Geetanjali Krishna: Aneesh, upwardly mobile

In life, inspiration comes in many guises and often from the most unexpected quarters. It came to me last month when I had the opportunity to chat with Aneesh, a young boy waiting to set off to the US for higher studies in the next few days. What, people may ask, could have been so inspiring about that? I’ll just let Aneesh’s life story speak for itself.

Born into a dirt-poor family from a tiny village in Odisha, an eight-year-old Aneesh was sent to relatives in Cuttack to study. Although his relatives weren’t unkind, the mischievous boy chafed under the restrictions on him. “Even then, I think I had adventure on my mind...,” he said, recalling those days to me. One day, when he realised he was in for a severe beating after a mad caper, the little boy simply boarded a train. “I didn’t know where it was going or what I really wanted to do,” he said. He had a foggy idea that the train would eventually take him home to his parents. Of course it didn’t.

Instead, Aneesh found himself at the railway station in Delhi, starving and penniless. “A good Samaritan got me a meal and a job at a tea shop near the station. I hated the work, I had to sleep on the pavement, but at least I was able to eat!” he said. Soon he realised that he had run away from a restrictive home life, but had exchanged it for one that entailed daily beatings and drudgery. “I used to cry every night, wondering if I’d have to live like this till the end of my days…” he recalled. But fate had better things in store.

After a couple of months of living on the street, someone told him about Salaam Baalak Trust (SBT). “It was a place where kids like me could live and study, eat and play,” he said. “I saw so many children exactly like me!” Initially, Aneesh just spent his time going to school, playing cricket and recovering from the rigours of his life on the streets. “Then, finally, I found the guts to return home. When I entered the village, people greeted me like a lost hero! I was one of the rare adventurers who had left the village...and returned,” he said.

His family was overjoyed to see him and wanted him to stay with them. “But I now saw the village with the eyes of a city-dweller. My years on the street had made me too practical to want to stay home at the cost of the future I could have in Delhi. Eventually, I returned to SBT, determined to make something of my life,” he said. Armed with this new-found sense of purpose, Aneesh started studying more seriously. He became conscious that he had to make his own future. “Last year, I applied for a one year cultural exchange programme to the US and got selected for it,” he said.

Excited and apprehensive, Aneesh was gearing up to leave for the US when we met. “When I lived on the pavement, I could’ve never imagined that my life could change so much for the better,” he said, “that I’d have so much to be thankful for…” As I listened to him making his plans, plotting future career paths, it seemed as if Aneesh’s fairytale story with its happily-ever-after ending represented much more than his own good fortune. It symbolised hope that a runaway child sleeping on an uncaring city pavement could grow up to a better tomorrow. Aneesh knew how lucky he was: “For someone with an itch in his feet and adventure on his mind, I’ve come a long way…” he said. I couldn’t agree more.