Salute to the spirit of kids

On a chilly Saturday morning, 14th January 2012, four of us from the ISB Class of 2013 met and participated in the ‘CITYWALK’ of the Salaam Baalak Trust.The experience was humbling beyond words.

Salaam Baalak Trust translates to ‘Saluting the Child’.  Started by Ms. Praveen Nair, mother of Ms. Mira Nair, the Trust provides education and an opportunity for street children to identify and realize their dreams.  This reminds me of the opening lines of Coca Cola’s advertisement: “Ummeedon Waali Dhoop, Sunshine Waali Aasha”. 

We were joined by four foreigners in the ‘CITYWALK’ with Tariq Aziz, a tour-guide from among the street children raised by the Trust. Tariq, like the other children being helped by the trust, ran away from his home after atrocities of his father.He has a touching life story himself which i will post in the next blog. 

Tariq explained us the program. In the Walk, we were to visit a contact center (day-care center for the street children) and shelter home (permanent home for the street children) run by the Trust.  Tariq volunteers as a tour-guide to improve his spoken English and communication skills.  He told us that boys tend to run away from families due to physical abuse, a fascination for the glittering city life, and a desire to become a lead actor in Bollywood.  Girls tend to run away due to sexual abuse, dowry, and child marriage.When they arrive in cities, they have no place to live. Police harasses them as living on street is illegal. The easiest occupation for them is rag picking. And they need to spent whatever money they earn on the same day. As they don't have a safe place to keep the money, not to talk of Bank Account. The money that they earn is spent mostly in watching movies, gambling, sex and entertainment.

At the entrance to the contact center, located in a few rooms on the first floor of the General Reserve Police or G.R.P CENTER in the New Delhi Railway Station, we were greeted by children playing carroms.  Inside, there was a TV room and an administrative room.  A staff member was completing the necessary paper work to induct a new child at the contact center.  A contact center is a location, where a child is introduced to the trust and provided counseling and medical facilities.

Our next visit was to the Shelter, located in a narrow alley, around Connaught Place.  For a minute, it seemed like we were in a small town and not in New Delhi, where only wide roads and the metro is what one is used to seeing.  At the Shelter, we encouraged the students to recite poems, sing Bollywood numbers, dance, and do standup comedy.  The shelter is where the child stays permanently and provided with food, education, career counseling, and medical help.  Annual trips are also organized to places such as India Gate and Taj Mahal.

We hope that all Street children, who are begging and lost on the street, can be adopted by organizations like Salaam Baalak, for the dangerous street is most certainly not the place for them.

The trust is doing a great work.Please visit http://www.salaambaalaktrust.com/ to know more

(  Gokul Thirumalai and Aashish Agarwal)