“Neglected children”

A green eyed cute six year old boy in a muddy blue shirt and black pants said “Baji theli le lu sirf 15 luppe ka hai”. I was very shocked when I saw this little boy.

Jumma bazar, sadar or tariq road would not be the same without the little vendors, with their trays of wares slung from their necks, some children sell shopping bags. They are as much a part of Karachi as its land marks.

These hawkers are usually from the age of six to fourteen the age when boys can still be called “sweet”, (how they hate that word), when you like to talk to them and buy from them just so that you can listen to an often repeated tale. They all tell you they are studying and work to pay their school fees.

A boy name Ahmed said “Iam studying in class III and I could pay my school fees by myself, my father does not go to work and live at home all

"The hard time stories of starving self and a starving family, the boy vendors leave to the despised beggar boys to tell, they never associate with them."

the time, I have 3 brothers and 4 sisters, my all brothers sell different things on every Friday”.

Sami khan an 8 years old boy said, I’m not in school “Mujhey pharney likhney ka bauhat shauq hai, Aur agar mein school gaya roti kahan se aai gi.

One says, “Oh yes”, I passed, I came second” in my class.

These children certainly look bright and if they are not in school, they should be, it is our society’s fault that they are where they are.

You prefer to hear their tales over the wails and cries of elder aged and healthy baggers.

The hard time stories of starving self and a starving family, the boy vendors leave to the despised beggar boys to tell, they never associate with them or to their older, less wise vendors. Their story is more plausible and a hopeful sign of the times.

Yeh, band le lein Baji, bauhat sasti hain yeh. It’s wonderful the way the size you up.

They will start with, bands, earrings and hairpins‘! If you have long hair they had up a card of long pins”.

Then of course they display elastics, bands, buttons, Ribbons, combs-un-breakable one and may be a keychain the child has long been wanting because his friend has just such a one, probably the friend’s mother was inveigled into a similar bargain. When you say you really want nothing, but don’t sound grumpy or crotchety, they take one more chance prices are brought down still unmoved! Well, what do you say to make an offer??

Wide, questioning eyes look at you. What you can do but make one and you are almost as good as caught. Somehow from somewhere, one or two of his have appeared.

They look on with interest and are glad for their friend when bargain is stuck; there is an intimacy among them which is heartwarming. You have no change----

 Your vendor hasn’t any change! As you do not have anytime either, and any way you never really wanted those clothe pins, you say “sorry next time may be!”

Hey you? Have some pins. “Hook? Clips? Button? Earring? Very cheap: best quality” He has already spotted another customer and is off. 

Sometime a group of three or four rest for two or three minutes between tramps up and down the lanes of bazaar. They laugh and joke; you hear a whistle or a snatch of a film song, you wonder.

Is it the school fees you’ve helped him to pay for a cinema ticket? Whatever it is, he has “earned” it.

Remedial measure should be taken by the government and the local authority. UNICEF is helping in the behalf but the local authority and the concerned department are not coordinating with the UNICEF.

In the end I want to say that we should not regret or make fun of such children because they have some responsibilities they work hard to earn money to educate and give a peaceful life to their family. So we have to encourage and support all these children because they are waiting for our help…...