Oh Firoz, poor chap!



Scars on an innocent mind may cause irreparable and irreversible damage for lifetime.  That’s the reason we need to be extra sensitive and sensible with kids. As society and country, are we doing the needful? Problems of child labour and beggars have always been of importance since times immemorial. Unfortunately, they are only growing...

These sound like high-sounding phrases straight out of social research papers or intellectual debates, which hardly yield anything. I swear they are not lifted from anywhere. I’m absolutely not into plagiarism.  I have paraphrased these words and needless to say, they’re clichéd. Even I could feel futility of the sentences while writing them. It doesn’t mean we don’t recognise enormity of the situation but perhaps, we have learnt to live with the fact. Yet some incidents underline the clichéd sentences again and again.
What happened to a 12-year-old boy, a ragpicker named Firoz in Indore, is immensely shocking, to say the least. A constable forced this kid to collect mutilated body of person who had committed suicide on railway tracks. An eyewitness says that he was surprised seeing the child lifting severed limbs and head under the constable’s supervision. And what was the constable’s explanation? No one was ready for the job and he was left with no option!
Obviously, railway police officials had to do a lot of explaining when the incident came to light. Top cops sought apologies, the constable was suspended and a few others shunted. Human Rights Commission also raised objections. None of these measures is going to reverse the damage inflicted on the boy. A daily reported that the kid lost mental balance soon after and started talking incoherently. Physiatrists, treating him, feel the incident, might have done him an irreversible damage. Insensitivity on part of the constable for a few minutes may cost the kid agony for lifetime.
Why this incident alone? Don’t we observe such insensitivity in our day-to-day lives? A few days ago, a crippled child beggar wouldn’t let me go unless I obliged. I moved on but what kept haunting me was his tender age. His wasn’t age to beg nor was Firoz’s to pick rag. They are expected to be in schools learning important lessons. Sadly, a large number of kids aren’t lucky enough to get into the halls of learning.
We have so many laws and policies in place. There is no dearth of thinkers and intellectuals either. However, the reality is disturbing. The problem lies in our attitude. In Firoz’s case, we know the cop mustn’t have asked a child to something others had refused (to do). Police are often accused of being insensitive but this indeed is the limit of insensitivity!
Punishment the erring people got or even sterner action isn’t really the solution. We need to sensitise cops and judiciary, thinkers say. Again a clichéd thought but let’s make sure no Firoz is put through such an ordeal again. Let’s learn to respect life…
- KanChan 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Old Monk in New Bottle

Image
And the mystical monk landed on the shores of the Wiseland, which he had left four decades ago in the pursuit ‘Enlightenment’   A sea of people had come to receive him… what if ‘atheist’ government had issued orders to ban monasteries and forced many ‘monks’ like him to return to their motherland… This mystical monk was sure of the ‘grand reception’ in the Wiseland, his motherland… He had hoisted his sails when the wind was just right… The monk had harbored the thoughts of offering sermons and discourses to the men of Wiseland as he guessed they would be in the need of ‘Wise words from the mystical man’ He had prepared to talk about Life, God, Spirituality, Relationships, Meditation, Laws, Beauty and Death ‘Wait, hear us out before you speak, said the First Citizen of the Wiseland ‘We have heard a lot of discourses. We know Sermon on the Mountain. We have heard of Vedas and yes, also read the ‘Prophet’ by The Kahlil Gibran’…. ‘We are a civilized country. We are litera
Read more

Travel trail

Hushhh… I heaved a sigh of relief when I caught my train at the Nagpur station on way back to Pune. In just two days, I had my hands more than full. As train moved, journey of my thoughts also started. This travel was part of a long journey that had begun… Thanks to the 16-hour travel, I had jolly good time to think. I was glad I didn’t choose to fly to Nagpur. It does save time but train travel does offer relaxing moments. I don’t find train travel exhausting; I feel it refreshes. I often remember words of a political leader who once told me he was happier travelling by train, as on reaching destination, people allowed him to rest thinking the journey must have been tiring. After flight visits, meetings are planned immediately as ‘there’s no question of getting tired.’ “People hardly opt for train travel. Why you?” almost everyone I met asked me this. I knew why I was doing it. I have always loved travelling. As kids, we would often travel to Mumbai from Konkan (where I spend my chil
Read more

Best among the best

A bagful of diamonds! Their radiance is amazing. You don’t know which one to choose, as each is no less bright and beautiful. The right choice is tough. It gets tougher when it’s about choosing best among the best. Of course, not often do we encounter such a situation but when we do, we would be lost. Similarly, it’s a rarity to have our mind full of great thoughts. When it happens, how do we select best among the best? Sometimes, yes only sometimes, everything around appears nice. It is indeed a tough ask to choose nicer among the nicest or prioritise. What do you do? Perhaps, random and blind pick-and-choose helps. Don’t think; just pick up any diamond from the bag. When the mind is overflowing with meaningful thoughts, close your eyes, go blank and hold on to any of them. Trust it and rest assured. There may be many roads leading to the same destination yet we have to choose one. That done, move full throttle backing your instincts and you won’t lose direction. You will reach your
Read more