Farhatullah Beig’s photographs peek into childhood in India’s hinterland.

Each frame is a story. Of their innocence and promise, of their deprivation and the obvious disparity, of poverty and everyday suffering, theirs and their parents. Above all, Farhatullah Beig’s photographs — 60 frames in total — titled, “Child Profiles — Stories from the Interiors” are grains of truth lived in remote India, triggered by our flawed policies.

To drive home the point, the snapshots by the Hyderabad-based Beig — displayed at the India International Centre Annexe, New Delhi till early this week — zoom in on children and teenaged youth from diverse backgrounds in four districts of Andhra Pradesh. The result is a documentation of a range of experiences being lived by scores of young citizens of the country today, some full of innocent smiles, some definitely not.

Beig, an alumnus of MCRC, Jamia Millia Islamia, has divided the exhibition into different parts. While one focuses on school goers, one is on child labour. There is also a section illustrating the everyday hardships of parents and how their children are a part of their work life as benefits like day-care centres as stipulated in the National Plan for Action for Children 2005, and National Policy for Children, 1994, are yet to reach them. A string of photographs also highlights the extra burden of a girl child in a poor household playing the role of a mother to her younger siblings.

Shot last November in 20 days, Beig’s snaps are telling. Sample this: A frame freezes children greedily having a mouthful at a school under the Government’s midday meal scheme with a photograph of Pandit Nehru painted on the wall in the backdrop. Its caption points out Nehru dreamt of a country with healthy children, while the midday meal is the only source of some nutrition to them. Then there are shots which focus on the lack of information among common people regarding child labour laws and also how misuse of power has forced many parents in these areas to avoid teaching their traditional crafts to their children.

Beig’s endeavour, part of a project of Oxford University, U.K., will soon travel to Hyderabad, Mumbai and Chennai.

Tags: Farhatullah Beig, No kid stuff