It was around this time, last year, that the remains of the children missing from Nithari, were dug out from the drains around D-5, the house belonging to Moninder Singh Pandher. And all the world seemed to have descended on to the roads around the notorious dwelling, in the first two months of the discovery of the skeletons . The media channels had their vehicles parked permanently there. The journalists literally thronged the area with their microphones and cameras, alert and anxious for soundbytes. In the newspapers and on television , there was news , news and more news.

         The politicians did their bit too , expressing shock and letting fly accusations and counter accusations about law and order problems and of course the infamous quote from a certain Minister, “Aise ghatna tho hote rehte hain”. Promises and proclamations were made too, about improvement in the conditions, that had contributed to the dastardly acts going unnoticed, for so long.

       Nithari used to be a village. The  original residents  owned land and cattle which constituted their means of livelihood. These families then started building small rooms which they gave out on rent, to families who had migrated from Bihar, West Bengal and villages of Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, in search of work till gradually, the village was converted into a sprawling basti, teeming with migrant labourers and their families.

      Early morning, each day, the men of the migrant families, leave the house with their rikshaws, or with their small vending carts or go off to work as casual labourers in the nearby factories. The women , most of them, who work as maids, also leav,e to do their rounds of cleaning vessels, sweeping and mopping and washing clothes in the more affluent neighbourhoods. Almost always, the girl children who are nine or ten also accompany their mothers to assist them . They hardly ever have any days off from work,  for those of us who can afford to engage maids to do our tedious jobs for us , do not allow them such indulgences. 

       At home, in the shanties , where they live, the younger children are left to their own, a five or six year old looking after the other siblings younger to her.  They loiter around in the lanes, quite often rummaging through dustbins to salvage anything that can be sold off to the local kabadiwala for money for churan  or for ghutka in the case of the little boys.. The first meal of the day is most often only when the mother comes back around noon time, after which, the parents go out again for their afternoon rounds. Since they are not at home during the major part of the day, the absence of a child is noticed only when dusk has settled and the children are missing from the homes.

     The rent that these families pay for the small room that they live in, ranges from Rs 700-1000/p.m. The men who pull rikshaws earn around Rs. 120 -200 per day, the women around Rs. 3000/p.m. If it was just the food and the rent , they would be able to barely make do.  But alchoholism is rampant among the menfolk and most of what they earn is so thrown away. It is left to the women to do the major part of feeding and bringing up the children. And a major illness, which again is quite often, largely due to the unhygienic conditions that they live in, quite upsets their financial conditions. They are forced to borrow money from money lenders to pay for the expenses of hospitalization and medicines and for months and sometimes years afterwards , they go on paying just the interest, which is as high as 10% per month. Default in payment results in the interest being added to the principle. A very large percentage of the migrant families living in Nithari are caught in this debt trap.

     A year has gone by and nothing has changed in the above scenario. There is not even an aanganwadi, where at least some of the little ones , could be taken care of for a few hours, till the parents came back from work.

       Saksham is  an informal school run by a group of citizens, who got together and formed a trust, for helping towards the education of the children of the migrant labourers in Nithari. A few months before Nithari became notorious, the older children in this school in the age group of 12- 14 were asked to write a composition. The subject was, “What would you do if given the power to change the world  you live in?”

          The following is what some of the children had to say (unedited)

Mukesh

“Agar koyi mujhse aakar bole, ki tum sansaar ko sudhaar sakte ho, mein kahoonga, hamein  bachpan se hi sikhaya jaata hai ki, ghar mein koyi cheez aaye tho milbaantkar khani chahiye; aur kayi bachche aise hote hai, ki cheez ghar mein aaye tho, akele hi khaana chahte hain. Par mein chahta hoon ki voh  aisa  na kare ; apne chote bhaiyiyon aur behnon ko bhi de.

     Bachche school mein jaate hai, madam ki saamne sab shareef bante hain. Par voh bachche bhi bade shaitaan hote hain.   In bachchon mein aise bahut hi kam bachche hain,  jo madam ki baat maante hain. Vohi bachche bade hokar hamare desh ka naam roshan karte hain. Jo bachche madam ki baat nahi maante, voh bachche bade hokar chor daku kehlati hain. Isliye hame aisa nahi karna chahiye.

   Aap apne aas pados dekhte hain, ki jab kisike ghar mein paani nahi aata, tho voh baahar paani bharne jaate hain. Tho, baahar ke log dhaante hain ki kya tumhara ghar mein paani nahi aaraha hain kya? Tho mein yeh kahna chahta hoon ki unhe aise nahi kahna chahiye aur unhe pyaar se rehna chahiye. Aap log jab sadak par chalte  hain, tho agar aap aage ho, aur peeche se thoda dhakka lagjaata hain tho voh aadmi use daanthe hain. Inhe aisa nahi karna chahiye. Bas, main itna hi chahta hoon ki humsab log aapas mein pyaar se rahna chahiye. Mein aisa sansaar chahta hoon.”

Waseem

“Agar mujhe duniya badalne ka ek mauka mile, tho pehle mein brashtaachaaron ko mithayoonga aur jitney bhi garib mazdoor hain jiske paas rehne ke liye ghar nahi hain pehne ke liye kapade nahi hai ,unko mein rehne ke liye ghar doonga, pehneke liye kapde doonga. Aur jitney duniya mein, anpad- ganwaar bachche hain,  unhe padalikhakar bada aadmi banayoonga. Aur mein apne gaon mein ek school kholoonga, jisme bahut bachche padenge. Aur jitney bachche hain unhe achche raah par chalayoonga, aur sabko miljulkar rahen sikhayoonga. Bharat aur Pakistan ko bhi milaane ka koshish karoonga. Yahi hamari beenti hai ki aap sab log miljulkar rahe . Jab tak mein zinda rahoonga, duniya ko ladayi jhagde se rokoonga. Jai Hind.

Ankit

“Hamen  pyaar se rehna chahiye aur mil baantkar khana chahiye. Pyaar hi ek aisa cheez hain jo duniya ko badal sakta hain. Mein chahta hoon ki har jagah par paadhshaala kholoon, aur jahaan aspathhal na ho, vahaan aspathaal kholoon; jahaaan bijli na ho vahaan bijli lagayoon, jahan safai na ho vahaan safai karvaoon. Mein chahta hoon ki aisa koyi kaam na ho jisse hamare desh ko nuksaan ho; jahaan jahaan paani nahi hain, vahaan kuan khulvana chahiye aur har jagah par ped paudha lagayoonga.

Sachin

Agar mujhe duniya badalne ki shakti miljaye  to sabse pehle mein duniya bhar mein tatha gaon mein paanch school kholoonga, thaaki garib tatha anpad log bina paise ke shiksha doonga tatha jo garib tatha berozgar log hain unke liye factory tatha mill kholdoonga thaki voh paise se apne parivaar ka peth bhar sake;tatha duniya bhar brashtaachaar ki bhavna ko badlkar ekta ki bhavna la doonga. Sabi deshon mein chal rahi ladayiyon ko badalkar mein prem ki bhavna ladoonga. Duniya bhar se amiri aur garibi ka farq hatadoonga. Bharat mein chal rahi pani ki samasya ka hal karoonga aur jagah jagah nal, tanki aur kuen ka nirmaan karoonga. Duniya bhar se bhed-bhav ka bhoot uthaarkar mein ek saath rehne ki prerna doonga.Mein garib vyaktiyon ke samasyaon ka hal karoonga.Jab unhe kahin jaane hote hain to unke paas itne paise nahi hote to voh vahaan nahi jaa paate. Isliye mein unke liye mein bina paise ki bus tatha train tatha taxiyon chalvayoonga .garib vyaktiyon ko bhi itni shiksha milegi jitnni amir vyaktiyon ko.mein duniya mein aisea vyavastha rakhoonga jisse garibon ko bhi insaaf mile.

     Anth mein bas itna kahoonga ki duniya mein job hi achcha kaarya ho skata hain mein usse purn imaandari se karoonga

Pinky Kumari

Agar humein ek din mein duniya badalne ka mauka mile tho hum pyaar, sahaanubhooti, ekta, bhaichara aur shanti mein badalne ki koshish karoongi. Aur yeh sab karne ke baad yeh jitney paap karm ho rahe hain, inhe karnewale ko pakadvakar jail bhejoongi, jaise dushkarm, chedna, ashleel harkatein karnewale . Chori karnewale par rok  lagayoongi, kyonki chori karne wale logon mein se kuch aise bhi hain, jo chori sirf majbhoori aur peth ke liye karte hain. Aur aise bhi kuch ma-baap hain, jo peth ke khatir apne bachchon ko bech dete hain. Jaise apne bachpan mein vivah kar dena aur unko bech dena. Par  voh karte kisliye hain? Bas, peth ke liye. Kyonki unko paalne ke liye unke paas do paise nahi hote. Khane ke liye roti bhi nahi hoti. Voh apne bachche ko kya khilayenge?. Voh garib hain aur besahaara bhi. Mein unki madad zaroor karna chahoongi. Mein pradooshan bhagaane ka karya karoongi. Ped lagayoongi, traffic niyamon ka paalan karne ko kahoongi. Aur garibon ki sahayta karoongi. Apne sachche mann se kah rahi hoon. Yeh sab kaam mein zaroor karoongi.

     Mein policewalon par rok lagayoongi, jo garibon ki ek baat nahi maante hain. Maante hain tho sirf amiron ki jo ek phone ghumate hi, aur dhum hilate chale jaate hain. Mein aise police walon ko suspend karoongi. Agar koyi garib apni pareshaaniyan kahe tho who chaanbeen kare. Mein unhe himmat dilana chahoongi ki jo bhi pareshaniyan aaye voh police ko bataayen aur police unki chchanbeen karen. Mein un logon par sakt se sakt karyavahi karoongi jo hum jaise logon ko pareshaan karte hain, hum se paise le lete hain, magar bijli paani ke  dikkatein hum par chod dete hain. Mein unse kahoongi ki humein pareshaan karke tumhe kya milta hain? Aur agar pyaar se na samjhe, tho,  jail mein daaloongi.

    Mein yahaan, bas aise sugandh phailana chahti hoon, joh bas pyaar ki khusboo phailaaye aur kisi ko dukh hain tho, hum jaakar uske dukh baante ; auron ke sukh mein khud bhi khush rahein. Mein bhagwan ke mandir mein jaakar bas do wakt ki roti aur voh bhi izzat ki . Aur sab khush rahein . Saari duniya pyaar ke rang mein rang jaaye. Bas yahi maangti hoon”

      For the New year , I think I will just add my voice to Pinky’s prayer.