Angels...

Everybody loves kids hmmm I might draw a few criticisms for saying that still our land runs on democracy and in democracy majority wins. So, everybody loves kids but to be blunt I did not. I found them filled with tantrums. They make a scene in public, create a big ruckus are messy all the time and a lot of other things which easily come to notice. It not that I completely disliked kids I liked them but only those who were silent and playful and not showing their cranky nature or tantrums.

But all this changed, it was October 27, 2008 and I held my niece for the first time in my arms. She was just few days old but the way she looked at me melt my heart. She could fit in to my forearm, so tender, so soft and yet so beautiful. That is when I understood what a father feels like when he sees his baby for the first time and holds it in his hands for the first time. I wanted to adopt a kid from before but always thought a bit grown up would be nice and easier to manage but this boosted my confidence to actually rethink my decision.

After this encounter no matter what and how much kids try to irritate me or bug me I still love it and enjoy it. They are so so sweet and cho cho cute. Everything they do makes them more adorable for me after which I decided to master the art of child photography. I am a novice still it doesn’t matter to me till I love my subject that is those cute babies. If I have to tell from a photographer’s point of view babies are the toughest to shoot, they are energetic and they do not stay still. In spite of that they give the best expressions as they do not fake a smile, or give artificial pose every emotion of theirs comes from their face which conveys thousand things during the time which they cannot speak.

We Indians have the second highest populations in the world that is almost 17% of the world population. In the time I typed these words almost 100 babies would have been born in India it might sound exaggerated but no it’s the fact. You might be wondering why I started with something personal matter of mine a fear that I overcame or life made me overcome to something else and now talking about something else..

Let me unfold the story

There lived a family husband, wife & a small baby. Husband was working in abroad where as his family was not with him but in his home country. This marriage was not so old but actually quite fresh as the baby was just a year and half old so probably almost three years old. A wild storm blows in to the life of this family. The husband leaves his wife and settles abroad. The wife and mother of baby are left to take care of the kid of 2 by years old by now. She manages but life is not as easy as it looks. She wants to make money quickly but the baby is a shackle which she feels holding her back. She conveys to her house maid that she wants to go abroad and work upon which the house maid asks “what will you do with the baby?” she replies saying I will give it to somebody who needs or I will put it for adoption.

The next day when maid goes to the house again for work, she sees the mother has packed her bags and tells the maid you take care of the kid. I am going abroad and she just walks out of the home handing over the kid to the maid. The maid who does house chores for a living has a baby (let me describe you the baby. She was like an angel very smart and very playful and one who would capture your attention in just a glance) she feels that she will give it somebody who needs it. So, she takes it to some big person in her locality and hands over the baby and tells them to take care of it for one day.
When she went to collect the baby next day she finds it the baby was sold to somebody for mere Rs. 20,000 i.e. almost $500. When they went to the person who bought it the answer they got was the baby is already sent to the Gulf Countries. Does it look a bollywood movie story but actually it happened in reality not just in a remote part of India. It happened in the IT city Bengalooru itself not in a remote area of Bengalooru but in Kormangala. This story was told to me by my friend who along with his family approached the person who had sold the baby for money and also to the person who bought it. How did he come to know about this matter? The maid of the story worked in their house too.

Now the question is who is to be blamed “the father”, “the mother”, “maid”, “person who sold it” or “the buyer”. Hmmm let me guess half of the people who are reading this post have already made up the mind that it is the “mother” who has to be blamed or the other half will be pointing at the “person who sold it”. I might be wrong in assuming and stereotyping your thoughts so I apologize for that. Actually everybody has played a pivotal role in this incident and everybody has to be blamed and if you take it to court of law everybody will be guilty under some section or the other. But, I am blaming them for forgetting humanity which is more than anything.

Millions of people live and are ready to die or already dead try to uphold the legacy of their religions but is it me or our mankind has seen very few people who uphold the religion of humanity. I am right in telling humanity as a religion as it is the first thing that we learn that we are humans aka homosapiens. I guess overtime we have forgotten it and probably that is the main reason we have so many problems of the world.
Now how can I prove that humanity could have saved the baby from being sold?

If the husband wanted discontinue with his marital life. He could have approached a court of law and ended it legally and paid an alimony to his wife and baby this was the least humanity he could have shown acknowledging to a fact that she has left the comfort of her home and family and come behind him leaving everything what was hers to a unknown family and became his wife, shared her life and herself with him and gave him a beautiful gift for a child. If he though not to approach a court of law than they could have had a mutual settlement. What stopped him? Was it the thought that he had to split his money with him or was it because he did not want to take a responsibility.

If the mother couldn’t have taken care of the baby alone then she should have put it up for adoption. I guess when she learnt of the fact that it will take a long time to do so she must have decided to walk off or seeing the face of the child might have made her remember the face of her ungrateful husband due to which she could not tolerate and might have left the baby. If she had just thought that I brought this baby to this world yes it is her who brought the baby to this world. She became a vessel of life and carried the fetus for 9 months and then brought it to life. She is responsible for it and that poor thing does not have anybody else to go to. If she had thought that I am responsible for somebody’s life and that somebody none other than my own baby a part of my body who cannot live off on its own then I should fend for it.

In Indian manuscripts one of the holiest books “Srimad Bhagvadgita” says a message the ‘doing injustice is a crime but much greater crime than that is tolerating injustice’. Yes the maid even though has not much part in this ordeal than the communicator between parties but yes if she had thought what is happening is not right then the thing would have stopped from happening. I am not saying that she did not do it but she acted a bit late. If she had thought to right people on right time then we could have averted this ordeal. If she had cared to update the authorities or took responsibility of handing over the baby to right people I would not have been writing this article.

The person who sold it is an opportunity seeker and he had an opportunity to make money and he did it without shame. Is money everything in this life and not that small life what you traded means nothing. Is it a commodity that can be sold over the counter? If he had also thought that where will this child go if I sell it? How will that baby end up in life? If he had even had slight thought on these matters he would have not sold it. But to my dismay money is the biggest god and it controls everybody. No matter how much we have it still it’s not enough.

Last but not the least the one who bought it, he is just an agent for somebody a puppet and somebody else pulls the strings and of all if he had thought no I will not buy this beautiful thing or even after buying it if he had just thought for a moment where will it end up in to or if I was also a helpless baby and somebody selling me or if somebody else sells my baby. I know it’s feeble to think it would have been stopped if this person would not have bought it. If not him somebody else would have eventually did so. Until there are sellers there will be buyers.

Now that the baby is sent to Dubai only her fate decides where she will end up or decision of the person who took her there. She might be adopted by some person if that happens then it ended good though it started badly but such miracles very rarely happen at least from where I see they seldom do. My hunch is she would be sold either to a rich sheik who will keep her in his harem raise her then when she comes off age she will make her his mistress or to a brothel where she will be raised and then when she is of age she would be sold to a highest bidder who is ready to pay highest amount just to deflower her. It can also happen she might be sold to the illegal camel racing events as a jockey for the camel. If mu hunches are wrong then I don’t mind it going wrong actually would be very happy but I can’t count on it going wrong also from what I have seen and heard. All I can do is pray for that angel.

In Indian manuscripts there is a verse which says “Dharmo rakshathi rakshitaha” dharma literally translates as that which upholds or supports, and is generally translated into English as law or also as one’s righteous duty or any self righteous path. The translation would be Dharma protects those who protect it. So if any one of the parties had thought of protecting ‘Manav Dharma” (Manav means human in Sanskrit) or anybody in this world thinks even for a second before acting out and sees the world from a humanity perspective then we would not have half of the problems of what we have now. I know I or even you cannot take responsibility of everything or everybody but if we take responsibility of one person each then I think we can change how things go around. Think about what I have said and do sleep over it. I know I have written long article thank you for your patience for reading it.