A young boy ran from a distance towards a public water tap, when he saw water gushing carelessly through the open tap. He washed his hands under the running water and quickly took a gulp of water as his breakfast. He then went into his thatched house to take a notebook and a pencil and hurried towards the school where he studied.
Muthu’s school had no more than a very basic structure, built out of roofing sheet and pillars. The sole reason Muthu and many like him studied there was because of the free lunch the school provided. It consisted of just a bowl of rice and dal (pulses), but for him, it was better than his morning gulp of tap water.
As soon as the post-lunch bell struck, Muthu started to run towards a factory away from his school. He worked in a small nearby firecracker company, as in his family every earning counted and promised a day less in starvation.
It was a normal day until the accident took place. An accidental fire took down the entire factory taking 56 casualties of which Muthu was one. His burnt and scattered body laid among the ashes of the factory. Is it fate to be blamed for Muthu not getting proper education; is it the system to be blamed for his family not able to have food daily, or is it the accident to be blamed for taking Muthu’s life? Only Muthu or someone walking in his shoes could tell. But he was no phoenix to rise from his ashes.
Syam S Nair 