The other side of glamorous MuMbai!!!

Last week when i was travellin by Mumbai local trains at 11 in the night i was shocked at the happenings in the barely crowded train. there was a group of three girls aged somewhere between 10-12 years. At first I couldn’t understand why they are so dizzy and tired unlike kids of their age. I thought probably its becoz they are hunger stricken that they are so weak and pittied their condition. But soon what I saw shocked me! They were actually doping with some liquid and were helpless. what they did is pour some liquid on their duppata and breathe deeply through it. i could see them lost in it and unaware of the surroundings.

i wanted to know more about this habit among the kids and i tried talking to them. but i guess i was barely audible to them as i kept repeating questions. i asked a girl since when is she into it and who introduced her to the concept? she seemed lost deep in thought and later said, "Mein yeh bahut pehle se leti hoon. ise nasha aata hai... acha lagta hai!" (I have been taking this from long and i enjoying doing this!). however she didnt reply who taught her this initially. i checked the bottle in her hand which she was hiding from me and found it was Kores Diluter that they were using for doping. it was really pathetic to watch these kids lost and lying on the train floor, unconscious and ignorant of the surroundings. later they just got up and were hanging outside the door from the running train. i felt bad as they were off course risking their lives in such a semi-conscious state.

After this incident i thought probably there might be many such children who would have been caught in some form of bad vice or another. there are so many people who are homeless and stay on footpaths and slums. the future of children growing up in such areas is doubtlessly blank. somebody should take initiative for the same. although many NGOs are working towards this, there is probably a need for planned initiative on the part of the government for development of these areas.