Child Labour and Diwali

Two of the many things I cannot stand. Here's the irony, I hate kids. I just cannot stand them. I refuse to entertain them no matter whose kid it is. So why am I against child labour? It just one main reason, it's disgusting. You want to exploit someone, do it to someone who's capable of understanding what you're doing. We have progressed from the age where a malnourished kid would stand for ages in coal mines with a lamp, straining his ears for the roar of an oncoming cart just so he could open the door and let it through.

Why the kid? Cheap labour? Someone who isn't smart enough to question you back as to what you're making them do? Exploitation is omnipresent. And not necessarily in what the world might view as a Third World Country. Leave the kids alone though. OK, the reference to Pink Floyd here is unintentional. My point is, as much as I cannot stand kids, its not like a run them over with my car whenever I see one. And that is not just 'cos I'd get arrested for it. However, my reason for hating kids isn't on discussion here. What I mean to say is that, no matter how big a nuisance they are, they don't deserve this. Everyone has their own nuisance traits.

Which brings me to the second topic in the title. Diwali. Festival of lights, spare me. If the firecrackers wreaking havoc on my ears and my dog's sanity aren't enough, guess which labour force makes these freakin' high decibel headaches? No bloody points for guessing the right answer. How many of you have been inside a factory producing firecrackers? You wouldn't want those work hazards on adults let alone kids. Your lungs, yours skin, your eyes, all go for a toss when you work there. Forget the employers, how could the parents do something like that? Your own bloody child!

All of you protesting with 'the circumstances force them to', 'Do you know that they're living way below the poverty (BPL) line?', 'They have no other option' and similar stuff please raise your hands. I know poverty in India is harsh. I would probably not know how harsh since I wasn't born BPL, but I am perceptive enough to know it's not going to improve if the kids are exploited.

My appeal? Do not under any circumstances buy any firecrackers this Diwali. Stop supporting child labour. It's not worth it. Not asking you to spare my ears or my dog's sanity. We can take care of each other. But before you buy that load of crackers and pyrotechnic amusements, please realize that a kid who should be in school and playing in the sunlight sat in a dingy dark room to make that. They don't deserve this and you can stop it.

Have a look at my world through the lens of a camera.
Visit Twisted Indifference at Flickr