Perhaps the most tragic thing, many of these children will never be anything more than a brick layer, or a seamstress, a field hand or many other low paying laborers. With an estimated 900,000 children going missing in India each year it is highly unlikely any major changes are going to take place.
In this moment I was able to see the hopelessness in the mother's eyes. Mom looked very malnourished. Her child was no better, if anything much worse off. When mom gave her baby that bottle I was able to see everything she was saying without her even saying one word. I've never witnessed hopelessness like that before, let alone experienced it. I've never been in a place in my life where I didn't think I could climb my way out or thought it would work out. I've always been the optimist and the hopeful one. When I saw a mother giving her crying baby girl a bottle full of water, I was able to see a mother that was trying to cherish her last precious moments together as painless as possible. She knew that they both didn't have much time. Their lives were probably coming to a close as mom wasn't able to work, produce milk or do anything that would better their situation. And as my cab drove past her and her baby girl my heart felt a pain it had never felt before.
