It was a usual day for Rohan; a nine year old boy belonging to a lower middle class Indian family living in a small town in Madhya Pradesh. A boy with lots of sparkling dreams in his eyes… till he lost his father last year. His father wanted him to study and bring a good name to his family. But destiny held something different in store for him.

His father met with an accident when he was returning home from work; he was hit by a car. The drunken rich driver fled from the place leaving the family struggling for one square meal thereafter. That was a black day in his life it seemed to him that everything had come to a full stop. Now his dream of studying and making his father’s wish come true had been drastically molded by his own destiny. This was the time when he actually hated his childhood and wanted to grow up as soon as possible to support the family consisting of his mother and a small sister, chhutki.

Fortunately, he was given a job in one of the firework factories and he hoped all his dreams would come true. He now wanted his sister to study and fulfil the dream of his father. But life was certainly not kind to him at all. The young innocent children were put to work in gruelling circumstances. He was among those children who were put to work for long hours in a choking environment that was silently pushing them to death. The work would require the children to carry load even heavier than their own weight. But the circumstances at home had made Rohan come of his age. He was working day and night to make both the ends meet but could hardly do that because of low wages. Besides, he even bore scars of being tortured for not so important reasons.

It was just another day for Rohan. Diwali was fast approaching and he wanted to bring the goddess Lakshmi at home for pooja. Like the other day of his work, he got up early as it was the day when he would be paid for his hard work. The glowing smile on his face was the mirror of his heart’s happiness. Today, he will not only be paid for his hard work but will also be given off for next two days as of Diwali. He had listed all the important things he would buy for the festival which included some sweet for his family and crackers for his kid sister. All these thoughts made him feel on top of the world. He left home for work singing merrily all through the way.

It was 2 pm in the afternoon when there was a big blast in the factory. Next day all the newspapers were flooded with the news of the blast, the loss to the factory owner and 50 people died because of it. News channels had got the news for the event to flash on for the next whole week. The rescue work was still going on to find out if there was somebody alive. Rohan’s mother was waiting for him outside the factory so that they could bring home goddess and decorate the house for the event. But destiny was really cruel. All the questions remained unanswered. The next day the newspaper had a little story covering the suicide of the mother and daughter.

(This is a story dedicated to children who lose their lives while working in pathetic conditions in various factories at tender age. We can help eradicate this evil practice by not buying crackers. Together we can make a difference. HAPPY CRACKERLESS DIWALI..!!..If you agree to this, do let me know through this forum)