Dear humans of this society,

I hope this letter finds you well and hoping that you are enjoying life. I feel a little weird asking this question, but, "Is it really true that the highest power above us created all of us with same ingredients" — My mother says so, she also mentions that everything that happens to us is already planned, and we are destined to a certain life we are about to experience. Is it really true? So is it really fixed, this life that I am living every day? If you would have asked me about it a few days earlier, my answer would have definitely revolved around the rules my mother taught me, but now things have changed. Things have gotten better. Not that all of a sudden the situations that we (my family, friends and neighbourhood) are dealing with have changed, but something is different. I went to school for the first time in my life, and I had so much fun. We learnt new things and also started writing alphabets.

For a long time now I have seen kids running towards their school buses every morning while I was on my way to work. My mother told me I have to work because I need to support my family, I had no other choice. However, I cannot help but notice these kids, all dressed up with shiny faces, you can clearly notice oil on their faces which their mothers have applied with a lot of affection. I didn't know what school was then, but they certainly looked happy going there. Now I know why. These days I also insist my mother to dress me up, to put oil on my face. These are happy days. All these years of continuous suffering of my family and the people around me, and the stories that this unbearable lack of literally each and every resource on which our body survives has been our legacy passed on from our ancestors, made me believe that maybe it is true. Perhaps I really am destined for it, the suffering, the continuous search for food every day and start again next morning. But now things are different as I told you so. And I hope it stays this way because I don't want to go rag-picking again. I hate it there and at those shops where people treat me at worst.

Oh, did I mention that my mother also told me about angels? She used to tell me stories of angels who helped the people in need and that happening used to change their lives forever. I always thought that the only angels I knew were the ones who used to give me money when I was roaming on streets with shattered clothes. I think my teacher is also an angel. She taught me so much. I had so many difficulties in solving math sums, but she helped me every time, and she also praised me.

Today I heard my friend's parents saying that they have to reconsider whether he should go to school or not because the family needs support. I really want him to go to school with me. He likes going there too. I don't understand why we always have to go the extra mile to get something. My teacher told me education is basic. Everyone should have access to it, that's why they are helping me and my friends to learn with them. Those kids living in a big houses, they never asked for books, it was given to them. My mother says they are privileged, but what did we do wrong not to be the same as them? I am not allowed to complain, they said it is my fate. You tell me, is it too much to ask for something that the teacher mentioned as basic?

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[ This letter has been written to reflect some light on the topic of how these innocent children are so easily been deprived of most of basic necessities of life which includes education, hoping this letter translates to you some of the thoughts and emotions these children go through at such young age in their lives.]

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[Written by - Ritu Kumari Vashishtha]