For them, helping others kick addiction is mission possible

BHOPAL: Once vagabonds, loitering on platforms of Bhopal railway station and more often intoxicated with drugs, Nirmal and Sagar (names changed), both teenagers, are eking out a decent livelihood now.
It all started around 10 years ago, when Rajeev Dixit, principal, Government Habibia Boys Middle School, Station Area, noticed the duo. With the help of a Bhopal-based NGO, Aarambh, and Government of India's Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, of which Dixit was a part, there began a mission to rehabilitate Nirmal and Santosh."We were working for children who spent major part of their day on platform, often involving in anti-social activities like inhaling drug and stealing. Nirmal would often indulge in thefts," said Dixit.
For the two children, around 10 years of age then, addiction to drugs gradually became a thing of the past. Aaramb, which works for implementation of Childline project under the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, motivated them to join school. The two attended day school at the NGO's Indrapuri centre and another NGO, Bachpan's night school at Bajaria in the old city successfully completing their primary education.
What followed next for the two was more help from other sources, including a retired bureaucrat, some NGOs and schools for their higher school education. "With consistent remedial classes, we noticed a positive change in the children. This prompted us to educate them further. Their education and associated expenses were mainly sponsored by a former IAS officer," said Archana Sahay, director of Aarambh. "They were later shifted to a shelter home, Ummid, at Ayodhya Nagar in the city," added Sahay.
So was Nirmal's passion for judo that he learnt the sport and won prizes at various levels. Vocational course ITI was something that came next for the duo.
Nirmal and Sagar's lives tell a different tale now. They are out of those dingy corners of Bhopal railway station, away from a dissipated life. "They work as electricians and earn a good living for themselves and their family," said their mentor Dixit proudly. "Nirmal even makes it to Rs 10,000 a month," he added.
"It feels nice that they are completely out their habit of drugs. Influenced by the tale of these two children, even Nirmal's brothers, who were into rag picking and other menial work at the railway station, have chosen decent work to make a living," Sahay said.
"For me, the best day was when Nirmal completed his ITI and flaunted me the bike which he bought on his own," she added.