Making and Mending Childhood!

As I walked into the Press Club Conference Room on the evening of 11^th June, 2015, I didn’t know what to expect. I was promised an insightful evening of talks, poetry and music but I think I got so much more.

One of the great topics of discussion and debate, along with women’s safety of course, is the violence against children. And that’s all it remains- a discussion. I had the wonderful chance of meeting an NGO called Hamara Footpath who have taken this discussion further and are actually working wonders for the street children in Mumbai by educating and empowering them.

The evening began with two artists from the NSPA (Natural Streets for Performing Arts) Mayur and Harsh, a duo that call themselves MH01, delighted everyone, especially the children with their lovely Sufi music and singing. They chose famous songs in order to get the children to sing along and soon had the whole audience humming and clapping along with them. The children of Hamara Footpath clambered forth and recited poems written by Vignesh Smitha. A multi-lingual poem that brings out a child’s view and his yearning for respect called “Half Chapati” was the highlight of the evening.

Taha Jodiawala, a co-founder of the NGO, explained the work that the NGO does. With anecdotes of his own experiences, he expounded on how they have come a long way from just teaching the children the very basic of English, math and soft skills to admitting their children in full-fledged English schools. A couple of child counsellors and psychologists from Rubaroo created awareness about child sexual abuse.

The final part of the evening was a poetry reading by Jane Bhandari who read some of her own works as well as poems from To Catch a Poem: An Anthology for Young People. She read out quirky and funny poems that would specially appeal to the children. This amazing Culture Beat was organized by Menka Shivdasani and Anju Makhija.

It was heart-warming to hear some of the kids yell “Bye, Didi!” as I walked home that night. It's amazing how their hearts are ever open to people in spite of all the hardships they go through. When will we open our hearts to them?