BEDRAGGLED boys hawking magazines and trinkets at traffic crossings in the national capital would irritate nine-year-old Saumitra Khuller to no end.

He never thought he would some day re-enact their lives on stage.

Today, Khuller, a class four student of Delhi Public School, Vasant Vihar, has a totally different insight thanks to a theatre workshop he attended and where he reprised the role of a street child who begs for a livelihood.

His love for acting made him join a workshop for children in the 9-14 age group conducted by noted theatre director Arvind Gaur at the India Habitat Centre.

The 10-day-long event earlier this month opened his eyes to the trials and tribulations of street children.

"I used to get irritated when they used to run after my car - but not any more," Khuller told IANS. He said the workshop, organised by NGO Katha, gave him a deep insight into the lives of street children.

At its conclusion, Khuller along with 20 children from well-to-do families enacted the play 'Ansuni' (Those whose voices are unheeded) that was actually three playlets. One depicted the manner in which a schoolteacher inspires a gang of street children to focus on educating themselves.

Photograph: Carlos Alvarez - Getty Images

In the photograph: Theatre group Els Comediants peform on stage during the 'Bacardi Solsticio 08 Tour' press conference on June 18, 2008 at the Lara Theatre in Madrid, Spa