He's walked the tightrope at a circus, boiled cocoons at a silk unit from 3 am to midnight waiting for that odd powercut to provide a break, been part-time ragpicker and a fulltime beggar on the streets of Bangalore. A long CV for a 13-year-old but the past isn't what Nagaraj likes to talk about. Though he can still amaze you by sprinting across a parapet in true circus style, it's his skills with the brush that this blossoming artist is most keen to show off. Having already found buyers for many of his works, Nagaraj can not only afford to stay off the street but even fund the education of two other child labourers.
A childhood lost and a childhood regained. It's a transformation that very few of the country's 12.7 million child workers can make. But in Bangalore's Born Free Art School, art is making that leap of faith possible. Seventeen-year-old Raja was a ragpicker before he began giving shape to stone. Not one for drawing before he starts pounding, Raja says the picture's clear in his mind's eye. "Art needs discipline and concentration. For instance, a sculptor has to beat a stone 30,000 times before it takes shape. Many streetkids come here with a drug habit but it's art that weans them away," says John Devaraj, a sculptor who has founded this school.
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