Inspiration
A boy’s incredible journey from the labyrinthine lanes of Bhatta Basti to the lofty stage of completing school
Mohsin Farukhi a potential child labourer who almost ended up being a part of the statistics managed to turn around his life and pass out school. His is a story of inspiration and persistence to go after your dreams.
Rajasthan holds the unfortunate distinction of being the home of nearly 10% of the total child labourers of India and Jaipur alone shelters 50,000 child labourers in the age group of 5-14 years. In terms of child labour the state ranks third behind UP and Andhra Pradesh.
“Bhatta basti in Jaipur is notorious for child labourers who work on lac bangles within their households. Most of the adult members are either working on making jewellery or are unskilled labour. Dropouts are common as children become workers early on in life,” says Magic Bus’ Neelima, who is in charge of the programme here.
Bhatta basti is home to largely a single community, engaged in bangle-making, stone-cutting, or tailoring. In the dusty narrow lanes of Bhatta basti lives a 19-year-old whose shining story deserved needs to be brought to the world.
Meet Mohsin Farukhi the boy who almost became just another face in the army of child labourers in Rajasthan. For most of these children, going to school is just another in the long list of unfulfilled desires and it was no different for Mohsin. In fact, he kept avoiding the question “Which class are you in?” ever since he was 13 and stopped going to school.
“My father worked as a stone-cutter in a nearby shop. My elder brother joined him after he finished his seventh standard because we were in desperate need of money. My younger brother failed in the eighth standard and started work at a local watch repair shop. My father stopped going to work once both my brothers started earning. When they got married and had their own children, they could barely spare any money to support the family. This is why my parents started putting pressure on me to start working,” explains Mohsin.
He dropped out in Class 7 and started assisting in a shoe shop where he was paid a measly Rs 5 for slogging out for 12 hours a day.
“My father dropped me to my first workplace. I could never tell him how much I wanted him to drop me to a school instead,” Mohsin’s eyes tell it all as he shares the memories of his first day at work.
However, it panned out differently for him right from the first job where he didn’t stick around for long. He soon made friends of his own age from the neighbouring stores and found a different place to work, with better pay.
“I realised one thing: there are always jobs available for children like us because children can be paid less and made to work more.”
While Mohsin’s life as a child labourer saw him work for longer hours in jobs that did draw his interest, his father, meanwhile, started working as a priest (locally called mohzim) in a dargah. His mother is a homemaker.
Life sometimes serves an opportunity, a turning point that has the potential to change lives forever. For Mohsin that moment came 3 years ago when he attended one of Magic Bus’ sessions held in Bhatta basti. He was 16 then. Having never spending time with children of his age, Mohsin took an instant and strong liking to the activity-based sessions.
“The person leading the session sat us down in a circle and asked how many of us went to school. I saw several hands in the air, and ran away in embarrassment,” he recounts.
Mohsin’s hurried exit didn’t escape the attention of Sarfaraz, who was conducting the session that day. He decided to find out more about Mohsin. Mohsin confided in Sarfaraz his eagerness to learn the next day.
Sarfaraz turned out to be not only Mohsin’s mentor but also the support, the encouragement which should have ideally come from within his family. Speaking with Mohsin’s parents revealed their abject lifestyle. Undeterred, Sarfaraz approached an NGO in order to arrange for funds for Mohsin’s education. Mohsin was allowed to resume school on the condition that he would continue to work in order to support the family.
Getting back to studies after 3 years wasn’t a walk in the park for Mohsin as he found it difficult to concentrate in the classes that he attended for class X. “I found the lessons difficult. After all these years, I found it difficult to concentrate. It was exhausting to work and study simultaneously,” he shares.
As luck would have it, he failed to clear the Class X examination. “His parents persuaded him to discontinue education. They didn’t think it was a worthy investment. But Mohsin persisted in his attempts. And of course, we stood by his decision,” says Sarfaraz.
Today, Mohsin is a proud class XII passout and aspires to become a nurse because getting an MBBS degree would be too expensive for him.
“I am, by far, the most educated in my family. My parents never went to school and my brothers dropped out. I don’t want to stop here. I want to study further and work in dignity,” he shares.
Regardless of where he lands up, Mohsin is a living inspiration for all those people who face hurdles in acquiring an education.