Jeroo Billimoria, then a faculty member of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), regularly received a number of calls from children on VT railway station, asking for help. The seeds of CHILDLINE were sown by the urgency of such calls and the fact that all of these were late in the night; after all other voluntary services were closed for the day. Each time, Jeroo had to rush out to take these children to hospitals, police stations, shelters, anywhere to get help.   

The need of the hour was a day-night emergency service that these children could call at any time for help. The
service had to be widespread and
round the clock, keeping in mind that
the street children are a mobile unit
and that help might be needed at any time of the day.  

A telephone outreach service, backed by an extensive, round-the-clock network of support and crisis intervention seemed
to offer a solution. But the important part was having a number that these children could call in anytime, knowing that help was at hand.  

The toll free number 1098 provided by
 the department of telecommunications proved to be an efficient link. But the
most challenging aspect was yet to be handled. It was going to be no mean feat to spread the word about the hotline, to make it catchy and easy enough for every child to remember. This was important if the helpline had to be successful.

And as usual the solution came from the children who eventually had to use it. At a meeting with the
treet youth to discuss the launch of the service, one of the children saw what all grown-ups had failed to see. And then it seemed so obvious!

“Didi, it’s an easy number to remember,” they said, “just – dus-nau-aath!”

There it was. We decided to publicize the number as dus-nau-aath (ten-nine-eight) instead of calling it one-zero-nine-eight.

This was just one of the insights coming from the grassroots level that have helped us reach 54 cities today and respond to over 4.5 million calls from children and concerned adults.