Sadak Chhaap by Meher Pestonji

Scary says Aparna of newsinlimerick – about this article in The Telegraph. Ants nibble at hospital patient’s eye.

I have just finished reading Meher Pestonji’s Sadak Chhaap, a hard-hitting account of the life of street children. And I thought of the book now because that is how the “hero” of the book Rahul first discovers the abandoned baby girl on the railway platform – wrapped in a newspaper with big-big ants all over her face. He takes the help of Aparna who runs Sharan, a shelter for street children and the baby is admitted in hospital.

And with that, Rahul’s life changes. The ten year old sadak chhaap who has run away from his mother and home suddenly becomes a proud papa. Through the story, Rahul is driven by a sense of restlessness, of wanting something more but not quite knowing what or how to find it. And the only phase in his short life when that feeling is stilled is during the time he spends with baby Kajol.

Kajol is duly adopted, rechristened Tina by her new parents and Rahul moves on. To a worse life than he has known till then. There is no respite through the narration; the story gets darker as it progresses, with glimmers of light in between. With no rainbow at the end, however. In this journey, Rahul discovers drugs, faces abuse and harrassment, learns that making money is the important thing and not how it is earned; he also finds love and affection in the form of his attachment towards Kajol and the support of his friends from Sharan.

Sadak Chhaap is a story about life on the streets – harsh, unforgiving and ever ready to exploit the weak and vulnerable. It is a story of kindness – people like Aparna who run Sharan where street kids are given ministerial portfolios to make them perform their duties with a sense of pride. It is also a story of hope – of Victor and Shekhar who move out of the shelter to set up their own small business. But in the end, it is the story of Rahul who is so addicted to the life that brings in the money that he wants to go back to it, the life that his friends try desperately to make him give up – drugs and prostitution.

It is also a subtle lesson on the folly of making snap judgments about what is right and what is not. When Rahul steals a toy from a child to give it as a gift to baby Kajol, he is not doing anything wrong. When he “borrows” a bicycle for joy ride, he is perplexed when others think of it as stealing. All these are about survivial – and snatching happy moments duing this struggle for survival on the streets.

I read the book at one go. It is not a light entertaining read, but if you have ever seen children on the streets in Mumbai and wondered about how they eat and where they sleep, this is a must-read. I finished reading the book and thought to myself that Rahul was actually one of the luckier ones – he had friends and support… most of them don’t.