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The acrid smell of burning clay wafts through the night
air as tiny hands fiercely knead an obstinate lump. For the tribal children
working in the brick-kilns of Thane district in Maharashtra, the circle of day
and night holds no significance. Day dawns when the rest of the world is lost
in deep sleep. And without any fuss, they plunge into an endless routine of
moulding shapeless heaps of clay and straw into perfect rectangular blocks. It
is the same old story, the same old cycle of poverty, deprivation and an
aborted childhood. Yet it is poignant. Driving through Usgaon village in Thane,
the dark of the night is punctuated with tiny pinpricks of light. The crude
lamps, lit in the kilns, throw a dark shadow over countless young lives. Cast
in the shadow of snuffed out rest, the bricks pile up row after endless row.
Vandana, 13, and Ranjana, 15, wake up at 2 a.m. every day to help their parents
make the maximum number of bricks so that the family earnings increase. There
is no one to take care of their three younger siblings, the youngest of whom is
barely four. They work in teams with their parents, taking turns to mould the
clay mixture and arrange the finished bricks. After a seven-hour stint they
break for a simple meal at 9 a.m. and continue till noon. Work resumes after a
three-hour break and they bend and stretch, dig out huge lumps, mould and shape
hour after scorching hour till sundown.
The break is not a real break.
It's time to do the household chores-fetch water, clean and cook and attend to
the younger ones. "All of us together make around 1,600 bricks a
day," says Ranjana. Both of them look away, scuffing the ground with their
toes when asked if they like doing this work. Their silence is more eloquent
than words. The sisters are not as fortunate as some of the other children in
Usgaon whose dreary cycle of work is brightened by school. "If they cannot
come to schools, schools should go to them. So we requested the government to
do something," says Vivek Pandit, managing trustee of Vidhayak Sansad and
Shramjeevi Sanghatna, an NGO working for tribals and poor communities. The
apathy of the state government led them to start bhonga shalas or special
schools for children working in brick kilns. Those who attend school enjoy some
respite from work but even they have to chip in by carrying dried bricks on
their heads to the kilns for baking.
Five-year-old
Sandeep Ramu Mukne (pic: right) also
does his bit. He has been carrying mud in baskets for his 12-year-old brother
Arjun and parents for the last one year. But only before or after school.
"I don't like all this. I like going to school," says Sandeep rubbing
his eyes sleepily in the dark. "I did go for special classes in the
evenings but stopped because I did not like it," says Arjun hauling heavy
chunks of clay from the heap. He has been working in the kilns for three years
and has become an expert in all the processes involved in making bricks.
Besides shaping clay in the metal moulds, he has to stand in thigh-deep water
mixing clay, straw, ash and coal dust with his feet. It is tough and his legs
ache with the effort. His friend Balu Suresh Wagh, 11, too helps his parents.
"I like this work, I don't want to go to school," he says shyly. Not
that he has a choice. Most kids like Balu and Arjun above 10 years have not
joined the bhonga shalas since they are well conversant with brick-making and
are invaluable to their parents.
The
girls, as always, have multiple burdens. Kundananta Pawar, 10, is an eager
student. But she has numerous chores, including housework and lifting bricks,
to complete before and after school hours. "I get up at 3 a.m. to do this
work. I have to though I don't like it," says Kundananta biting her nails.
She carries 10 bricks at a time on her head. Each weighs roughly two kilos.
"An orthopaedic surgeon is conducting a study on the health hazards of
working in brick kilns. The children are likely to suffer spondylitis and neck
problems," says Pandit. Plus the ill-effects of carbon monoxide poisoning
from constant burning of coal. Belonging to the Katkari tribe, these intra-district
migrant labourers work at the kilns from November to April. They earn around Rs
150 per 1,000 bricks but at the end of six months get only around Rs 4,000
since the rest is consumed as advance for weekly expenses and during lean
periods. Twelve to 14 hours of strenuous labour earns a paltry sum despite the
entire family-sometimes three generations-working together. Since most of the
tribals are illiterate they are easy targets for exploitation by the kiln
owners who often cheat them by messing up accounts. According to Pandit, around
25,000 children are working in the kilns in Maharashtra. Of course, the
children see none of this money. Fumes from the burning kilns irritate the
senses but the sight of hundreds of children labouring grimly hurts sensibilities.
Kids love frolicking in the mud but it's no fun when they have to work with it.
Brick by painful brick, it is a gradual dismantling of childhood.