Little Girl

I saw group of 5-6 ladies, wearing torn clothes, sitting at signal in front of KFC at Bandra. They were begging for foods from every passerby. Their hair & body were smeared with dirt, their eyes became insensitive to world's cruelty. They have spent torturous summer of Mumbai to unstoppable rains on the road & surrendered to their fate.

I had my evening meal in one of finest restaurant and was waiting for my husband to finish his conversation with restaurant owner. Many people, who came from KFC, gave those ladies burgers or coke. They were snatching meal from donors & ungratefully savoring that. Among them was a 6-7 year old girl. She was wearing an old frock too long or loose for her, reaching till her ankle. The neck of her frock was falling from her shoulder. She was running around in the traffic to get money or food, but was not getting anything. I saw hunger & desperation in her eyes. Those ladies did not share any food items with her.

So, I went in KFC to buy burger for her. Once I came out, all of them started asking and shouting for food. I refused them and gave that packet to small girl. Meanwhile, a small boy of almost same age also came from somewhere to ask for food. I directed him to the girl so that both children share that food. The next minute what I saw, totally enraged me. One elder lady among the group, snatched food from small girl, took more than half of it and gave her back the left-over. She also gave me  "you gave me plain burger, where is coke" look. The girl was too small to protest, started nibbling the burger.The boy understood the street code that he would not get anything, went back to his quest of quell the hunger. One passerby lady gave me know-it-all smile that leave them to their destiny, you cannot help them,

By that time, my husband was back from his conversation & we left for our home, But I could not stopped thinking, where is that girl's mother? What could be her circumstances to leave her little child on footpath? Why did she give birth if she could not afford to take care of her? Can government make a law that you can only become parents if you have means to raise and support your child? Am I suggesting that people with no food or shelter should be stripped of  the most primal right of any living being; giving birth.