Sunita

(This is an old post that I had posted somewhere else on 3/8/07. Shifting it here since I am closing that one.)

Today I planned to take some food with me and so carried some bananas. As I was taking the bag out of the dicky, she looked at me. She realized that I had something to give them and so she kept looking at me. I called her. With her came another girl.

As they came to me, I opened the bag and gave both of them a banana. The other girl asked me to give two more as she also had a brother and a sister who were at home. I told her that the banana was for her and she should eat it. The other girl was quiet and was listening to what I was saying. I went on to distribute the bananas to other people.

While I was returning, I saw the quiet girl next to her mother. Her mother had a half eaten banana in her hand and was already chewing something. It must have been only around 30 to 40 seconds by the time I came back. So the chance that the girl had the opportunity to eat the banana was very less. I knew that this would be happening with most of the kids. They were just being employed by their parents. I was a bit frustrated as I could not get the child eat the food.

While I was returning back, the girl came and stood in front of me. I could not stop myself and so just ended up asking her why didn’t she eat the banana. She gave me a smile which made me even angrier at her mother. I told her that I knew she had given it to her mother. I asked her why she didn’t eat it and why she gave it to her mother. She had no answer. She just had no answer. But, she had a very pretty smile on her face. I asked her her name and she replied, “Sunita”. I asked her where she lived and who all were there in her family. She had two sisters, one of them had got married and had a child, and they lived near the river bank. Her father was no more alive and she had also lost one sister. When asked about her mother and what she did, she said that she begs. I knew it wasn’t her mother who really begged. It was her children whom she made to beg.

I asked her what she did through out the day. Unlike our society kids, who will have a stylish answer to such a question, she didn’t know how to answer it and so kept smiling. I asked her if she went to school. She said that she didn’t go to school but her sister’s kid went to school. I asked her if she knew how to count. She didn’t! She had such a lovely smile on her face that I just could not stop myself from talking to her. I told her that next time when I go there with banana, I will see to it that she eats the banana. She didn’t even say yes to that but instead, just kept smiling. I knew what it meant. I waved my hand and said bye to her.

I realized that the only thing that these kids need is some affection. The atmosphere they grow in is too noisier to have space for care and warmth. I wish to intrude this space of theirs with a hope to make them smile for whatever little time I can!