Last day, as I was strolling through the shopping shelves of one of the premium malls of the city , I bumped into a small girl aged around 12 years. She immediately moved away from me with a reticent facial expression, holding the trolley full of purchased goods. Though her face was simple, I felt somehow her attire did not suit her face. She wore a green frock- like top and also a black pants, which was only knee length. She wore a white sneaker shoes which was not at all matching her dress and which I later noted was slightly bigger than her legs. She also had a blue necklace made of plastic beads , which again never matched with her dress . Her hairstyle was simple, with just a rubber band to hold her hair in place.
Now, you must be wondering how I could observe all this at one go! Well, after my initial bump with her, unknowingly my eyes followed her. (Now, you know one reason why my husband always complains that I take too much time when shopping!) Well, its just that I felt, the girl was someone different. Yes, there was something really different about her.
Later when I was billing my purchases, my eyes searched for her. I found her along with a good looking gentleman, a lady and two other kids -one boy around the age of 4 years and a girl around 10 years. I looked closely at the family. Appears to be a small and happy family, who seems to be abundant also ! All their heavy purchasing showed it. I stretched my eyes to get more closer glimpse of them. Luckily they came to the billing section and stood in a counter next to mine. Taking this as a chance I smiled at the girl, who is the heroine of this story. She tried to smile but suddenly hurried to push her trolley and was placing the items on the billing table. The gentleman and lady was busy controlling their young kid – the boy who was creating the tantrum for a chocolate. This time I noted one more thing- the two kids were fair and was wearing the latest fashioned clothes , while “the girl” was medium coloured and wore a dress which was fashionable but out of size!
The girl in the meantime got the groceries billed and looked at the gentleman and said , “Sir ji , paisa de dijiye”. The gentleman stared at her and said with a stern voice, “Maine bola hai thujse ,bahar aane samay kuch nai bolna ” . He then turned to the salesman and settled the bill. He then told her wife in Malayalam in a hushed voice, “I have told you several times to teach her all this. Otherwise it can become a problem”
“Maam, are you paying by cash or card?”, asked the counter salesman to me .I returned my gaze to my billing process and settled the payment. Moving the trolley I came out of the glass door of the mall. I slowly turned back to see what the girl is doing. She was pushing the trolley out of the glass door towards the lift.
This time, I got many of the answers for my mind’s questions. Why did she wear a green top and a pant which was not her size? – Because those were not hers ! Why did she wear a sneaker shoes along with this dress? –Because she was given only that! Why did the girl handle the trolley ? –Because she has to do it! Why was the girl not as fair as the other two kids? – Because the girl did not belong to that family! Why did the girl never talk anything? –Because she was told not to open her mouth! Why did the girl never smiled at me when I smiled at her? – Because she has forgotten how to smile!
CeeVee ‘s comment : Isn’t it a shame that, in the so called well educated families we find such cases of Child labour? Why do educated people indulge in such crimes? Is there any mechanism to identify such hidden cases of child labour? Can you do something?
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