Of late, I have been visiting my home-town once every fortnight. As it has been two weeks since my last visit to home, I got my things packed and started off on Saturday morning. I took an auto-rickshaw from my place to the bus stand where I planned to take an interstate bus to reach home. As we were waiting at a traffic light, I observed an old man, dressed in dirty, shabby clothes, holding couple of packs of cotton buds (swabs), going from car to car trying to sell the buds to the people in the car. The buds were of cheap make – probably made at home and didn’t look good. As I observed him go from car to car without succeeding in selling any buds, I felt sad at his plight.
I personally don’t like beggars coming at me asking for alms. I believe that a person should work to earn money and however bad things are, should never ask for free money. Now, this old man at the traffic light is trying just that. Instead of begging for money, he is trying to make money by selling the cotton buds. However, his mistake is in believing that people sitting in air-conditioned cars would buy his cheap buds. He is selling his wares to the wrong demography. I wonder if he even realizes that. Or possibly, he did try to sell the swabs to the lesser privileged and was not successful so he is targeting people of privilege now. It was, however, clear that no one is interested in his merchandise.
When the old man approached the auto-rickshaw in which I was sitting, I, like others, tried to ignore him. When he saw that his latest target too is moving his face away, he couldn’t resist but hit his stomach conveying hunger and then spreading his hands asking for alms. Seeing this, I felt really sad. I asked him the price of the buds and he said it is five rupees. I took a five rupees coin and gave it to him saying that I don’t want the buds but he can keep the money anyway. He thanked me and then moved on to the vehicle behind me.
This incident made me reconsider my general hostility towards beggars. Some probably do try to make money through whatever petty jobs they can lay their hands on but end up failing. So, accepting their failure, they turn to begging for alms. Though it still is wrong, the incident made me at least not to condemn everyone begging on the streets and show some pity by giving alms.
I personally don’t like beggars coming at me asking for alms. I believe that a person should work to earn money and however bad things are, should never ask for free money. Now, this old man at the traffic light is trying just that. Instead of begging for money, he is trying to make money by selling the cotton buds. However, his mistake is in believing that people sitting in air-conditioned cars would buy his cheap buds. He is selling his wares to the wrong demography. I wonder if he even realizes that. Or possibly, he did try to sell the swabs to the lesser privileged and was not successful so he is targeting people of privilege now. It was, however, clear that no one is interested in his merchandise.
When the old man approached the auto-rickshaw in which I was sitting, I, like others, tried to ignore him. When he saw that his latest target too is moving his face away, he couldn’t resist but hit his stomach conveying hunger and then spreading his hands asking for alms. Seeing this, I felt really sad. I asked him the price of the buds and he said it is five rupees. I took a five rupees coin and gave it to him saying that I don’t want the buds but he can keep the money anyway. He thanked me and then moved on to the vehicle behind me.
This incident made me reconsider my general hostility towards beggars. Some probably do try to make money through whatever petty jobs they can lay their hands on but end up failing. So, accepting their failure, they turn to begging for alms. Though it still is wrong, the incident made me at least not to condemn everyone begging on the streets and show some pity by giving alms.
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