At his tender age, he runs a business of scrap metals and plastic with his immediate elder brother, aged thirteen, to help repay family loans.

Sumon, his parents and his two brothers share a low cost single room at road no 26 of Rupnagar residential area under Mirpur. He and his brother get up as early as dawn and go around the Rupnagar area to trade scrap things.

Trapped in poverty, driven by desperation, the youngster was forced to venture into the city's murky crime world. Sumon admitted that once, he even engaged some other children to go around and steal merchandise for him from different neighbourhoods.

"My family fell into a loan trap and lost every single penny fighting a pilfering case after I bought an old water pump from a scrap seller. I understood that the pump was stolen from somewhere nearby but did not care much for buying the pump because I had not stolen it myself," he said on Thursday to this correspondent, who passed whole day with him and his friends and family.

"My father is a rickshaw puller, and he was badly beaten up by area residents, who handed him over to the police declaring he was a thief," Sumon said.

He said that all his family members were working hard, but for various reasons, the amount of loans were increasing regularly rather than being repaid.

His family has borrowed at least Tk 70,000 from different sources within last two years.

Rowshan Ara, mother of Sumon, said that her husband moved to Dhaka from Borguna about 9 years ago with his family.

"Hard days were fixed in our fate from the beginning in Dhaka. In course of time I got a loan from an NGO and invested in the scrap business. I also took loans from wholesale buyers of scraps. My second son started the business at the age of 9 and now Sumon is running it," she said.

Sumon's mother expressed perpetual anxiety for her son, because of the risky nature of his job. He frequently gets injured while handling metal scraps at the shop, she reported.

"Last Monday evening, when he reached home, I was horrified to see bloody bandages wrapped around his head and arms," she said. Sumon explained that an accident had occurred at his shop while unloading a heavy scrap pack from rickshaw van. An iron rod hit the back of his head and the pack fell upon him, causing his injuries.

Everyday Sumon reaches his shop by 7.30 in the morning to wait for wholesale buyers, after having arranged for some merchandise from the retail scrap sellers. He said,

"I learnt every skill of buying and selling scraps, even tricks of manipulating the measuring scale."

From sunrise to sunset, Sumon works hard with hardly any scope for leisure, except when he can play Ludo with other sellers and friends at his shop. He has time to relax only in the evening, when he roams around the whole area.

Dealing with the retail scrap sellers and wholesale buyers, as well as collecting and sorting scraps is his daily task. He also has to manage police and influential locals for running the business, though in the last 4 to 5 months none of the police or local musclemen have sought money from him.

Sumon's story is just one of many. Urban poverty has forced many children into similar situations. In fact, all of Sumon's friends are other slum and street children, who are making their living with various odd and risky jobs on the streets.

"My friends are really very nice, we may have quarrel among us on different issues but we are united when we fight against other children from adjacent areas. My friends also helps me in keeping my business territory safe from other scrap traders in the area," he said.

Do you have any girl friend? Hearing the question he smiled shyly and said, "No, but I know some girls of my age who have become bad and earn their living by doing bad jobs with aged males. I avoid them."

About NGOs who work on child rights and aid the working or street children, Sumon said he did not know of any. However, he reported hearing from a girl who was under shelter of an NGO that the NGO workers often beat the children up.

"I like to travel and learn in free and open places. I also like schools with big fields because children at a school have a lot of freedom and learn," he added.

When asked what he would do if he had no burdens, he said, "I could educate myself at least and try to be a man of law."

Sumon dropped out from his school two years ago when he was in class four, but now he is preparing for admission to a school with his own effort. He said, "I gave money and my documents from my previous school to a teacher of the new school. I hope to start school from next month."