Introduction:
The story ‘Children at Work’ is based on the real-life experiences of Velu, a runaway village child. He ends up as a rag picker in a big city and must face the harsh realities of life on the streets. Velu, an eleven year old boy had run away from home and reached Chennai Central in the Kanyakumari Express without a ticket. At the station, he meets the rag picker girl Jaya. She was picking up dirty plastic cups from the platform and stuffing them into her sack. Velu and Jaya entered the city, where Velu was caught between the passing vehicles and smoke and dust. After walking for quite some time, Jaya led him to a garbage bin overflowing with rubbish. Velu had no choice but to eat the leftovers. Velu accompanied Jaya to her home. She threw a pair of old shoes at him and pushed a sack and a stick into his hands and told him to go with her. He decided to go with Jaya thinking that he would soon find a better job.
The story ‘Children at Work’ throws light on the sad state of children in our country. Jaya, who is a rag picker, seems to have compromised with her situation. She appears to be very mature of her age, taking things on her stride. Velu, who has run away from his village, finds him in similar situations. He too compromises with the situations and eats food from the garbage bin. Eventually, he resorts to rag picking along with Jaya.
Jaya and Velu are only two children of the thousands that we may find on the streets. They do odd jobs, beg and even take up criminal activities to meet ends. Its better said than done that we must do something to help these children. The least we can do is think about these young souls when we throw away that last bite of chapatti. Or even when we leave the tap flowing or the fan switched on for no reason. These little things will definitely benefit the society in the long run.
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