any time to spend the night there.

Five years ago, it was mostly boys in the age group of eight to nine from states like Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh who used to run away from home, he says. “But now we come across children as young as six, most of whom belong to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.”

While there are many children who run away from home and travel to a big city like Mumbai to earn and support their families, there are those who seek independence and run away to escape boredom.

Says Madhav Chavan, one of the founders of Pratham, an NGO that is working to provide primary education to street children in Mumbai: “The sense of freedom and adventure that a big city like Mumbai offers casts an irresistible spell on children and prompts them to run away,” says Chavan. “These children find ways to earn and start living like adults.” He says such children have a distorted vision of freedom. “This group is very difficult to repatriate.”

Satish Kasbe, project co-ordinator of Pratham, says, “Each child has a unique story to tell and therefore has to be dealt with differently.”

Feroz Ahmed, 10, was brought to Mumbai by his aunt to work at a zari-manufacturing unit and send his earnings to his parents in Balia, Uttar Pradesh. Mujahid ul-Islam, 10, ran away from his home in Darbanga, Bihar, because his alcoholic father used to beat him up regularly. Sailu, 9, simply ran away from home because he wanted to visit a big city. The boys are now with Pratham, where they are being given vocational training and provided for.

“While dealing with children who have ‘run away from home’ but continue to maintain ties with their families, we try to repatriate the child with his family by counselling both the family and the child,” says Kasbe. “Then there are abandoned or orphaned children who have no biological family and look upon the street as their home.”

The fate of a girl is very different from that of a boy on the street. “The average girl arriving in the city will last about 15 minutes before being approached by a person posing as a friendly stranger offering help,” says Valerie Tripp of an NGO Saathi. “More often than not, these friendly strangers are agents who whisk away the unsuspecting girl to a brothel.”

As for the boys, the railway platform is their permanent home. “They start with begging and selling knick-knacks, and when they get no money, they turn to crime,” says Kasbe. “In many cases these children are picked by criminals to run errands.”

Kasbe says these street children have a network of their own. “Most children who have been in the city for 15 days know where they can find free food,” he says. The children form groups and head towards temples or shelters where food is distributed free, he says. They also know that they can find work in places like small hotels and shops.