CHENNAI:For most students, passing the class 12 state board exams is the first step towards pursuing a dream career. But for students like Vallarasu Pandian, a former child labourer and Habib, a runaway child, whose lives have been a struggle and nothing short of a nightmare, passing the exam despite all odds is a dream come true. The children, who were rescued by Karunalaya, an NGO, tell us their tale of rising from the ashes.
Vallarasu was just eight when he dropped out of school and decided to work to support his family. “My father, a fisherman, was the sole breadwinner of the house. But, alcoholism and giving the family only a part of the money he earned became an issue. He used to spend the rest on alcohol and unnecessary items. After a point, he stopped going to work and that’s when I had to step in,” says the timid 16-year-old, a resident of Singaravel Nagar, Kasimedu. He dropped out of class 4 and took to knitting fish nets.
A few months later, rescue officers from Karunalaya spotted Vallarasu and changed his life for the better. “The officers took me home and spoke to my parents. They explained that child labour was against the law and that I needed to be educated. They put me in school and I can’t thank them enough,” smiles Vallarasu who scored 512/1,200.
His parents had initially disapproved his decision though later warmed up to it. “We are a very poor family — living in a small house, a mother who works as a maid, an unemployed father, and brother. Education was only secondary to them and they wanted me to earn. But, I wanted to study and I did. I am good in Economics,”he shares.
Ask him what he aspires to become and he smiles bleakly. “I love to dance. I love watching actor/dancer Lawrence perform and I even practice at home. I am good in arts too but, all I want to do is finish my degree and work in an IT company. That’s the only way I can earn enough to provide a decent life to my family. Aspirations can’t be taken seriously now and I haven’t thought about it either,” he adds, and Habib gives an empathetic nod.
We turn to him, he exhales, and narrates his story. “I hated when I wasn’t allowed to go outside my house. My father used to lock me up, so that I don’t leave,” says Habib who scored 735/1,200. He was five when he ran away from his home in Thane and reached the railway platform in Chennai. “I was distraught by the way he treated me and wanted to see the outside world. Along with two boys who were elder to me, I got into a train. We took several trains, begged, and sometimes even ate food from dustbins to survive. Finally, we reached the Chennai Central platform and that’s when the Karunalaya rescue officers spotted us,” he recalls.
Once he landed in the boys shelter home, Habib says he remembers being confused and scared. “I was just five years old. I didn’t realise what I had done was life altering. I knew only Hindi back then and I didn’t understand where I was. I thought I had come to a foreign country,” he says. About six months later, he came to terms with what had happened. “I lost the interest to go back home, I felt comfortable here and eventually became a Tamil ‘paiyyan’ and forgot that I was a Hindi ‘kaaran’,” he shares.
But, the NGO found his home in 2007 and took him back. “My father had passed away. My mother had remarried and my sister had eloped and married. Though I was happy to see my mother, I didn’t feel comfortable with my stepfather. Besides, they were already struggling to take care of themselves with the little money they earned. I didn’t want to be a burden and returned back to the shelter,” he says, and looks away.
He talks to his mother once in a while but, language has become a barrier. “She doesn’t understand Tamil and my Hindi is not great. So, our conversations are short. She was happy when I told her that I had passed class 12,” beams Habib, a local football hero, who even represented India in the 2014 ‘Street Child World Cup’ in Rio, Brazil. “I was interested in the game and I was formally trained by the NGO. I have started to make the best out of the opportunities that I get,” he says, as we walk to the ground.
Habib loves Lionel Messi and aspires to become a football coach one day. He shows us some freestyle football tricks and adds, “The pay might not be great but, I want to coach a team. I also want to buy a house in Chennai. My future will be different,” he adds.