India has a population of  1.02 billion people (2001) , with  22,000 languages and dialects and 2000 castes and sub- castes. My observations here can only therefore be based on my own experiences and are in no way a  stereotype of such a vast continent.

A large proportion of the World's poorest population live in India, according to Shahsi Tharoor " The Elephant, The Tiger and The Cellphone" 260 million people across India surive on less than $1 a day . 40% of the population are illiterate ( Kerala exempted) and 60% of women are illiterate

As I travelled over 3000 miles across India through many different terrains, cultures and sub-cultures, I was amazed at the wealth and poverty of this nation.

My focus was children, schools exist in abundance both private and public schools but many children live in conditions that do not allow them to go to school at all. They live on the streets, in road gangs, on farms, on plantations and along the side of the road.

I have seen children as young as 3 helping their mothers pick crops in the field, sift through gravel and cement on the side of the road, working as part of the road repair gangs.

Ad I travelled around Delhi, the number of street beggars overwhelmed me, the majority of them being children aged 6-7 with even younger siblings aged 1-3 on their hips. They  run around the traffic queues knocking on car windows begging for food or water. many street children die through road accidents as they dart in and out of traffic coming down busy motorways and dual carraigeways.

I lost count of the number of children living under fly overs or on roundabouts in this heavily polluted city, with barely any clothes and no footwear covered in dirt and sores , often with coughs, runny noses and bleary eyes. Roundabouts with railings often act as playpens for children younger than 3 who are placed there out of harms way (the traffic) and crawl around as they cannot yet walk in the dirt for hours at an end whilst their parents and older siblings go off in search of food and water.

It was heart wrenching to see cases like these and the sheer number of them overwhelmed me. It is difficult to contemplate in this day and age of modern technology how children can still live in conditions from the middle ages. How can we justify babies crawling around on exhaust fumed roundabouts, starving and penniless whilst yards away people in posh suits and expensive cars sit revving their engines  ..... oblivious to the inequality that exists in this world?!

As I travelled high into the mountains and out into the dessert regions, I saw many different tribes and castes living in traditional ways. Poverty has no dominion in India and exists in many different forms in many different areas. 

 Many of the children were orphaned and because of the language and educational status of some of the people I met, it was not possible to gain permission to use my cameras or footage of the sights I saw. How can you explain to someone who has never seen a camera , the purpose of this project?  So my film is a reflection of the sights and sounds of India not a study of schools, as the children I met along this journey live in the school of the streets and the school of poverty.

 So instead I ask you to use your imagination and own research skills using the www to find out more about these children.

I asked myself a question ...

Are we doing enough to help these children that I see on my travels? 

I now ask you the same question.........

Charline:  charlineevans@hotmail.com