I am Dilip and I'm from Kolkata, India. As far as I know I'm 12 years old but I'm not so sure. I come from the streets of Park Circus, a large district in the south of the city. I live with my Mama and my younger brother. We don't have a house but yesterday I found a new blanket so Mama was very happy. I like my home, it's not very comfortable but I am close to my friends. Every morning I wake up early and collect empty bottles from the streets. Sometimes I even take my brother and we go to the station at Sealdah. Running by the trains is always fun and we usually collect empty bottles when the crowds leave the platforms. Lately though it has been difficult because the weather is so hot, and we don't have a lot of water. Some of the kids on my street go to school but I can't. Mama says I have to work so we can eat, because she has no money. Before Papa left I went to school and it was fun. Sometimes I wish I could go back... In the evening time I like to play cricket in the street. We can play for hours and hours but I never get tired of playing, like Tendulkar!! My feet get sore though, my shoes were stolen 2 weeks ago so now I must find some more. Sometimes I sit on the street on Park Street, near McDonalds. There are always white people there with nice shoes. I wish I could have them but instead they give me 2 rupee. Someday I will be rich and I will buy a big house, some clothes and a pair of new shoes.
Half way around the world...
Half way around the world...
I am Iarlaith Pádraig McNamara, 21 years old. I'm Irish and proud. I come from a good family and have had a good childhood. I am well educated and well brought up having been given every opportunity to do what I want. I live in the countryside where the wind blows softly and the air I breathe is as fresh as God meant it to be. The trees are tall and the fields are green. The river by my house flows gently and peacefully. When I come home at night and the skies are clear, I stop and I gaze as the stars shine bright. The silence of life takes over as my mind is taken away by the mysteries above. When the cold starts to bite I walk inside to the heat and comfort of my house, where I rest for the night. I have a job in the local store and I'm well paid. A full weeks work usually puts €350 into my bank account. I'm doing ok. I study in the National University of Ireland, Galway. I study Spanish, Psychology, Sociology and Politics, and Geography. I like my subjects, but I don't love them. Sometimes I think I study for the sake of studying! What else could I do with my time? Well? I have a good life in Galway. I eat out often, and I can afford to eat well all the time. I play sports a lot. Sports have always been a passion. Football, Basketball, Cricket, Badminton etc. I like them all! I like music too, everyday, listening to my iPhone with my big headphones. I like clothes and shoes too. Nike Air Force 1's are a must have, as I wear my Hugo Boss and my Ralph Lauren. I like to travel too, when I have time. I boarded an airplane 34 times over the last 2 years. Yes, I have a high carbon footprint.
I have a lot to be grateful for, eh? I have no excuse, eh? I have had everything in life placed before me, the opportunities to be what I want to be, to be who I want to be, to do what I want to do! I have had the opportunities that more than half the worlds population wish they could say they had!
Why me though? Why am I here while they are there? Huh?
The happiest moments in my life belong in India, working with the dying as they lie on the streets. Working with the kids rejected as babies by mothers who felt rejected by life. It was those kids that helped to fill my heart with love and it was that discomfort of living in the searing heat and the absence of false happiness that leads me to want to do something with MY life. Because it is MY life, and nobody can take that away from me. I can do what I want with MY life. I can sit here and waste away living in the falsities of a world that loves itself or I can wake to the world that offers more, a fulfillment that I need, because without it, life will fail to live up to the expectations I have placed upon it.
This is my life and I have to live it, because nobody else can do it for me!!
