Bleak future ahead for Nandigram's children

Sourav Sanyal
Sunday, November 18, 2007 (Kolkata)
Lost in the months of violence and politics in Nandigram are the cries of homeless children, of splintered families of young mothers suddenly left with no future.Children in Nandigram are under the dark shadow of violence for months now. They have been living in cramped shelter with just their tattered clothes on their back, lucky if any morsel of food came their way.Now, finally there's some excitement, a much-needed change of clothing. So what if they are old or oversized, at least winter will be a little bit warmer and less bleak.''I am scouting for clothes for myself and my brother, we are dying of cold here. He's crying for clothes and I am trying to find something for him,'' said Azimuddin.''I left everything at home because of trouble,'' said Hanuar.For now, the guns have fallen silent over the fields of Nandigram but those who survived the bullets are only left with shattered dreams.Seventeen-year-old Sabina Yasmin is from Shatengabari, one of the epicentres of the turf war between the CPI(M) and the Maoists-backed Bhumi Uchched Pratirodh Committee, saw her future go up in smoke when her house was torched on November 6.A bright student, Sabina wanted to be a nurse and there are many story like hers.''I dreamt of becoming a nurse one day which is why I used to work for the health department and go out for pulse polio campaigns. Now, there's no hope. My dreams are shattered,'' said Sabina Yasmin, resident, Satengabari.''I can only achieve my dream if I can go back home. But where do I go? I don't even have a house now,'' she added.Reign of fear in the region seems to have rendered many children at home.''I want to study and want to go to school. There's so much violence all around that it's impossible to go to school. Fear is keeping us back at home. When we try to go to school, goons attack us,'' said Sahana Khatun, resident, Jalpai.This is Nandigram's reality today - homeless children, families battered and bruised forever. Radia Bibi, a mother of four, lost her husband to bullets on November 10.''What about the future? My children are so young. What will happen when they grow up? Will they find a job? They are still studying. Who will buy their books? Who will buy their clothes? Had their father been alive, I wouldn't have worried. He didn't leave us a penny,'' said Radia Bibi, resident, Nandigram.There are children who yearn to return back home so that they may resume their studies.''I want to return home. I want to go back to school and study,'' said Noor Alam, resident, Nandigram.As in any conflict zone, in Nandigram too the biggest casualties are children. Victims of a hostile society ripped apart by 11 long months of strife and bloodshed.Hundreds of whom are now living in camps staring at a blank future for no fault of their own.