The Saturday Curse

It was a Saturday afternoon and Poonam & Amit were on the way to their hometown Meerut and were about to board bus from Vaishali metro station, Ghaziabad. Suddenly, one child of age nearly 10 years came to them in worn out clothes, carrying a small bucket and small portrait of Lord Shani dipped in mustard oil. Both of them were aware of the purpose as they have been witnessing this since birth. Amit was reluctant to give any money to the kid, but Poonam mentioned that "aisa nahin karte, yeh shani daan hain. Agar thode paise shani bhagwan ke name pe de doge to kya ho jayega, isse punya milta hain" (please don't deny this charity as this is for Lord Shani, rather it will bring good blessings for us). Eventually, Amit agreed and dropped Rs.1 coin in the bucket. On the way to board the bus, Amit saw more than 10 such buckets kept on the stairs of the metro station. Each bucket belonged to a different child but may be belonging to the same contractor. 

In our country, there have been many superstitious and false beliefs in the name of religion which often give rise to different malpractices. One of such malpractice is to ask/donate money in the name of God Shani on every Saturday. You can see small kids, who ideally should have pencils in their hand, running around with a special kit asking for money or "Shani-Daan". These kids can be seen around traffic signals, railway and bus stations, multiplexes, gardens, temples or any area where people gather in large numbers. It has always been debatable to include these kids in child beggars, as they seem to touch a religious chord while asking for money. It is believed that they are only asking charity or daan in the name of Shani Devta and all people who fear the repercussions of their wrong deeds (or "paap") should donate to get relief. This vicious circle of fear leads to superstitious malpractices and eventually to social exploitation of these kids.

It is important to check out the story behind this superstition of pouring mustard oil on Shani idol or giving Shani-Daan on Saturday.

It is believed that one day when Lord Hanuman was taking care of the bridge between Rameshwaram and Lanka and meditating upon Lord Ram, Lord Shani tried to test his patience. He asked Lord Hanuman to fight with him and show his courage. After repeated denial, Lord hanuman became angry and tied him in his tail. After Shani agreed that he will never disturb Lord Ram’s devotees, Lord Hanuman released him, but Lord Shani received some bruises on his body. To heal his bruises, Lord Hanuman gave him mustard oil and after applying it Shani was relieved of his pain. Hence, it became a custom to offer mustard oil to Lord Shani on Saturday. Also, there is an astrological angle to fear Lord Shani. It is believed that Saturn (Shani-graha) is a very slow-moving planet because Lord Shani can only limp as he was cursed by his mother. So, Saturn can stay in one’s zodiac for around 7.5 years, which is also termed as “Sade Saati”. People are advised to indulge in charity like Gau-daan (donating cows), feeding poor people, quit alcohol etc. to stay healthy during this period (Sade Saati).

Lord Shani, is the son of God Sun and Goddess Chhaya, and is considered as the God of Justice. It is believed that Shani keeps the records of all our Karma and people will always reap the fruits of their deeds. So, to seek Lord Shani’s blessings, one should help people in need selflessly. As a result, people donate or perform Shani-daan mostly on Saturdays. This is considered to bring blessings and Lord Shani will not punish them for bad deeds.

All the above factors motivate the people to ignore the horrible state of kids who ask for money and they just hope to get the blessings of Lord Shani or free themselves from “Shani-Dasha”.
 

Main factors due to which kids take up this religious malpractice:

Ø Poverty: These kids are mostly from the underprivileged and deprived section of society, either forced to do this by their caretaker, parents or contractors or need to do this for living.

Ø Abandoned by Parents: The kids abandoned by their parents due to some reasons are more vulnerable to pick these activities as the society never accept them.

Ø Misguided by local criminals: Many times, these kids are a part of big gang run by local goons, who pay them on daily basis. The head of the gang decides the venue, timings and takes a good share of the collection. Sometimes these kids are intentionally kept in desperate state, so that they agree to do whatever they are asked for. There is a high probability that these kids grow up as criminals, drug addicts, puppets under political leaders etc.

Adequate infrastructure is missing to rehabilitate such kids in large numbers but hardly any of us try to make use of the existing though limited infrastructure.

We may get a sigh of relief believing that Lord Shani will bless us if we offer some money to these kids, but we should ask following questions to our self before giving money:

Ø Is this the best way to help a needy kid?

o   No, this is not the best way to help these kids because you are not aware if he is doing this by his will or forced to do so. You may be unknowingly appreciating a practice which is causing bonded labour, child trafficking and exploitation. In number of states, this activity is prohibited by law and is also not counted in begging. There have been cases of well-defined gangs running them, making these kids handicapped, so that more people can sympathize with them. These kids are brought to cities from nearby villages and sometimes even trafficked from distant locations. It has been noticed that girls involved in this get sexually exploited by gang leader. It may be true that the leader of the gang may punish the kids if they do not collect enough amount but if we blindly give money, then this business will prevail as it has been happening since years.
 

Ø Is this the best way to avail Lord Shani’s blessings or compensate for our sins?

o   No this is not the best way to seek Lord Shani’s blessings. There are number of more decent ways to do that. As per Hindu mythology, Gau-Daan (cow donation) is a long tradition used to seek blessings from Lord Shani, people can visit Shani temple, offer food and clothes to poor, even feeding these kids with a delicious meal on any Saturday will surely bring lot of blessings to the donor. And lastly, it is believed that if a person is doing justice to his work, respecting others including the poor, not harming anybody, and showing love and respect for all then Lord Shani will bless him.

Ø Will Lord Shani praise me for this? Or it is a false belief?

o   It is difficult to tell if Lord Shani will praise us for this charity as we are only helping them for a while and tomorrow they will be asking money from others. These kids isolated by the society, often grow up as criminals and are misguided by local goons for their own benefit. Hence, the belief that this donation is in the name of Lord Shani should be strictly prohibited.
 

Ø Am I ignoring the harsh reality in the shadow of false belief?

o   To some extent, Yes. We are ignoring the harsh reality and just want to get rid of Shani-Dasha or sympathize temporarily or seek blessings. Most of the people in our country are busy running for bread and butter and do not have time to think on such social issue. They think it is the responsibility of the government and I just need to pay my taxes. The easiest get away from this situation is to offer few coins and feel blessed.

Ø Can I offer more sustainable help to the kid?

o   Yes, one can offer more sustainable help to these kids. Some people give the money not under false belief or fear of Lord Shani but because they sympathize with the kids and want to help them. This feeling should be channelized in the following manner:

§  Discuss the cause in detail. Are they being pressurized by someone including their parents? Or the reason is poverty? What is the root cause of their state? You may not get accurate answers most of the times but even if few kids tell their heart to you then the time is worth spending.

§  Admit them to school. One of the main reason of kids getting into this activity is the lack of early intervention by school. Government schools are free or demand minimum fees and are mostly available nearby. Most of us have the belief that the government school’s infrastructure is not great, and teachers do not feel much responsibility toward the students. However, this image is changing rapidly as lot of teachers and school administrations are trying their best to reach deserving students. Every school is having some program to admit underprivileged kids, even private school run evening classes for them under RTE. So, if you can help these kids get admission to a school, even an evening school in case they want to earn livelihood in morning, then you may change their future. For more information on Right to Education (RTE) and schooling for Economic Weaker Section (EWS), please refer to the below site:

http://rte25.bhumi.ngo/

§  Organize fun activities for them. If you are aware that there are number of such kids at your nearby traffic signals, then you and your friends can plan a fun activity with them on any weekend and spread awareness about education, drug addiction etc. This will help them come close to you and it will also give you a chance to analyse their circumstances.

§  Provide platform to excel. This requires lot of efforts and appropriate infrastructure, but if you can provide proper channel to these kids to showcase their talents then these kids can excel in different fields. It has been observed that these kids acquire skills without much training and if given opportunity can make name for themselves. These days we can see lot of reality shows giving platform to people from underprivileged section of the society and you can act as an angel for them.

§  Plan to teach them on weekends. It is said that education is the biggest asset for development and it will help a person to discover other aspects of life. They will be able to raise their voice against exploitation. You can use publicly available gardens to organise such teaching classes. Please feel free to drop a mail to below mentioned email ids in case any assistance is required for this:

iliveforthenation@gmail.com

mail@snehfoundationindia.org

Ø Can I raise this issue to the system to ensure overall development of the kids?

o   Yes, you can raise your voice and inform different government units about this. This is easier said than done but sometimes it is the only resort.

The different ways in which these issues can be reported are discussed below:

ü  Inform Child helpline by calling at 1098. This is toll free child helpline. They will take the details and redirect to the local NGO who will take care of the complaint. Most of the times they react on time and have good authority to take actions. I have personally called them few times and response was good. They follow the process of taking the kids into their custody and then presenting their case in children court presided by CWC (Child welfare committee) chairperson.

For more information, please visit below mentioned site
http://childlineindia.org.in/

ü  Take help from ministry of women and child development. This is government of India’s unit to work on social initiatives related to women and children. They can be contacted via below:

Website: http://www.wcd.nic.in/contactus

Twitter: https://twitter.com/MinistryWCD

FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/ministryWCD/

They always appreciate people raising such issues and the authority with them is the highest in the country.

ü  Contact child protection officer of the district. Most of the districts in our country have child rights protection officer and it will be great if we, as responsible citizens, keep their contact details with us. They are government employee positioned for the service of its people, so don’t hesitate. In the last few years, there have been many cases, where gangs running this business have been exposed by child protection officers.

Some of the details can be found at the below mentioned site.

http://www.ncpcr.gov.in/index1.php?lang=1&level=0&linkid=94&lid=15

ü  Take help from Bachpan Bachao Andolan team: BBA is an amazing initiative lead by Mr. Kailash Satyarthi (Nobel laureate for peace) to protect children from child labour and plan for their rehabilitation. They have some of the most amazing success stories in this field and can be contacted via below:

Website: http://www.bba.org.in/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/BBAIndia

ü  Report to nearby police station: This may be a bit of overhead as you will need to go to the police station and report the complaint. Please do not use 100 for reporting such incidences, rather calling 1098 is a better option.

At last, it can be concluded that we as civilized citizens should feel more responsible towards these kids as they are the future of our nation. If we all are united and take necessary steps against this evil, then it will surely bring blessings, not only from Lord Shani but from every power in the universe.

This malpractice has been here for years and till today little has been done to work on the root cause, but it is never too late. So, next time if you see any kid asking for money on Saturday, let’s try to eradicate this Saturday curse.

Regards

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