Come, We’ll Take You Home!

This was one of the Mumbai’s busiest interstate Railway Stations. Everyone was in hurry. Whether the passengers, coolies, vendors or the railway staffs all were in rush. Amid this; his eyes were scanning something into a dustbin at the platform. With a blink his eyes got bit brighter and he swiftly picked up few empty plastic bottles from the stinking dustbin and within no time disappeared from the scene. Balbu was on run. It had been a month since he left his home and got stuck here in the dark sinister zone that exists at railway platforms in Mumbai. Cheap doping addictions such as cough syrup and sprit inhalation also tightening grip on him. Picking up remaining of edible to satisfy his hunger and plastic stuff to arrange daily dose of dope would have been become his destiny, if field team of Samtol Foundation hadn’t found him timely.

Samtol Foundation, an organization dedicated to the welfare of wandering children at railway platforms, so far has rescued 8000 such children from turning into human trash. Though In 2006, Vijay Ramchandra Jadhav along with his few likeminded friends founded Samtol Foundation in Ghatkopar; but turning point came when one of his acquaintances named Madhav Joshi, a RSS Swaymsevak, got him connected to then RSS Prant Pracharak Jayant Sahasrabuddhe and things got smooth. Soon Mahesh Deshpande (Vibhag Surkaryavah) provided adequate space, at Dadar West, for establishing Samtol’s office. SubsequentlyHindu Sewa Sangh, a RSS affiliated organization, provided 1 acre land to Samtol in Mamnoli village of Thane district to organize ‘Mun Parivartan Shivir’ in order to ensure these children could be reconnected to their roots

A Field Team member of Samtol since 2008 – Lakshmi Mukadam – shares several reminiscences about successful rehabilitation of innumerable street children like Babloo. She recounts the episode of fifteen year old Saddam Mohammad, who had fled from his home at Ghaziabad in U.P. annoyed by the physical harassment by his father. In just five months of his railway platform existence – he had picked up many self-destructive habits, including tobacco addiction. 11 year old Vijay from Azamgarh in U.P was also on similar lines. Whether it was eight year old Zahid who had left Bihar for Mumbai in search of livelihood or the two young boys Veer and Shakti with the urge to see skyscrapers and airplanes - all of them were spotted in the dark alleys of railway platforms – and subsequently rehabilitated.

Vijay Jadhav recollects the several emotional scenes when these children were reunited with their parents on the closing ceremony of the 45 days long Transformation Camp. He remembers how Saddam’s mother Zubeida Khatun had given tearful blessings to Samtol team on being reunited with her beloved son. Similarly, after attending the Camp, Babloo had fallen at the feet of his parents on being reunited with them.

According to long-time Samtol activist Supriya – it is indeed a herculean task to first bring these boys to the Shelter and subsequently making them agree to undergo the Transformation Camp. Many amongst these children are deeply addicted to drugs and other bad habits, which prompts them to mislead Samtol activists through false statements. The Transformation Camp comprises psychological counseling, sports, Yoga, speech, moral education, exercise etc. that ultimately bring about total transformation in their personality. According to Vijay ji – Samtol came across 70 children whose native whereabouts remained untraceable. Hence, such boys were sent for education in R.S.S. run different academic projects in states possessing their linguistic orientation. Every month, around 100 to 150 such children who flee their parental homes and come to their Mumbai in their quest for greener pastures are found by Samtol activists. Then the noble mission of transforming their tragic destiny from darkness to light is initiated all over again by the dedicated Samtol team members – fostering the eternal service motto of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.