Babloo
Every child deserves a parent like Babloo. Babloo’s Parents shifted from Rajasthan in search of better opportunities 30 years ago. At that time, the family was living in the slum area around Malviya Nagar. In the 90s, they were uprooted and were shifted to another place near Kalkaji called Transit Camp, a Ghetto. Babloo dropped out of school in the 9th grade and was married at 20 due to cultural practices. He does not hold a professional degree and conducts odd jobs trying to make living for his family.
"Mujhe toh thik se pta hi nahi chala jab meri shaadi hui thi. Ab akal aayi hai ki meri shaadi bohot jaldi ho gayi Nandini ke mummy se. Woh 19 aur mei 20 ka that jab shaadi hui. Ghar chalane ke liye naukari karna zaruri hai toh woh kar raha hu ab bass."
He started his career at a logistics company merely earning 8000 per month, which proved difficult for a family to survive in a city like Delhi. To overcome this difficulty, Babloo took a loan to buy a car to drive a taxi, now earning around Rs. 20000 per month. With a majority spent repaying the loan, Babloo ’s wife also started working as a Peon with a local school to earn some extra money, leaving both Nandini and her brother Ansh at home alone. When Babloo realized this was a problem, he began working the night shift. Now he stays with the children in the morning and leaves when their mother returns from work.
Despite working a 12-hour shift from 8 pm to 8 am, Babloo still finds some time for our workshops at 11 am. He does each activity with Nandini too. He shows the video to Nandini on every third day delivered via the Meraki Bot. Babloo believes that spending quality time with children is very important in order for their development in various domains of language, literacy etc.
"Nandini ne naye shabd seekhe hain. Woh ab mujhe daddy bulati hain. Ye shab usse pehle nahi pata tha. Yeh sun ke bahut acha lagta hain."
He appreciates the concept of short 5-10 minute activities to conduct with his children. According to him, these activities helped him spend peaceful time with his children during which he was able to forget about his work related stress and tension for a short while. When asked how often did he actually sit with the child, he just smiled and said, “whenever I find the time”. Due to his unpredictable job, he has been unable to build the ideal routine for his children but he is still trying hard and we admire his determination.
