Scribe sells pics to donate clothes to kids on closed tea estate
For the past few weeks Sanjib Mukhopadhyay, a scribe by profession and a photographer by passion, was busy on the streets of Alipurduar in north Bengal selling pictures of wildlife in the foothills of the Himalayas he clicked over the year.
His objective: Raise as much money as possible to gift new clothes to the children of two tea gardens that are lying closed in the area.
“My hawking exercise started three weeks ago and ended on September 27, the day of Saptami. I was able to provide new clothes to 1,440 children of the closed tea garden workers...” he told HT.
Tea gardens in West Bengal are going through one of the worst crises. About two dozen gardens are closed and till recently there were regular reports of deaths of workers due to symptoms related to malnutrition. Last year, about 70 such deaths were
KOLKATA:
reported from the gardens, the majority of which were in the Dooars region.
A resident of Alipurduar, 44-year-old Mukhopadhyay is a journalist with a Bengali daily, Uttarer Saradin (The Day in North Bengal).
The condition of the workers and their children in the closed tea gardens of Madhu and Ramdhura close to his home pained him a lot.
Mukhopadhyay first tried selling his pictures last year to gift clothes to the children. “But I managed to cover 610 children only. This year, I began with a target to reach 1,400 children. I happy to have surpassed it,” he said.
“To attract buyers, I also arranged musical programmes at my temporary stalls ...” he said.
“With whatever I earn, I take care of my children... During the festive days, the difference between our children and theirs becomes glaring. As a social animal I responded to the call of conscience,”Mukhopadhyay said.