Lights from Darkness

The prose -- "Lights from Darkness"

All of us wait all year through for the sights of the golden firecrackers painting the night sky, but does anyone ponder for a moment at all over the fact that thousands of children below the age of fourteen years are employed to enlighten our lives? Apart from that, their lives are in utter darkness, which many men are not aware of.

Like the previous years, Nisha, a twelve-year-old girl, is awaiting the day of lights this year also. In utmost delight, she tries to persuade her mother, “Mom, won't I get crackers this year?” Actually, she keeps on repeating this every now and then to Mrs. Asha Aggarwal.

Sometimes, most of the people overlook the harsh reality. While on one hand, people from the upper classes spend lots of money for making merriment in Diwali, on the other hand, thanks to the benevolent government, people who are the poorest of the poor hardly have the right to dream of that.

In Sivakasi, a town and municipality in Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, numerous children are hired as labours for making firecrackers, but are the administrators ever bothered of their plight at all? They passed the Child Labour Act, which is, of course, without any positive effect.

Some days ago, while travelling by the train, the horrid and sorrowful sight of two little child-beggars caught my eyes suddenly. Most of the passengers just clicked their tongues, while Ms. Kalyani Paul, one of the college-students, said, “They've become accustomed to that. If we stop helping them to earn their food and clothes, who's going to dare of taking their responsibility?”

Yes, it is indeed a woeful scene, whenever we find the little ones working as labours, but at the same time, it is also inevitable that they need to earn their livelihood, in order to procure their minimum requirements in life.

Today, those two got on to the Howrah-bound train again. One of the fellow passengers asked the elder one, who is hardly ten, “Chhoto take keno anis?” (Why do you bring the younger with you?), when suddenly and most unexpectedly he replied, “Karon o besi taka pabe” (Because she can earn more).

That man realised, "Everything in life is like the two opposite sides of a coin. Our lights come from those who are in darkness."

The keywords

Prose, lights from darkness, sights of the golden firecrackers painting the night sky, thousands of children below the age of fourteen, enlighten our lives, utter darkness, day of lights, utmost delight, harsh reality, Diwali, benevolent government, Sivakasi, a town and municipality in Virudhunagar District, Tamil Nadu, Child Labour Act, travelling by the train, horrid and sorrowful sight of two little child-beggars, woeful scene, inevitable, livelihood, minimum requirements in life, two opposite sides of a coin