Amid the bustling Shivajinagar market, outside the St. Mary’s Basilica, there are two loud voices trying to outdo each other … “Rs. 10 for one … Rs. 10 for one”.
Amid scores of vendors selling a variety of accessories, you manage to spot the source of the loud voices: two particularly skinny boys. They are carrying a bunch of safety pins each. Twelve-year-old Dinesh (name changed) is wearing a pair of sports shoes, a bright bracelet and a chain. Eleven-year-old Raghu (name changed), his brother, is “new to the profession” and is yet to pick up the tricks of the trade.
The brothers, from Agaramcheri village of Madhanur taluk in Vellore district of Tamil Nadu, came to the city a fortnight ago. “Our parents told us it is a big city and we can make money fast. While my parents sell anklets in different parts of the city, we sell safety pins. I have gone to different cities such as Chennai and Puducherry over the past year,” said Dinesh. But this is the first time his brother has come to give him company and stopped going to school.
While the two boys are dropped off by their parents early in the morning in crowded localities, their parents choose a different locality. Over the last fortnight, they have slept every day at the railway station.
By noon, Dinesh has finished selling his share and points to the brother’s unsold bunch. “See, he has still not learnt how to sell.”
The real “troublemakers”, they say, are people who come to them and say they have to go to school. “Our parents have told us to run if someone catches us. My parents have taken a loan. Once they finish, they have said they will not bring us to work. But I dropped out of school long ago and I do not want to go back,” says Dinesh. Raghu, in contrast, says all he wants is to go back to school and play with his friends.
Ask the two boys what brings them happiness and Dinesh says, “I am the happiest on days when I finish selling my daily quota of safety pins by afternoon.”
