Summary of the Lesson: Sahib and Firozabad

Part 1: Sahib and His Circumstances

Background

• Encounter with Sahib, a boy who migrated from Dhaka
• Sahib's family moved after their homes and fields were destroyed by storms
• Currently living on the outskirts of Delhi
• Digging through garbage dumps for livelihood

Education and Broken Promises

• Sahib doesn't attend school due to lack of schools in the area
• Narrator lightheartedly asked if he would attend a school started by her
  • Sahib agreed and inquired about it later
  • Narrator realized she made an empty promise
• Broken promises are common for children like Sahib

Observations on Poverty

• Most children, like Sahib and friends, are barefoot and never owned shoes
• Those with shoes wear mismatched ones
• Barefoot children seen across the country
  • People explain it as tradition, but it's likely a sign of widespread poverty

Visit to Seemapuri

• Seemapuri: on the outskirts of Delhi
• Residents live in mud and tin houses, lack water and drainage
• No identity papers, only ration cards for food
  • Food is prioritized over identity
  • Prefer Seemapuri to their home country where they starved
• Rag picking is the livelihood of adults, but a source of hope for children like Sahib
  • Children sometimes find money among garbage

Sahib's Changing Circumstances

• Sahib admired tennis players one morning
  • Wore old tennis shoes but might never play the game
• Later seen with a steel canister working at a tea stall
• No longer carefree, now working for someone else

Part 2: The Bangle Makers of Firozabad

Background and Introduction to Mukesh

• Firozabad: families working in dark rooms, hot furnaces making glass bangles
• Mukesh belongs to such a family but aspires to be a motor mechanic

Living Conditions

• Visit to Mukesh's home in a locality with stinking lanes, crumbling homes
• Mukesh's family embarrassed despite years of hard labor
  • Family profession continued for generations

Child Labor and Hopelessness

• Locality filled with children and parents making bangles in the dark
  • Children often go blind before adulthood
• Enforcing child labor laws could free at least 20,000 children
• Pervasive sense of hopelessness in Firozabad
  • Old lady mentioned never having enjoyed a square meal in her lifetime
  • Youngsters feel trapped, fear police harassment

The Two Worlds

• Poverty-stricken bangle makers vs. middlemen and authorities
  • Cycle of poverty and exploitation continues
• Narrator is cheered by Mukesh's modest dreams
  • Indicates next generation might escape this web of poverty