I cried and cried when I read this article:


Uncertain future for Calcutta children

They live in dingy homes in the streets of Sonagachi in Calcutta. Their mothers are drug addicts and prostitutes. They sell their bodies to feed their habit, leaving the children in a world of their own.

In the daytime, these children play in the vicinity of their makeshift homes and wait for their mothers to return. At night, some of them follow their mothers to work, sleeping on the pavements, while their mothers entertain the clients at home.

It's a sad world punctuated by hope as kind souls from charity services try their best to make life better for these forgotten children.

They are the most unfortunate kids of the world. Circumstances beyond their control have made the streets of Sonagachi their dingy home and unwelcome playground.

Some are forced to tag along with their prostitute mothers as they ply their trade. Others share a rundown wooden house or a small room in a shoplot with their siblings, waiting for their mothers to return home.

Most do not have much to eat and sometimes resort to stealing to feed themselves.

At night, some of these children, who are said to number in the hundreds in Sonagachi alone, sleep on the pavements while their mothers “entertain” clients at home.

Ira is only 10 but plays “mother” to her four brothers, aged between one and seven, and a nine-year-old sister. All have different fathers.

The children live in a ramshackle wooden hut in Sonagachi with the magnificent high rises in the backdrop.

Ira's 26-year-old mother Mary is said to have sold off her youngest child last year, shortly after delivering the baby.

Mary, who is a drug addict, is either at “work” or “high” most of the time.

Meals are hard to come by, but thanks to a charity service organization, Ira and her siblings get simple meals such as a glass of milk and bread.

“I hope to be a dancer or teacher. I would especially like to become a teacher because some of my teachers are very caring and loving towards me,” said Ira, when met at her “home”.

She, however, faces an uncertain future, if things do not change for the better soon.

There is a possibility that circumstances may force her to become a prostitute just like her mother and grandmother.

Ira's sister Ish answered: “Don't know,” when asked about her ambition. This perhaps aptly describes the uncertain future awaiting Ira and the many other street kids in Sonagachi.

Ten-year-old Bala, whose mother Ora is also a prostitute, started school recently.

While other children his age are discovering the wonders of the Digital Age, Bala has just learnt to write his name.

“Before this, when others went to school, I just roamed around here,” he said.

Bala dreams of becoming a policeman because he wants to “catch bad people”. But if he fails at that, he said he would opt to become a motorcycle racer.

When asked about his mother, Bala bowed his head and replied: “She works very hard.”

Ora, 33, said she tries her best to provide for Bala, who is her firstborn. Her two younger children were given away after she gave birth to them.

The world of the Sonagachi kids revolves around the streets where their mothers work. For the children of the prostitutes, numbering in the hundreds, the streets are both a playground and a place to sleep while their mothers entertain clients at home.

“My drug addict boyfriend is a heavy gambler. He forced me into prostitution when I was 20. I even had to entertain men when I was nine months' pregnant to support his habits,” said Ora.

There is fear that some of these children might have contracted HIV during birth. Maria, for instance, did not take any precautions during intercourse.

“In the case of Ora, her son can go to bed when his mother is done with business,” she said.

Here's more information:

http://www.aliciapatterson.org/APF2003/Briski/Briski.html

Shame on the Government, on Society and People of the country who are ultimately responsible for those awful life conditions and occurences that are products of their wicked values and reckless Government system.

But, I must add, it's nothing new for India where cast system has for thousands of years been a norm and where until recently the lowest cast of "untouchables" (shudra's) by LAW were forced to eat the feces of Brahmin, Kshatriya, Vaisya...

why does anyone care about what this illegal dirtbag posts? If he is so concerned about the plight of these children, why doesn't he close his rat-infested restaurant and return to India to help them? Because he is a selfish and irresponsible illegal alien (like all of them)...we are supposed to shed a tear because his country has crazy rules that determine a person's status based solely on their birth, when in reality there are no discernable genetic differences, even between the highest and lowest castes. Of course, the poster's genetic defect is the lack of being a responsible adult.

why did you cry? I was laughing; did i miss something sad???