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Liberated manual scavengers sing songs of their troubled past

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Press Trust of India New Delhi

A group of former manual scavengers today joined poet Gopal Das Neeraj at a poetry recital here organised to celebrate their 'rebirth day' after being liberated from the demeaning practice of manual scavenging.

Guddi Athwal from Alwar, Rajasthan communicated her turmoils through her poem 'Ateet Ka Dard (Painful Past)'.

"I have penned down my feelings in this poem about the day when I was asked how did I feel when Pathak sir carried the human waste to experience the difficulty of the job", she said.

Now, Athwal lives a dignified life after she gave up the menial job and enrolled herself for a vocational training programme by social organisation Sulabh International.

 

Baby Nanda recited her literary piece 'Wo Achoot Kanya (That Untouchable Girl)' and recalled her days when she could not understand the reason of social ostracization.

"It is indeed a rebirth for these women as they are able to live two different lives in one birth. Earlier, they were illiterate and now they are writing their own poems", said Das.

Poets Deval Ashish, Shashank Prabhakar and poetess Mamta Sharma joined to celebrate the day with former manual scavengers.

The NGO spearheaded a campaign to rescue women from this social evil in Alwar and Tonk, districts of Rajasthan.

"They are free from the stigma of untouchability and social discrimination. They have joined the mainstream of society," said an elated Dr Bindeshwar Pathak, founder of Sulabh International.

  

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First Published: Jun 07 2012 | 5:05 PM IST

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