Giving Children a Chance - Part 4

DHEERAJ

Dheeraj, 15, lived with his parents in Punjabi Bagh. He claims that he smoked ganja and biris but never had any other intoxicants. But his case history shows he had used inhalants for nearly a year.
There are two large tattoos on his arms for which he remembers paying Rs 180 in Karol Bagh. “All the boys had them, so I too went along,” he says. He also acknowledged that it was the same kind of peer pressure that drove children to substance use. 
Dheeraj says he bunked classes every day. He would hide his school bag behind bushes and then roam around with his friends. After he had had his drug fix, which he bought with stolen money, he would retrieve his bag and go home.
But his lies were soon detected and he was brought to SPYM by his mother.

ANISH

This 12-year-old boy from Rajashan is, as SPYM’s counsellor Ms. D.S. Anuradha says, “a very delicate case”. He rarely answers questions, and when prodded tends to repeat the question. For instance when we ask, “What substances did you abuse,” he is barely audible as he throws back our question at us, “what substances…” And then he retreats into some private world of his own from which it is hard to pull him out. This is the pattern throughout our session with him. 
It took long for the counsellor to get him to admit that he begged on the streets to buy ganja, inhalants and biris. The boy never makes eye contact and fidgets all the time, showing clear symptoms of extreme depression and disorientation. Even though it is obvious that he wants to get away from us, his face betrays no emotion. Nothing moves him or interests him and so it is of little surprise to discover that he has no friends at the centre. 
Anish was admitted in May and soon after admitted to a hospital for a month.
The boy took a train to Delhi last year and spent several months on the platform and on the streets. With him too it was the same depressing story. His father would beat him and abuse him daily, and the counsellor believes that he took to drugs to escape the constant torture, threats and humiliations.

SOHAN

This 14-year-old is among those who look cheerful and are ready to admit to substance use. He started with chewing tobacco and smoking biris, and soon got addicted to smack, inhalants and ganja as well. He speaks haltingly and at times one suspects he has flashbacks of his bad memories. During these spells he becomes nervous, wringing his hands and avoiding eye contact. His father sells bangles and trinkets for a living.
Sohan took a train from Ferozabad, where he lived with his parents, two brothers and sister, to meet his maternal grandmother in Delhi.
He says he got down at Nizamuddin railway station and then headed for Shahdara. There he was spotted by a child helpline and taken to the CWC which contacted his mother. It was she who took him to SPYM, which sent him to hospital where he spent about a fortnight. 

(Keep watching this blog for more stories from SPYM’s centres)

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