Children of The Pyre

http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/rs-1-lakh-crematoria-children-join-schools-786

March 24: “I want more people to die.” The chilling statement was not from a psychopath killer but a 15-year-old vettiyaan working at Manikarnika, India’s busiest cremation ground at Varanasi. Like this Raja Choudhury, scores of children working in cremation grounds across the country may now pick up school bags, thanks to a filmmaker who has made a touching documentary on their miserable lives by the dead.
Children of the Pyre made by internationally known filmmaker Rajesh S. Jala, touched several hearts, including that of Rajesh Jeganathan heading the Billroth Hospitals here, who announced a donation of Rs 1 lakh to help get the crematorium kids to schools. “Big thanks to Chennai. This is the first time I got such a big donation for helping those children in Varanasi. My film has won several awards but only now I get the feeling that I have succeeded in my work,” said a beaming Jala, responding to the Billroth donation.
Mr Rajesh Jeganathan said rather than treading the beaten track of holding one-day health camps, the hospital decided to donate for the education of poor children. “Rajesh Jala is well known for speaking out on the problems of children. We were shocked when we learnt about this film on the sufferings of the children in Varanasi cremation ground,” he said, promising more aid for such kids.
The hospital has also decided to help a Kashmiri boy portrayed in Jala’s ‘Floating lamp of the Shadow Valley’ dealing with the tragedy of kids in the Himalayan valley in permanent strife.