Happy Independence to.. everyone?!!

By now, we would have got the thought of our country’s Independence day.. because its gonna be a holiday for the whole family and its gonna be fun... watching tv, reading articles about our heroes, passing on long lengthy independence day wishes to everyone, saying ‘Jai Hind!!’ etc etc.. gr8!

Even I’m a Proud INDIAN like everyone else. We talk A to Z about.. how our country has improved in the past 61 yrs of independence. We’ ve reached peaks in the IT field.. WOW!!! What an improvement?? I can go on about this.

When I started thinking about the very root of the word ”independence”, I lost track n ended up with the following issue. Lots of things are related to our country’s independence. One among that is we escaped slavery. We all hate to be slaves and after independence we don’t have such issues . Yes , definitely I agree . I’m not a slave to anyone in this world!! I enjoy this n I celebrate my country’s day. So do everyone.

First question I ask myself, do I have enough freedom??
Yes, I do. I can decide about anything. Its just that my parents expect me to inform them about my decisions (well! They‘ve every right for that) Not only myself, my friends too. Their thoughts are also valued.. I’m happy about that. This is just with my friends circle.

Do all the children of my age or younger ones have enough freedom?? Nope!! I know a gal who is working in my neighbour’s house. Small kid she is.. might be 10 yrs old. She is baby sitting my neighbour’s daughter. That’s sad! A child looking after another child? enna koduma sir idu??

Why do people prefer child servants?
Every child is innocent. They won’t say anything even if asked to do hell amount of work. Further, wont talk back when the owners scold them. In my neighbour’s case, that gal does all kinda work. Starting from baby sitting, washing, cleaning, helping my neigh in cooking, any household work? Name it.. she does it. I don’t wanna create an evil picture about my neighbour. They take good care of the gal.

When I enquired about the gal , I came to know the sad story. Her mom died, her dad ran away with another woman, her brother who doesn’t wanna take care of this kid. And no one to take care of her. My mom says. ”Atleast these people save her monthly pay for her future.”
On one hand, that’s right... “Something is better than nothing.”

But thinking about her future..OMG! these ppl are gonna chase her away once their kid reaches 8 or something.. what will she do then? She can’t even read or write... can speak only tamil. She doesn’t even know numbers. She doesn’t even know to count whatever she has earned. How is she going to survive when let out in this world?? Its really gonna be horrible. Leaving this apart now..

My neighbours!! Wow! Very well educated. He is a doctor n his wife works in IT. They wanted a lovely baby, but can’t spend time for their precious baby. Can’t even take care of their small child, but they want a pet dog.
And that poor working kid gotta take care of the dog also. They are not ready to teach even basic letters or numbers to that poor gal. Where has the humane thing gone?? Civilised , smart, talented, rich etc etc.. they are.

I really dunno whom to blame.. I definitely can’t accept it as her fate. Should I blame her very kind bro for not looking after her ? (he is in a position to take care)or the neighbours,for not caring about her future??

She is not exactly a slave!! But she is one!

I know everyone is aware of this kinda child servant stories. Some are worse than this. Educated ones who lecture about freedom n stuff do these kinda inhumane things. Sad!!

I dunno what can be the solution for this. But one request for all the readers. Definitely, you are all gonna earn well n your life partners too. If you can’t take care of your own kid, don’t ever have a kid!!

PS: 10yr old looking after a 2yr old is not an ordinary issue. Do think about this!!

NOTE: This post was written by my friend Tara, 'The twinkling star'

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Now.. My opinion.. though u don't care about what i think.. i will write it.. this is MY blog!!!

Independence day!! I remember getting up early n going to school for flag hoisting.. n after its over they give us this 50 paise chocolates.. or was it 25 paise?! How we used to rush back home not wanting to miss the interview of our favourite hero in some channel! For many.. independence day is all about the special programs on tv..

After school.. we din't even care to buy flags on independence day. How many of us really stand up when the National Anthem is sung? very few indeed..

To awaken the patriot in us, we should go abroad i think. In Tamil Nadu.. u are a chennaite. In India.. u are a tamilian. So when u are outside India.. u BECOME an Indian! I'm not saying that we don't love our country.. but as Simran says in the movie 'pammal k sammandham', 'irukku.. engiyo ulla.. aazhama.. the love is there.' May be we'll show it.. someday..

Now coming to the child labour topic.. ahem.. yeah.. i've also seen such children.. pathetic condition! Something has to be done about this.. but what?! The laws should be made more strict..

But from our side.. what can be done? Adoption!! yeah.. we can adopt orphaned children. But its not that easy.. our family may not support it. The least we can do is sponsor education for the children. After I start earning, I will Sponsor education for atleast one orphaned kid! You can do that too...

'..If you can’t take care of your own kid, don’t ever have a kid!!..'
Me: tra how can u say this?
Tra: hey what i'm saying is one should not make kids look after their kids. May be their parents or someother elders should do it!
Me: hmmm okay.. Agreed!
Thats why i'd told my parents about this long back.. why postpone till the last minute

P.S.: Thanks for the article tra.. atlast got something meaningful to post in my blog!

Happy Independence day to everyone!
JAI HIND!!!