Work for education

Yesterday I boarded in a direct train from Govandi to Andheri while returning from TISS. As it was a direct train it halted at Wadala station for around 10. At around 19:47 hrs a young innocent looking boy with some eatable fried items entered the train’s first class compartment. I was the first one whom he requested to buy his fried eatable item. I told him that I don’t eat these things. He felt low & requested me to buy it as he wanted to sell his first packet to someone nice so that he’ll be lucky & will be able to sell all his packets. I asked him "what makes you think that I’m a nice person." He replied “my intuition.” I didn’t agree & didn’t want to spend any money to purchase something that I don't eat. He then requested me to buy as he’s a student & requires money to fund his education. I quickly without any hesitation purchased his eatable item. He then got down from the compartment by thanking me with a smile.

Thoughts & Reflection: -

This incident made me emotional & sad. Just like this young innocent boy so many boys & girls have to work for their living & for funding their education. Childhood & teenage is a time when a person should get to play, enjoy life, be a bit carefree & shouldn’t have many responsibilities as he/she is going to have a lot of responsibilities, won’t be able to play have to be careful when he/she’ll grow up. Although I’m born in a financially stable family but as my family practices individualism & I didn’t want to be a financial burden to my family I started working at the age of 20. I saved my salary to fund my education. I know how difficult it is to work & study together which I even did while doing my Masters in TISS. So many young children work to generate funds for their education. Many countries have free education system & have many Government schools. They do that as an investment. The more the number of educated people in the country the better is the future of country as the country has skilled labour. The educated people are able to distinguish between right & wrong & their activities are mostly for the welfare of the country.