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Quest
Broken dreams
For the many children born into poverty there seems to be no hope. They work long hours for low wages in inhuman conditions.
Even poor children are children and to fight for the rights of some at the expense of others is unfair. The Act of 1986 says, "A hazardous job is any job that could injure or kill a working child." A match factory could burn a child while a knitwear unit or cotton waste work could choke a child's lungs and could even rob a child's eyesight.
Children less than 12 years old who work in knitwear units have hands as tough as rock. Children in beedi factories are forced to sit on damp floors. Most of them are tired after nearly 12 hours of work in a room lit with blinding fluorescent lamps, but not a single fan. They rarely have the time to laugh, play and sing. They have their share of nightmares more than happy dreams. As children, they too have desires which are never fulfilled. Though they earn more than their parents at times, they never get any money. The father may be sick, a drunkard or even dead. The children live in huts so dark that you would need a torch to move around. The bones and wrinkled skin at a young age tell the story of lifelong suffering clearly and silently. Promises will not help. Nor will laws. Only people like us can work to save them. Childhood is for freedom — not bondage.
Anusha Jyotsna R, VII A
Coimbatore: Sindhi Vidyalaya Matric H.S. School
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