Rourkela: A widow and her two children, one aged around two and the other five, are surviving on leftover food here. At first glance she looks mentally ill. But when this correspondent tried to find out her background, and what forced her to scavenge for food, everything fell into place.
After a brief conversation the woman, Ranjita, 38, spoke about her struggle to survive. Her day starts with daybreak. After getting up, the first thing she does is to look for a roadside eatery. She begs either to get some food from them or for some coins so that she can buy food for herself and her children.
On some days she is not so lucky. In that case she has to eat leftovers. After getting something for breakfast they usually take shelter in the corridors of shopping complexes or under trees.
As noon approaches she and her children again go out searching for food. If there is any function, a marriage or any other event, she will be found there sitting with her two children waiting for someone to give them a plate of food. Sometimes the wait ends in eating leftovers from discarded plates.
The situation is the same in the evening and at night, and they finally end the day on a shop verandah or footpath.
Ranjita says, “We move around searching for food. While some people help us, some are not so generous. They often drive us away. In that case, I give my children leftovers from discarded plates. ”
When Ranjita is asked from where she comes from, and why she is begging she says nothing but cries.
“I am not worried about myself. The thought of bringing up my children is haunting me. Once they grow up I can die peacefully. If it happens otherwise, who will take care of my children,” she asks, looking at her children with tearful eyes.
In this Steel City, it is said that there are many employment avenues. But it seems that nothing works for Ranjita, who looks much older than her age. “I cannot afford to leave my children alone and go for work,” she adds.
In Ranjita’s struggle for survival, her two children, who are too young to think why God has given them such a miserable life, are the victims.
Recently, the world observed International Women’s Day, but women like Ranjita who wander on the roads went unnoticed. The numerous schemes and programmes of the governments are nothing but a bad joke for them.
PNN