Children these days have been struggling with a lot of issues — firstly the pandemic which led to secluded online studies and then the dealing with a constantly changing grading system. The latest addition to their woes is the cutting down of their playing spaces.
An army of brave kids from Shringar Apartments in the Satellite area of Ahmedabad recently took matters into their own hands. They left an extremely quirky notice on the walls of the society to alert the adults of their displeasure.
In the notice, the children gave a stern warning to the adult members for not parking their vehicles in their play area until the festivities of Navratri gets over. They even mentioned that whoever parks in that space will have to pay a fine of Rs 250. The children are in school, studying in classes between 1st to 9th grade.
Upon noticing this brave call of children for protecting their right to play, team VoI tried to reach out to a few people related to this matter to get the gist.
The children’s call for action went viral after Gaurang Raval, a youth activist and co-founder of Sauhard NGO, and also a resident of Shringar Apartment, posted the plea of children on his Twitter account.
“Spaces, in general, are getting trapped across the city and the children are finding it difficult to find a playground. So generally, they start playing in the parking lot of the society. Vehicles and two-wheelers are also increasing,” Raval said, adding, “In our residence, there is no common space here except a small basement where children play cricket.”
He also threw some light on how this issue has become pertinent for many other children living in different localities as well. “I think it is not a question of just my society, it’s for everybody. People have written on Facebook that the parks are also being converted into parking areas,” he added.
Jagdish Riyani, a resident of Shringar Apartment, said, “People just park their vehicles wherever they want. There is space for parking, but still they just park haphazardly. If one person does it wrong, everyone else just follows the suit.”
He also agrees to the fact that the society members should have taken the initiative, but it’s human nature of people that no matter how much you pester them, people do whatever they want to eventually.
“It is not as if there is no space here. People just need to learn how to park their vehicles properly,” he said.
Naresh Gopalani, a resident with a 6-year-old son, Vivang, said, “The children took this step without asking anyone. After they posted the sign, adults have stopped parking their vehicles in that space now,” Gopalani added. Gopalani said as a parent, he feels extremely proud and happy that his son was part of this initiative. “We were really happy and surprised to see this,” he added.
