Street Child

“What is the heart of a man ? A tragic organ that , in seeking fulfillment ,destroys itself”- Goethe

I was watching Paul Merton’s travel show on the tele last night. It was pretty late by my standards so I could not watch till the end. I watched the portion on Kolkata and his trip to a project called Apne Aap run by a gutsy lady.Apne aap ( http://www.apneaap.org/) is trying to rehabilitate little girls who are born in red light areas of Kolkata. I know how difficult the task can be . My experience with a similar project at Vivek Chetana ,( http://vivekchetana.org.in/ )an organization run by Krishna Dutta ex- Chief Librarian of Jadavpur University had been quite a revelation . Vivek Chetana runs a project on street child . Most of these girls are born out of wedlock with no knowledge of who their fathers are. One summer day Pinki a beautiful child with striking features was brought to the office of VC by her grandma. She was accompanied by her mother a teenage unwed girl in an advanced stage of pregnancy. It was my offday at work and I happened to be present on that occasion to witness the entire incident.
Pinki was one of the students at the street side school run by VC . Pinki’s grandma wanted her grandchild to have a different life out of this muck. Their daily lives were like hell with women and little girls falling prey to continuous torture and physical abuse. Krishna di was determined to help this woman .After days of pursuit by the ladies of VC, Pinki was finally put into a residential boarding school. VC had to pay a monthly fee which was fine. Immediately after this hoodlums showed up at VC’s office one of them claiming to be Pinki’s father. Her grandma was terrorized daily by goons. Pinki’s new home was kept secret all along. More threats followed but the ladies of VC did not buckle down under any kind of pressure. There was a time when the safety of women workers at VC’s office was at great risk . This was some years back and till date Pinki is growing up safe and secure in her new home. Que sera  sera .........
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