The Red Roses

It was a sunny day and Chitra was on her way to office. Like every day, she reached Noida City Center metro station to go to her office in Gurgaon. She heard someone calling from behind, and she looks back to see a 9-10 years old girl running towards her with something in her hand.“didiji yehlo aapka rose (sister, here is your rose)”, she said to Chitra. Chitra smiled and took the red rose and gave Rs.10/- to Munni. Chitra knew Munni ( a girl who sells “red roses” at the metro station) as she used to buy one red rose from her just to make her smile and slowly it became a part of both the lives. 

Munni used to be among half-dozens of girls who sell roses at metro station and other areas of public gathering. Nobody knows about Munni’s family and nobody has ever asked her about the same. Whenever Chitra used to ask munni about her family, she always ran away from there without saying a word. Munni used to request passengers of age in mid 20s to buy roses at Rs.10/- each and on special occasions like valentine’s day, rose day etc the price would go up to Rs.20/- or Rs.30/-. At an age where she should hold pencil to write down her dreams, she was selling red roses to earn livelihood. It was hard to assume that she was doing this by herself or forced into this profession. Chitra always used to see some of the passengers misbehaving or making fun of munni. She has observed Munni crying in isolation due to some unknown reasons. 

This is a common site at most of the metro stations, malls, amusement parks specially in metro cities and everybody seems to ignore it or feel sympathy and turn back. Sometimes, red roses are replaced by balloons or Chinese items, but the fate of these kids remain same.  These kids can be from nearby locality, may be belonging to marginalized community or migrated along with their parents to search for livelihood. 

Chitra wanted to help Munni but was not aware how to proceed with it. Chitra has seen Munni talking to one person in the evening so she decided to talk to that person to enquire more about her. That person was offhand and not interested in talking. Chitra still asked him if he knows Munni’s family or her guardian but he rudely replied “Mam, aapko kya karne ka hain isme. Aap apna kam karo na” (Why are you worried about her and mind your own business). After talking to this person, Chitra got skeptical and wanted to know more on this so she started observing Munni’s behaviour daily. She observed that Munni meet this guy almost daily in the evening and handover money to him.
Chitra narrated the complete story to her colleague Avish and he told her that we can help Munni to live a normal life. Avish asked Chitra to observe the trends for few days such as how many girls are doing this? Is Munni speak in language which is different from local language? Are there any marks on Munni's face? What  is the most probable time in the day when she sells roses at Metro station? Chitra observed all these trends and told Avish. Avish fortunately knew the local NGO who was operating the child line in Noida/Ghaziabad and both went to the organization with the information to seek their help. The organization was aware of such kids who are selling items at metro stations and malls but whenever they tried taking any step against these kids, they used to disappear from there. Avish and chitra approached NGO regarding this issue. NGO analysed the information and planned to get hold of this problem. The organization requested Chitra to give a call whenever next time she see Munni talking to that person. The very next day Chitra called up and informed the child line about it. The local NGO did not take much time and reached metro station and started discussing all details with Munni. When they did not find any guardian of Munni, they asked her to come with them to their rehab center. By seeing this, the guy came running and saying “Arey bhaiya, kahan le ja rahe ho ladki ko” (Where are you taking the girl?). He started abusing the child line team and then two local constables intervened and took custody of both Munni and that guy. He was identified as sweeper working at nearby public toilet. 

After more than 4 hours of counselling by an expert, Munni told child line officials that she does not have her family here and she belongs to a small village in Jharkhand. After deeper investigation it was found that Munni is among 12 girls who were brought from Jharkhand to work as slaves in Delhi and NCR region. They all were bought at meagre prices from their guardian who are poor and could not take care of their daughters. They were bought to work in metro cities as beggars, domestic help, baby sitters, sex slaves, prostitutes etc. All such rackets are prevailing everywhere in India and they traffic kids from poverty-stricken areas. 

The case of Munni was presented in Child court presided by CWC (Child Welfare Committee) chairperson where Munni’s parents were also called and advised to take her custody and were given strict notice of possible punishment if they repeat this. But parents were poor and requested the child court to plan some rehabilitation for Munni where she can study and live happily. As a result, she was admitted to a residential school for girls. Chitra and Avish managed to get sponsorship for hostel accommodation from their office. The agent was imprisoned under Child labour and trafficking act and police started investigating of other links associated with the racket.

It was a touch battle but Chitra's and Avish's determination to help a girl, changed her life forever. It was again a sunny day and Chitra reached Noida City Centre metro station and suddenly she heard a familiar sound. She turned back and saw Munni dressed in white and brown uniform coming running to her to say, “Good morning didi”.

Every person reading this article can be Chitra or Avish and can help Munni live a better life. The only thing we need to do is not to turn our back and leave it to the system to take some step. I am sure that most of us have seen at least one kid holding those “red roses”.

We, the people of India form the system and every individual can bring a change. 

Note: It is a work of fiction inspired from true incidences.