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Is there a future for me too?

Love In The Time Of Despair

No!" screamed the scruffy little boy, as he huddled into a squalid corner of Central Station, Madras, "I won't come with you. You'll dig out my eyes and sell my kidneys." He was tired and hungry but he did not want to die - not yet.

Father Gregory looked at the filthy urchin with compassion. He quietly took out the letter and the identity card that had been given to him by the Commissioner of police. "It is quite natural that they are scared of strangers," says Father Gregory. "In fact, the first time we approach them, they look at us with suspicion and fear."

These homeless waifs are then taken to Don Bosco's Anbu Illam (House of Love). "Once inside the house, we try to find out other details about their families. Most of the time, they refuse to tell the truth. Though we try to reunite them with their families, some parents do not want them; they are just happy to see them live somewhere else."

Till these homeless urchins were picked up from railway platforms and streets by Father Gregory and other members of Don Bosco, they had no homes. There was no one to love them, to hug them or care for them. They begged, picked rags and roamed around while

Father Gregory with his numerous 'children'

their bodies ached and stomachs craved for food. A full stomach, a roof over their heads and someone who would love them were just dreams, till they reached Anbu Illam.

Raja, for example, did not like the idea of spending his time with books. To the extent that he looked upon books as his enemies. Nobody in his house at Kumbakonam showed any interest in his well-being. Finally, unable to bear the cruelties of his step-father, Raja ran away from home. He roamed the streets, and somehow managed to survive until he was brought to Anbu Illam.

Books, though, still rated at his pet hate. He would stay back and watch as his peers acclimatised themselves to books at morning school. Until, one fine day, the unexpected happened - Raja told Father Gregory he too wanted to study.

Today, Raja is in the eighth standard. He studies at a nearby school. He has just rushed into Father Gregory's office with a bag, pad and paper to take his 'Daddy's' blessings. He was on his way to write an examination. "I want to be a doctor one

They can't do without their 'Daddy'

day," Raja said seriously. "I am sure I can."

The concept of a 'House of Love' began more than a hundred years with Father Don Bosco, who went around the streets of Italy picking up and caring for unwanted and uncared children. He arranged shelter for them and became their surrogate father.

Eleven years ago, the act was repeated in Madras. As another priest, Father Vincent Xavier roamed the streets at nights, witnessing the plight of street children. Father Gregory was a member of that team. Today, Father Gregory himself is a familiar sight as he takes to the streets of Madras on his scooter. With the help of Brother Andrew and the other members of his team, Father Gregory attempts to follow in Don Bosco's steps.

"Some of the children do not want to go back," explains Father Gregory. "In such cases, we try and inculcate a sense of discipline in them. The children find it extremely difficult to follow a set pattern since they're used to a disciplined life. Which is why we've introduced the pre-school system, which the children prefer to call morning school. It is not exactly a school,

Learning a living

they are quite free there. We prefer to follow the Don Bosco system of love, mutual trust and freedom."

Meanwhile Anbu Illam conducts an individual case study of each boy, before deciding on a suitable rehabilitation programme. Some are inducted into the two wheeler mechanism, some opt for tailoring or driving while others want to study. "We create an ambiance where they can be themselves and grow," says Father Gregory.

Seventeen-year-old Moorthy has been here for the last nine years. He attends to the telephone calls, studies in the school and looks after other small kids. He is their anna (elder brother). "I don't have anybody," Moorthy says matter-of-factly. "I wanted to study, but who would send me to school? Ever since I wound up here, this has been my home, my life, my everything."

But some of the kids do go back to the place where they think they belong. "For some petty reason, they run away," says Father Gregory sadly. "I once saw one of our runaway inmates at Central Station. When I asked him why he had run away from Anbu Illam, he said one of the boys hit him. I asked him if he was willing to come back so that I could question the other boy in front of him. He returned, and he is here to date. If I had not met him there at the station, he would have gone away. But, then, that's life!"

Father Gregory squarely blames the government for this pathetic state of affairs. "In India, it is easier for children to

Back to school

get jobs as compared to their parents. What drives so many children into the streets the governmental policy which makes the poor, poorer, and the rich, richer."

Meanwhile, Ganesh, another resident of Anbu Illam abandoned his battle of chess in the morning class to find out what I was doing there. Soon, he was talking at length about his life. "It's my birthday today. I hope my mother visits me. I am waiting for her. I didn't know what a birthday was till I came to Anbu Illam. I didn't know I had a birthday. All days were the same then, without food, school or peace. My father was a drunkard," the teenager says quietly. "He used to drink every day. And once he was drunk, he would beat my mother and us children."

One day, it became unbearable. And Ganesh ran away from home to escape that hellish atmosphere. "It was only after I reached Anbu Illam," smiles Ganesh gratefully, "that I knew about love and being loved. Today, 'Daddy' and the other children sang 'Happy Birthday' for me. I am so happy, I don't know how to express myself. 'Daddy' will give us toffees later."

When Ganesh first came to Anbu Illam four years ago, he hated the fact that he had to follow a time table. He could not comprehend the fact that he had to eat at a particular time, bathe and trim

Father Gregory

his nails regularly. "Today, I have understood the value of discipline in life."

Ganesh rarely washed his clothes or bathed with soap till he came to Anbu Illam. "If I ever asked for soap at home," he confesses, "all I got was a thrashing. Here, I get a new cake of soap as soon as I ask for it. Besides, I did not know anything about games before I came here. Now I play football, chess, basketball, cricket and volleyball. And I go to school. I want to study and I want to join the military when I grow up."

"Since they've lived a different life," explains Father Gregory, "it is difficult for most of the kids to take to studies immediately. We do not force any of them. When they are mentally ready, they automatically tell us their desires. Just as Raja and Ganesh have goals they want to achieve, so do many other children."

All the while, Father Gregory has been followed around by a little lamb called Narendran. "I want to be like 'Daddy'. I love him so much that I don't know how to express my love." And Narendran hugged his 'Daddy' so tight that Father Gregory found it difficult to breathe.

Narendran, who is only about seven or eight years old, was forced into the streets by grave poverty. He comes from a family which is so poor that it cannot even afford one square meal a day. One day, his uncle left him at Central Station at his father's insistence.

"I was very, very hungry. My uncle works in the trains, I

I like to have my meals on time

think. When he left me there, I was so frightened. He told me that he would be back soon, and asked me to pick plastic cups and other things for a living. There were so many kids at the station that we fought for empty coffee cups."

One day, Father Gregory came on a scooter and rescued Narendran. "I was brought to this house in an auto rickshaw. I came here only two months back, I think. I like Daddy very much. I go to the morning school and I like Brother also very much. He has told us that the earth moves around the sun and that's why we have days and nights. I like days because days are bright, I like starry nights too. He also told us how we get rains, how lightning comes." Even as he talked, Narendran kept clinging on to Father Gregory.

Though Suresh says he is 14 years old, he looks only 10. An ever smiling, affectionate boy, he too did not like to leave the side of Father Gregory. In fact, Suresh and Narendran follow Father Gregory all the time. Suresh wanted my phone number and address so that he call me. "Sister, I'll call you today itself. Will you be there at home to attend the phone?" He was laughing as he danced all round the place with my phone number.

Suresh is just back from a long stay at the hospital, where his anna lay ill. It was anna who taught him vehicle mechanism; Suresh loves him so much that he constantly wanted to be at his 'anna's side. For several days, Suresh also lived and slept in the hospital and returned only with his fully cured anna.

"I'd like to see my mother, but I won't go home. My step father is very cruel, he burnt my chest once. I'd rather stay

The Anbu Illam family

here where I have a Daddy and I have so many brothers. This is my home now. Do you know," says Suresh with an omnipotent smile, "I have gone to many places, including Bombay? I can talk in Tamil, Telugu and Hindi."

Today, many Anbu Illam inmates work as auto rickshaw drivers, rickshaw pullers and taxi drivers. Sixty of them are employed as sweepers by the Madras Municipal Corporation. In the past eleven years that have marked Anbu Illam's existence, 120 of its inmates have got married and have raised their own families. This, for the inmates, is a bitter-sweet moment, like it is in any other close-knit family. For, once they are married, each member of Anbu Illam leaves to set up his own home.

Photographs: Sanjay Ghosh