Station in Life
PATHIKRITSAHA 26 Food delivery executive, DUM DUM, WEST BENGAL
“I REALISED IT WAS EQUALLY IMPORTANT TO NOURISH THE MINDS OF STREET CHILDREN—THROUGH EDUCATION”
Pathikrit Saha always dreamt of living up to his name, the ‘path-breaker’. The moment came in October 2013 when Saha, then 20, travelled to Belpahari village in West Midnapore to spend a few days in tribal villages. On the day of his return, he asked some children what they would like as gifts. “Tiffin box,” they all replied, to carry home leftovers of the mid-day meals served in school and share them with their siblings at dinner. “I realised what hunger means. I was soon back at Belpahari, with tiffin boxes, clothes and stationery for the children,” recalls Saha. His next call of awakening came in August 2015. While boarding a local train from Dum Dum Cantonment near Kolkata, a seven-year-old child held Saha by his trousers and begged for money. An embarrassed Saha slapped him. The next day, full of remorse, he returned to the railway station with cakes and biscuits for the boy and his friends. “The only way to dissuade these hungry children from slipping into begging, pick-pocketing or drug peddling was to provide them food,” says Saha. “But I realised it would be equally important to nourish their minds—through education.” Within three days, Saha launched an informal school on two platforms of the Dum Dum Cantonment railway station, with five young students. He named the school ‘HELPP...’. (The additional ‘P’ and ellipsis, he says, signify that his enterprise will be a continuous effort.) The initial attraction was the tiffin he offered—rolls, chow mein, momos, fruits. Ten more students enrolled, mostly children of railway vendors, sweepers, beggars and daily wagers. Saha handled the bulk of the teaching, also taking help from some of his qualified friends. He even introduced yoga, meditation, dramatics and excursions in the ‘curriculum’. Gradually, Saha’s students started graduating to formal schooling. In 2016, he admitted 39 of his students to three government schools in Dum Dum. His own school has, since then, shifted to a room in his neighbourhood. This insulates the students from the hardships of street life for a good part of the day, believes Saha, who himself had a difficult childhood. At age 10, when his father’s business collapsed, he had to give up schooling and take up odd jobs to help run his family of three. To finance his school and meet his expenses, Saha works as a delivery executive for Zomato. He makes it a point to distribute the cancelled food orders among his students. The generosity has earned him the nickname of ‘Roll Kaku (uncle)’.
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