NEW DELHI: For now, a new shiny bicycle is Gaurav’s most prized possession. It is another fact that the cycle came after his foster father Anil’s death while he was cleaning a sewer line in Dwarka’s Dabri Extension.
“Sometimes, my father used to drop me to school and get a candy on the way,” says the 11-year-old who has tonsured his head. When was Anil alive, he had promised a bicycle to Gaurav.
In a tiny room at Gali No 3, Dabri Extension in West Delhi, Gaurav’s mother Rani is worried more about the reality — on ways to make both ends meet, now that Anil is no more. “I spoke to Anil in the evening on Friday and he told me that he was doing his job. We depended on his income. Now I have been left penniless after his death. There is nobody to look after us,” says Rani, who works as a domestic help.
Worse, the house that Rani and her family lives in, is itself caught in a mess as its landlady has a dispute with one of her brothers-in-law after her husband’s death.
“I feel for the children. The eldest kid (Gaurav) has failed many times in school…With his foster father gone, the emotional support is no more. Although the people have come in support with donations, I am worried about their future,” says Rano, the landlady.
MN Jha, a neighbour, says most of the household chores such as cleaning dishes, sweeping and taking care of the youngest sibling are done by Gaurav.
There seems to be no immediate succour as Rani is locked in a bitter fight with Anil’s parent's overcompensation. Oblivious to it, Gaurav cycles away with his younger sister into the narrow lanes of Dabri.