Tokai caught in a vicious cycle

To the younger-generation newspaper readers, the cartoon character of Tokai may appear to be quite strange, if not grotesque or funny. In the mid-eighties through the nineties, Tokai served as a representative of Dhaka's ubiquitous street kids. The popular cartoon figure became an added attraction for the readers of now-defunct two Bangla newspapers --- Dainik Bangla and Weekly Bichitra. A creation of noted painter Rafiqunnabi, Tokai and his likes would be found roaming all over the city. He was completely rootless, floating and without any parental or family attachment. He would not bother about pastime or recreation, nor did he have any regrets for not being able to enter the children's parks. He and his fellow kids, however, did not have much dearth of amusements. Rafiqunnabi, in short Ronobi, would come across Tokai near dustbins --- looking for scrap materials. Tokai, a colloquial Bangla word for rag-pickers, used to walk up the streets of Dhaka, observe people and the city events in his unique way. These activities were the outlets of entertainment for Tokai. However, the cartoon character became an urban celebrity for his wry comments on different occasions and the privileged people.

However, apart from being a mirror of the lives of Dhaka's street urchins, Tokai also portrayed the carefree days of these kids 25 to 30 years back. Compared to the generally squalid and traumatised life the roaming children face today, the one back then was filled with scores of fun. Ironically, unhappiness also featured lives of the children coming from the middle and lower-middle classes in the capital. In the last three decades they, too, were subject to the rigors of a restrained life. Be they at home or school, the openings to simple recreation have continued to decline. The city has witnessed, apart from conventional children's parks, the growth of expensive amusement parks, theme parks, etc. The latter remain off-limits to the children coming from low-income families. Like in the past, the street children have little headache for pretending to be choosy while picking amusements. Yet a number of them would take the opportunity for visiting the government-run Shishu Park without tickets once a week. But luckless as they are, the increasing rush of the better-off families to grab the opportunity has eventually elbowed them out. They found themselves back to their original place, the streets and the barren grounds.

That lots of petty vices have long been vitiating the lives of Dhaka's street children is now a bitter reality. Beginning from low-dose drugs, pilferage to being used in sex trade, scores of teenage boys and girls now discover themselves trapped in the crime world. For many, exits from this vicious cycle eventually become a mirage. As a result, significant numbers of these rootless children are seen wearing themselves out to end up being victims of incurable diseases. Some are coerced into joining the dark world of crimes to become professional criminals later. 

During the anti-autocracy movement in the mid-eighties, Tokais were used as slogan-chanting agitators. On the Hartal days they were made to throw stones at stoppage-defying transports. This strategy adopted by a group of political activists had trigged outcry among the child rights groups.

However, due to the street children's social and financial vulnerability, they keep being mindlessly drawn to the adults' world. When children of their age go to school, many of them are found toiling away at dingy factories in the city. Lately, these mostly slum-dwelling kids are seen attending street-side literacy classes run by different socio-cultural organisations. Unfortunately, these enrolments are short-lived. The more urgent task of earning a living weans these kids off the literacy sessions. To speak tersely, our street children are caught in a dreadful cycle of social deprivations --- poverty being the most distressful.

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