experienza

Tuesday, October 27th’ 2009, It was past three in the evening and I had a task in hand of interviewing people, asking them about their first pay day. It was part of a Child labour campaign initiated by CRY with an interesting concept to spread awareness that employing child labour is illegal and unjust. Swinging my old handy camcorder on my shoulder, I set out on the streets of Andheri with a lot of hope of getting some great interviews. Although I had planned on interviewing some children, I changed my mind as soon as I came across a middle aged man who was a cycle repair person. His hands were black with grease and the frown on his face made it clear that it had not been a great day for him. “Saamdhaari” he said, when I asked him his name. From the rest of the interaction, all I was able to deduce was that he had been working for over 10 years, that he didn’t remember when he earned his first income, that he works himself and that he has never employed a child to work for him in his life. Something told me that he was not comfortable in answering my questions, so I decided not to trouble him further. I thanked him and moved on.
Next, I came across Mr. Mohammed Iliyasi, a tailor by profession who worked upon a piece of cloth with extraordinary ease. It was evident that he specialized in what he did, which he later confirmed by saying that he had started working at the age of 14. Mr. Iliyasi had dropped out of school in order to make a living and received Rs. 90 on his first pay day. Today, he feels that children should go to school and not work and that it is wrong to employ child labour.
I got the opportunity of interacting with a young boy as I was passing through a barber shop, not very far from Mr. Iliyasi’s tailoring workshop. He sat there, waiting for customers who either wanted a hair cut or a shave. 19 year old Sham-I-ullah worked with his brother for the past 7-8 years. Neither his brother nor did he ever go to school. They came to Mumbai from a small village in Lucknow to earn a livelihood. As he spoke, he smiled, a little out of embarrassment and a little out of the excitement of being in front of the camera. He did not receive any money but his brother provided him with his daily share of food and other basic necessities. Today, Sham-I-ullah wishes to go to school but he can’t stop working either.
After I left the barber shop, I came across a few people whom I wished to interview but they were reluctant. One of them even agreed to answer my questions but panicked when he saw the camera. It was getting dark, and so after trying a few places without any luck at all, I decided to call it a day. I headed back home thinking about the people I met that day, their lives, their childhood and how different it was from mine.