Insecurities of Roaming Working Children

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COMMENTARY

january 4, 2014 vol xlix no 1 EPW Economic & Political Weekly18

Insecurities of‘Roaming Working Children’Case Study of Kolkata

Anwesha Paul (Das)

An exploratory study of children

who live on the street without

any contact with their families

or those who are “roaming

working children” looks at the

relationships that these children

share with the people around

them and the insecuritiesin these relationships. The

children develop “friendships”

with complete strangers which

influence their lifestyles and

decision-making processes.

Interestingly, they are more

comfortable seeking the

protection of drug dealers and

family members who live on thestreet than of the police and

NGO workers.

Numerous children live on the

streets in a highly vulnerable

condition (UNICEF 2002 cited in

Consortium for Street Children 2009;

Behera 2007; Dabir and Athale 2011;

D’Souza 2012). Among them, several

children live on the streets without any

family support, i e, survive completely

on their own. They lead an insecure life

where they are deprived of shelter, care,

love, protection, education, health facili-

ties, etc. This study focuses on the chil-

dren who live on the streets without

family support or even contact. These

children are referred to as “roaming

working children” in this study. They

roam from place to place according to

convenience and work in the informal

sector regardless of whether the work is

legal or not, consume all their earnings

much of it on narcotic substances andestablish mostly temporary relation-

ships (Paul 2012).

This article explores the role of rela-

tionships in the lives of 18 roaming

working children in creating and ad-

dressing their insecurities through in-

depth case studies and one focus group

discussion. The study was located in and

around Sealdah railway station where

many such children live, not only

because the station represents a transit

point for them but also because of the

entire range of economic, cultural, social

and leisure activities available in this

area. The street is their home as well as

their area of work. Their relationships

are with people who are complete stran-

gers from different societies, cultures,

religions and economic backgrounds.

The relationships that exist between the

roaming working children and those liv-

ing on the streets with their respective

families, the adults living on the streets without having any family contact right

from their childhood, is looked upon as

“friendship” by the roaming working

children. They also relate to the police,

drug dealers and non-governmental

organisation (NGO) workers. These after

relationships are not “friendships”. Instead,

they use terms that denote negotiation

like ‘bojhapora’ (deal), ‘maniye neoya’

(adjustment), ‘shojyo kora’ (tolerate),etc, while describing them.

Friendships and Insecurities

The roaming working children do not

identify themselves as members of a

group but talk about “staying together

with friends”. Fourteen-year-old Nabab

simply says “we call each other friends.

That’s it”. Friends are chosen on the

basis of a range of factors such as secur-

ing protection, gaining power, attitude

towards risk-taking, options for earning,

income, expenditure pattern, attitude

towards saving money, sharing sub-

stances, sexual exposure and rapport

with powerful people.1

Seeking protection from the police,

drug dealers, local leaders, other chil-

dren and adults is a common factor for

all the children. Moyna explains “if the

police harass me, my friends support me

and get me off by requesting, bribing or

by making up stories to gain sympathy,etc. I try to stay with those friends who

can protect me.” Similarly, the ability to

take risks and earn is very important in

formation of a group of friends. Rani

says “all my friends do risky activities

such as drug supplying and stealing

which are lucrative but involve less time

and physical effort. We easily earn about

Rs 2,000-3,000 per day.” Risk avoiders,

similarly, feel comfortable in staying

together. They choose to earn from

sources which are less lucrative, time-

consuming and involve a lot of physical

effort collecting empty bottles from

dustbins and selling them. Lakshmi who

is one of the latter says “we can earn just

Rs 50-100 per day. We do not like to mix

with those children whose earnings are

much higher as they often tease us and

are involved in risky activities.”

As the children stay together, similar

preferences on spending become impor-

tant for maintaining the same “status” within the group. Pooja says “I and my

friends love to spend money mostly on

Anwesha Paul (Das) ([email protected])is a PhD fellow of Centre for Studies in Social

Sciences, Calcutta.



COMMENTARY

Economic & Political Weekly EPW january 4, 2014 vol xlix no 1 19

buying substances and viewing films”.

Common choice of addictive substances

also plays a very important role. Abu

clarifies “we never have ‘bangla’/‘chullu’.2

We buy particular type of substances

(branded) which is costly but is very

good to get drowsy quickly.” The attitude

towards saving money is another factor.Lali says “I ignore those who nag me

about saving money. I never think of

saving as I am confident that I can earn

money any time.” Reshma feels very

differently and says “I feel secure if I

have saved money as it can help in the

future. But we cannot save due to lack

of safe places. We keep searching for

secret places.”

Rani discloses “I always try to roam

with those friends who have rapport

with powerful people. You never know

when you need help.” However, there are

children who are scared of these people

and do not want to interact with them

like Sharbani who says “I often get

abused by some of these powerful

people. I feel so scared of them. I try to

stay away from them.”

Sexual exposure and sharing experi-

ences related to sexual activities are

also a factor in the grouping of friends.

Mohan reveals “we love to share aboutsexual experiences with each other. We

find it most entertaining.”

Temporary Bonds

Interestingly, these children do not

recognise factors like “love”, “care” or

“affection” as primary criteria for friend-

ship. Most of them believe that the

emotional bond, if it exists at all, is

temporary and conditional. Arun says

“I know that my so-called friends do

not love me and nor do I love them. I

need them for my benefit.” He continues

“my parents have betrayed me. How

can I believe a friend would love me?”

However, emotional bonding gradually

develops in spite of their denial. Moyna

voices “Initially, I used to stay with Lali

because she had good connections with

the police. But now she has become very

dear to me.”

Those who earn better get more im-

portance like Nabab who boasts “I oftenearn about five thousand rupees daily.

Other friends do not get that much. Thus

they respect me and I can dominate

them.” Those who are well networked

and informed are also higher up in the

hierarchy. The information could be abo-

ut police raids, supply of drugs, arrival of

a new child at the station, transaction of

costly items at cheap rates and availability

of new earning opportunities and gettinginvolved in sexual activities, etc. Abu

says his friends value him because he

often has such information at his finger-

tips. The ability to procure and stock sub-

stances is also highly rated.

There is a conscious effort among the

children to make themselves attractive

to the opposite sex. Popularity is based

on experience of sexual activities, num-

ber of affairs, etc, Shyamol says “here

everybody knows me as “Salman” (the

popular Hindi film star). I can fight with

anybody. Thus girls love me.”

Power relations are also based on the

capacity for providing loans including

narcotic substances, electronic goods,

clothes and even partners for sexual

activities. The process of loaning assumes

that the lender has more than what he or

she needs or has earned it by sheer ability.

As Nabab says “lending money and sub-

stances makes me very important”.

The “leader” is usually one who rateshighly on the factors mentioned above.

Gradually, the others listen to him or her

and in this process the child becomes

the leader. There can be more than one

child who gets prominence in a particu-

lar group. Children who are risk-takers

mostly try to become leaders. They con-

sciously perform activities which will

make them powerful and popular like

Arun who says that he does things

which force others to obey him. The

children join or break away from group-

ings based on their calculations of

opportunities to earn.

Relationships that exist between the

roaming working children and those liv-

ing on the streets with families are also

termed “friendships”. They mix with

children living with their families not

only to get material benefits but also in

order to build family-like relationships

for themselves. The children often havea tendency to prove that they are closer

to those family members to hide their

insecurity and fear of losing that atten-

tion. Reshma shares “I mix with Sharmi,

one of the girls staying with her family

here. I like to talk to her mother. I also

call her ma (mother). There are others

who also call her ma. But she loves only

me like her own daughter.”

Roaming working children also share

vital relationships termed as “friend-

ship” with the adults who live on the

street without having any contact with

their families right from the childhood.

These children mostly obey these adults.

As Lali narrates “they give me lot of

tips to deal with the police and drug

dealers”. The children, mostly girls, try

to establish relationships, especially

marriage, with the adults to get more

status and security. Lali adds “I make

attempts to marry these male adults as

they have power and position in thisarea”. These relationships often cater

to reduce their insecurities with respect

to love, protection and family like

bonding, etc.

Therefore, there is an ongoing under-

current of competition among these

children. In spite of such competition,

there is an understanding within the

group of friends to protect each other

and to increase the power and status of

the group. There are unwritten rules

within the group which include keeping

secret information within the group,

collecting information for the benefit of

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COMMENTARY

january 4, 2014 vol xlix no 1 EPW Economic & Political Weekly20

the group and protecting friends. Dur-

ing fights with powerful people, the chil-

dren, depending on the situation, unite

irrespective of the groups. Moreover,

they share happy and sad moments

among themselves without calculating

the gain and loss. Though they do not

explicitly express the existence of un-conditional friendship among themselves,

the essence of unconditional love for

each other often gets highlighted. Ram

says “when I am very ill, my friends look

after me. They even forego their earning

for me. They feed me and take care

of me.”

They also give company to each other

during entertainment. Moyna shares

“we often watch movies together and

gossip for hours”. Mainstream films

have a lot of influence on these children.

One of the most prominent activities

where these children follow the filmy

trend is in “getting married”. Though

they are well aware of the temporary

nature of their marriages, they tend

to believe that their marriage will be

everlasting. Lali articulates “my husband

loves me. I feel very happy as he cares

for me. We will always love each other in

the same way.”

Negotiation with Adults

There are adults with whom the chil-

dren have to negotiate regularly such as

the police, NGO workers and familymembers living on the street and drug

dealers. Though the children negotiate

among their “friends”, they do not con-

sider it as negotiation. However, these

children consider the relationship with

adults such as the police, family mem-

bers living on the street, drug dealers,

passengers and shopkeepers within the

railway premises as “negotiation” as

they do not consider the latter to be an

integral part of their journey of survival.

There are children who mostly build a

rapport with the police so that their risks

can be minimised. These children prefer

facing the police rather than hiding from

them. Nabab says “I know most of the

policemen. I have identified some of

them who take bribes and ignore me

even if they find me involved in illegal

work.” There are others who avoid

the police irrespective of whether they

take bribes or not. Reshmi says “I stay

far away from the police. I feel very

scared of them. I feel they will arrest

and kill me.” These children are also

afraid of being sexually harassed by

the police.There are also children who avoid the

NGOs as they do not want their freedom

circumvented. Moyna explains “those

people (NGO workers) will straightaway

impose rules on me if I go to take any

help from them. They do not even listen

to our problems and needs. They are

more interested in our past life. Thus I

avoid them.” However, many children

take short-term help from the NGOs such

as for food, clothing, shelter, medicine,

etc. Sharbani says “there was Subir

uncle, a NGO worker, who used to love

me a lot. But Subir uncle left the job

without informing me. Since then I do

not go to any NGO.” The children also

mention their disquiet at certain facili-

ties being withdrawn suddenly. Reshmi

says “I used to keep money with the

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piggy bank of an NGO. Suddenly they

said they would close it down and I had

to withdraw all my money.”

A constant trade-off takes place both

in monetary and non-monetary terms

between roaming working children and

family members living on the streets.

The non-monetary terms include elec-tronic items, sim cards of mobile phones,

clothes, watches, bags, shoes, substances

for abuse, film tickets, seeking attention,

self-esteem, sexual pressure, involvement/

spending time with the opposite sex,

taking their support in getting rid of

the police, taking benefits from the

NGOs, etc. Though it is looked upon as

a trade-off by the children, some of

them become emotionally dependent

on these families. Thus they even end

up calling particular family members

mother or grandmother or brother. But

there are other children who do not

want to get emotionally attached. Abu

says “they call us lawarish (who do

not have any identity). So I also hate

them. But I approach them for help as

I know that they would also need my

help. So it is just a give and take

process.” Though they feel insecure

about getting emotionally hurt, they

rely on these family members in meet-ing their needs.

The drug dealers prefer to use chil-

dren as suppliers because the police and

others do not pay much attention to

children. Thus a relationship develops

between the drug dealers and children,

based only on business terms. The chil-

dren supply drugs to the customers, as

per instruction of the drug dealers, and

get money against that. Nabab says

“supplying drugs is an easy way to earn

a lot of money if one can do it carefully”.

Though the children understand that

the drug dealers use them, they ap-

proach them for help to be free from the

police, to take loans, and for certain

short-term benefits (such as information

about stolen goods, place for keeping

stolen goods for a certain period, etc).

Conclusions

Roaming working children choose the

term “friendship” to describe those with whom they stay. Though they perceive

that they use these people for survival,

they do not call them “group members”.

The choice of the term “friendship” while

describing those whom they use for sur-

vival reveals their inherent urge to build

a relationship which could somehow

have an emotional bonding.

Along with protection, desire for

“power” also plays a strong role – power which will help them to get attention, to

establish their leadership/domination,

to be surrounded by many people, to

feel important, etc. This also shows their

eagerness to search for emotional secu-

rity. Breaking up of existing groups and

formation of new ones is another indica-

tion of their emotional insecurity. Main-

stream films influence their lifestyle

greatly. They often try to imitate the

characters in these films. This shows

that these children want to be a part of

the socialisation process.

Though these children do not explic-

itly talk about love, care and affection as

reasons for establishing friendships, it is

quite evident from their activities, such

as looking after ill friends, uniting irre-

spective of internal dynamics to fight

opposition, addressing mothers of other

children as ma and sharing feelings with

each other. Though these children are

freedom loving and lead their lives with-out the supervision of their families,

they still create bindings/common rules

for themselves in order to belong to

groups of friends. The tendency to get

married is very high among these chil-

dren which reflect that they want to

have their own families. Even though

they live without their families and most

of them have become victims of the con-

dition of their families, they ultimately

rely on marriage and establishing fami-

lies, although mostly temporary in na-

ture. This reveals their unvoiced urge to

be loved and to get rid of the identity cri-

sis they suffer from.

Thus within the umbrella of “friend-

ship” all necessary activities are done

which are required to fulfil both materi-

alistic and emotional needs. Another im-

portant aspect is the negotiations that

take place between the roaming work-

ing children and drug dealers, members

of families living on the street, the po-lice, NGO workers, etc. Though these

children have a feeling of insecurity,

generated primarily from a lack of trust,

with all the above-mentioned groups,

they feel comfortable to approach them

for protection and for emotional com-

fort, even if it is volatile in nature. How-

ever, while the police and NGO workers

have certain responsibilities towards

providing care and protection to thechildren, they do not consider them as

people they can comfortably approach

for protection and fulfilment of emotion-

al needs in the first place. This reflects

their insecurity with the system.

Therefore using friendship and nego-

tiation skills with people around them,

these children try to maximise their

monetary and non-monetary gain,

given the constraints. While doing so

they forget about their age and do

not expect to be treated like children.

They start considering themselves as

adults and acting like “mini adults” inso-

far as earning money on their own and

taking substances for addiction to feel

strong goes. This discloses how insecure

these children are in leading their lives

as “children”.

Notes

1 Powerful people: Powerful people refer to

people having positional power or personalpower. Here people having positional powerrefer to people whose belongingness to certainposition in the society make them powerful,such as police, NGO worker and local leaders.People having personal power refer to people

whose personal action influence the societyand thus make them powerful such as drugdealer, mashi, etc. In this study all these peopleare referred to as “powerfu l people”.

2 Bangla/Chullu: Country liquor whose qualityand price are much lower than the brandedliquor. These are even available in pouches.

References

Behera Deepak Kumar, ed. (2007): Childhoods inSouth Asia, Kindersley (India) Pvt Ltd Licensesof Pearson Education in South Asia (New Delhi:Dorling).

Consortium for Street Children (2009): Street Chil-dren Statistics, Online. available http://www.streetchildren.org.uk/_uploads/resources/Street_Children_Stats_FINAL.pdf accessed on11 July 2012.

Dabir, Neela and Naina Athale (2011): From Streetto Hope: Faith Based and Secular Programs in

Los Angeles , Mumbai and Nairobi for Street Living Children (India: Sage Publication).

D’Souza, Barnabe (2012): From Ecstasy to Agonyand Back: Journeying with Adolescents on theStreet (India: Sage Publication).

Paul, Anwesha (2012): “Exploring the Lives ofWorking Children Living on Streets: A Study ofKolkata City”, MPhil thesis, University ofCalcutta.

Insecurities of Roaming Working Children

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