I’m lucky, she is happy.

It was roughly 7 pm while I left my home for a gathering at my grandmother’s house at marine lines. Dressed in my favorite pink salwar kameez I was almost in love with myself. Feeling very fresh, very happy and someway very lucky I left my house. The occasion was such, next day was my cousin’s marriage ceremony and we, the “baratis” were suppose to leave from marinelines, heading to Borivali. I was excited, very excited. I boarded a fast train from Borivali and met one such girl in the journey after meeting whom I am still not able to decide what is it that I should strongly feel for, should I thank god for all that he has given me, and all that I am...or should I pity that girl I met, for all that happened to her. I was taken aback to discover that two people once in an equivalent position can land up at two exceptionally diverse places. I’m shocked.
As it was that hour of the day when the trains are not crowded and being a fast local it was close to empty.Ansd above all boarding an empty train in Mumbai is nothing less than an “opportunity”. As I was traveling all by myself I preferred killing time by reading a novel. Starting off from Borivli, the train directly halted at Andheri. Four other passengers boarded the same compartment I was traveling by.3 kids and one woman. They were one of those people who sell plastic earings and bindis’in the train. the train being relatively vacant they did not have many consumers to sell their bits and pieces to and so those three kids, one girl who was amid 12 to 14 yrs of age and 2 boys,6-8 yrs old, got seated opposite me. They seemed quite happy in each others company. I remember they were selling “bindis”because while I was reading my book, she interrupted by asking if I was a Muslim. In fact she did not even ask, she concluded “Didi aap to Muslim ho na, aap to bindi nahi lagatein na” and I smiled and nodded. I told her I was a Hindu and this is how our conversation started.
Most of the kids belonging to this class are unfortunately uneducated so they barely know any language else than that typical mumbaiya Hindi. But to my surprise this young girl called “Salma” although did not speak fluent English, but she managed to conversate with me, for a while at least. I noticed her and later noticed her noticing me too. Something that really grabbed my attention towards her was the lightheartedness on her face. She was very satisfied in herself...I wondered how. Myself being her only costumer in that area she approached me with bindis, since i don’t wear them at all I dint buy any. She sat opposite me, kept looking at me and smiled all that while she stared at me. Trust me I didn’t feel weird about her even once. In fact, I smiled back. Maybe she was waiting for this. As soon as i lifted my head to give a glance she asked me if I was a student and was studying in which year. I replied it was my final year going on and my exams will be heading soon. She once again, with that innocent smile which is till date crystal clear in my mind, wished me luck for my exams. I got back to my novel but wasn’t reading it this time as i was distracted by her. I was surprised to know that she was aware of exams being conducted around the month of April. Salma was a very warm child to talk to. I asked her if she would like to get educated if given a choice. And there came an instantaneous respond- yes, I would love to. “I like studying” she said. I felt strange when she said this as I wondered how could she like something she is not even exposed to. But in a while everything got cleared, all my questions got answered when she said that she once used to go to school. In fact she had even appeared for standard 6. I was amazed. She was a student of St.Anne’s girl’s high school. It is one of the best schools in Borivali. And this fact affected me lots more because i am too an ex student of St.Anne’s high school. Getting more interested in her life story i asked her what made her land up here, selling pins and bindis while she seemed to deserve a much better childhood. Of all that I got to know of her, I am only disappointed with life, with the fact that I could not help her then.




From slums in Mahim she was sent to Borivali and got admitted in St.Anne’s where she stayed in a hostel. I myself have been there a number of times. Life was good for her till that day arrived when her family started facing crises and they needed her as a helping hand. Girls staying in this boarding house are not expected to pay any educational fees and they are also permitted a free housing. It’s their residence, where they a well sheltered. In spite of having to deal with no everyday expenditure for Salma, she was obligated to leave her studies halfway, forget her brilliant future and join this job where she struggles from early morning to late hours of darkness. I wondered how much this little soul could fetch to feed her family’s hope in her eyes, to get on with life, a life that has only dishonored her, made me realize that problems are only as big as we desire them to be. I’m now much positive about life than I used to be before I met Salma. I asked her about her two little brothers too. Like making a witty statement she said that they too were expelled from school because of two reasons. One, her parents could not meet the expense of their education and secondly they were too mischievous to be handled by the teachers. I smiled...I felt very powerless, did not know what to say, dints know I should console her or helps her out. I wanted to help, but dint know how. Cheering was something that she dint really need, she had accepted her condition like a bold adult...her childhood was dead, was murdered. I reached marine lines, scarcely knowing it. I got off and did not turn back to glance at her even ones. I did not have the moral fiber to do so.
I have never felt so feeble, heartbreaking and fortunate at the same time. GOD BLESS HER...