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Budding Talent, Pankaj, Delhi
14 year old Pankaj belongs to Sharsa district of Bihar
where his family i.e. his parents, three brothers and one sister live.
His father works as a mason even though he has two kathas of
cultivable land. Pankaj came to Chennai with his uncle to learn the
art of applying mehendi (henna) and make a living. For around four
months, he worked with him but soon left as he did not like the place,
didn’t understand the language nor did his uncle pay him anything. In
June 2005, without informing his uncle, he went to the station to
catch a train to Patna. As he was unable to get the train on the same
day, Pankaj had to wait at the station for the whole night. While
waiting, a policeman picked him up and made him clean the station. He
eventually ran from there and boarded a train to Delhi.
After wandering for some time on the streets of Delhi, Pankaj reached
Fatehpuri area. In days to come he met and made few friends and even
joined one of them to work in a restaurant in Bagdiwar. After having
worked there for 20 days, he got to know his employer and his way of
thinking, Pankaj soon realized that he would not be paid and thus left
his job. Eventually, he started working as a ragpicker to make a
living. While working in the restaurant, Pankaj used to visit the
toilet complex of Fatehpuri Night Shelter. There he saw one hall where
only children were staying (being managed by Butterflies), and saw
children having milk and bananas for breakfast. He also learnt that
the children studied in the shelter and also participated in various
programmes. Soon, he was motivated to be a part of Butterflies
activities and started attending education classes that are held every
morning in the shelter. Seeing the safety of the shelter and the
facilities being provided in it like water purifiers, lockers,
bedding, nutritious meals etc, Pankaj started staying in the Fatehpuri
Night Shelter. He worked hard picking rags and at the same time was
also regular in attending classes. Seeing his interest in studies,
Pankaj was enrolled in National Institute of Open Schooling. In
addition to his interest in studies, he also has love for
drawing/painting. Butterflies adult facilitator noticed the talent in
him and thus provided him opportunities for his skill to blossom. He
performed well in the painting competition organized by HUDCO in
September 2005 and also won second prize in a painting competition
organized by Butterflies in December 2005. He is also enrolled in the
Butterflies computer course and is doing well there as well. He can
now express his creativity on the computer screen as well.
Just as Mark Knophler sings in his song “ The Rag Picker’s Dream”, we
pray and hope Pankaj’s dream also comes true……….
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