Representative Pic – Source – Net
Gudiya is barely 10. At an age when books should be her priority and friends her partners in fun and games, she is busy selling flags on the streets of Lucknow.
Sporting an unkempt look, uncombed hair, dusty clothes and a look that fills you with pity, while the nation gears up for I Day, she has just one thing on her mind.
Heaped with a number of flags and I Day curio she will have to sell all so that the family is able to get one square meal in the night. The idea for her parents, infact for most like her is earn or else forget about food.
Some are even beaten up and forced into this business. Many of these tiny tots are in an age when they are still not aware of the reasons we celebrate this day. Their parents struggling to fight life’s battles have not narrated the stories of triumph and valour of their forefathers.
Gudiya carries about ten flags, pinup badges and some other decorative items for celebrating India’s Independence Day. Depending on the make the flags cost anything between 10 to 20 bucks.
At 10 in the night she is still out there trying to convince a prospective customer to buy one of the many things she has to offer.
Gudiya, is one of the many children who are pushed into this trade where they are supposed to brave rain, hail and storm to earn bread and butter for the family. Many of the girls of Gudiya’s age are selling the Indian national flag at traffic signals even as we speak.
During Republic Day and I Day the tricolour replaces USB and AUX cables that are usually on sale on the streets. Even the flowers, colourful balloons and snacks take a backseat.
Many of these girls have been introduced to the business because the family has been in the business for decades.
Much like Gudiya, even Lali and Kali are two teenaged girls from Ajmer. They stand at the intersection watching over their baby brother selling flags. At night, a nearby flyover provides shelter for sound sleep.
While the flags are selling like hotcakes, ask them the day’s relevance and they give a blank face.
Deprived from education, the only thing that these girls know is that it is a holiday, and people buy these flags and place them on dashboards or wear it on their dresses. Caught in the tight grip of poverty many young kids out there still cannot afford a free life.
Tragic though it may seem despite the hardships and productive labour what these children and their families do does not always reap rich dividends.
For example a family investing around Rs 700 to Rs 800, in five days, manages to earn only Rs 400.
As we see massive online tweeting and commentaries speaking of the new and prosperous India, it is these young and impressionable minds who will have to be given the required freedom to live life well with dignity. We will have to make sure that we do not just limit ourselves to hollow Beti Bachao Beti Padhao slogans and hashtags.
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