When Ankubai Gudilu’s 17-year-old daughter Durga left for Brazil to participate in the fifth World Social Forum, her community members at Sanjay Nagar slums, Jogeshwari (E), said she had been sold off and would not return.‘‘But my mother rubbished the community riff-raff,’’ laughs Durga, an FYJC student at the local Shree Samarth Vidyalaya night school.Durga — perhaps the only person from her Vaidu Samaj, a denotified nomadic tribe, to step out of Indian shores — and others were selected by different NGOs.Back from her 11-day sojourn, inside a 10 ft x 12 ft baalwadi, Durga says her trip was an experience of a lifetime. She smiles as she recounts her experiences at WSF. ‘‘I couldn’t make out who was poor,’’ she says. ‘‘It was only when we made friends and chatted that I realised they had issues too: drugs, trafficking, exploitation and discrimination. Their situation is similar to ours.’’She spoke on the housing and education rights of a child, ‘‘central’’ she emphasises, to any kind of talk on ‘‘justice or human rights’’. ‘‘I also spoke about the demolitions in Mumbai and its effects on children’s education,’’ she says.Durga, for one, doesn’t want to get married soon. She is determined to be a director of an organisation that works for the rights of women and children.
