How to deal with the beggars

Flyer

Geminitu.....

I would agree with you if we were a talking about beggars in Canada where I live. I regularly give to charity but rarely to a beggar on the street. I KNOW they have other options.

However, from what I have read so far, India is a completely different story. For whatever reasons, some people will be relegated to begging because they have to. I don't know who is who, and I would have great difficulty walking by a child begging. Buying them a meal is not practical so I will be handing them money.

Nick...good point. But the difference between a driver and the beggars is volume. I would not hesitate to give beggars a couple of hundred rupees per day.

What do you think about the idea of giving many beggars a small amount of money...say Rs5?? That would avoid "encouraging" them and ease my conscience a bit, while getting some of them off my back (sorry to be so crass).

I realize there is no right answer here. I guess I was hoping I would get the extremes and hopefully operate somewhere in the middle. As my signature says, I need to learn from the mistakes of others.

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Flyer
Learn from the mistakes of others.....you'll not live long enough to make them all yourself.

Jasmin

Yes, quite agree cyberhippie. It kind of reminded me of 'illegals' that try and enter the US. At one time they would try and sneak in quietly and hope for the best. Not anymore. I have heard that those US citizenships who own land on the Mexico/US border live in fear and carry guns, as they have come face to face with violence. When you think about it, what would YOU do? If one has hungry children and all that could change if only you can get over the border unnoticed, wouldn't you give it a try at least? Fact is when poverty and wealth live side by side, you are either going to get begging, or you are going to get gun trotting gangs demanding some rights.

The sad thing is that in India, we cannot say that dalits or poor people 'ought to go back to where they came from'. Because they are where they are from. They are natives of a land that will not accept them as equals. Not only that, but they are the same colour, race and carry the same genes as the ones who look down on them. To me that is a very big injustice. One way or another, their 'lot' in life has to change, sooner rather then later. It would be a tragedy if these downtrodden people get so fed up that they decide to take the law into their own hands. It is even concievable that they may get help from others from abroad who see the injustices against them, which could mean things could get very difficult. I know there have been and are steps and laws in place to help people like the dalits to let them progress (in education etc), then why are there still children begging in the streets? Obviously a lot still needs to be done. Anyway, just my two cents.

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batistuta

You will need to keep lots of loose change if you do decide to give beggars Rs 5 as you will be swamped by beggars depending on the place you are going to visit Flyer.
If you do keep aside rs 200 for beggars and if you give Rs 5 min then you can give money to 40 beggards and i think it is a good idea .Must be bad luck if you encounter more but dont be surprised abt it and do take the middle path as you were about to do yourself.

Flyer

Thanks for the comments, Batistutal. I realize I will not be able to give to everyone, nor will I be able to ignore everyone.

I expect to spend about Rs 200,000 for my trip, so 200 per day will not be noticed. Having read a large number of comments now, I feel more comfortable with the middle of the road approach.

Nick-H

It's a good idea. You have to set a limit.

A friend of mine once said, 'if I won the lottery, first thing I'd do is pay off my friends' mortgages'. OK, yes please! But my mortgage at the time was £50,000: twenty friends like me and he'd be skint again!

It's a bit like buses too --- go out with change to give to beggars and you probably won't meet any!

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Flyer

Thanks Nick. I am feeling a lot more comfortable about this now.

lotus blossom

The begging situation in Majnu ka tilla seems to have reached an all time high, the worst I’ve seen it throughout the six years that I’ve stayed here while in Delhi. The same faces everyday when I go out, I sometimes, depending on my mood, will offer to buy them fruit, generally a banana/kala.

I’d be lying if I denied having a few favorites (the more humble ones): a gangly young man with leprosy who walks on a gnarled foot, a young girl who I took a few photos of one day while I was out in the street with my camera. Funny, after the first snap, she threw off the dirty, old shawl she was wearing and put on a pose with hand on hip. They also don’t try and bid up a banana for a more expensive piece of fruit that they will then sell back to the fruit vendor at a reduction. I often wonder how many times mangos are sold and resold before finally being bought and consumed. A banana is only Rs2 each; so buying a round of them will not break my budget, nor will it yield any return, so there is no selling it back to the vendor.

There is also a youngster who shines shoes for a business who will sometimes ask me for a banana. He, along with the other half a dozen boys running around here with brush in hand, never succeed in getting my business; I just tell them that my shoes are going to get dirty again anyway. Plus I don’t like the chemical laden polish that they smear all over shoes.

There are days that I dread going out into the colony and dealing with the begging and their endless persistence. There’s one teenage girl that particularly annoys me, the way she follows me until I reach my destination, calling me “baby”.

I’ve been living here for well over a month, so some of them know that I’m gonna keep on walking, so don’t even bother asking, moving onto the newcomers. But most of them still persist, sometimes chasing me down the road.

I’ve started playing a little game with it to try and inject some humor into such a trying situation. I try and see if I can get from Point A to Point B without being accosted, darting behind people walking ahead of me or beside me, or at times I tell myself that I am invisible, cloaked. I’ve been successful a few times, which is no easy feat given the sheer number of them that are roaming the streets with outstretched hand from sunup ‘til sundown.

I aksed my friend who has lived here all his life about the begging. He told me that the problem has really grown recently because a few kids took home such good money (Rs 500 per day) and the word spread fast that this was the place to come. From what I’ve witnessed it’s the monks and tourists (probably short term) who are doling out the money.

I’m happy to feed people food, but, just as when I encounter an outstretched hand at home, will not give out money. Offering food is also a quick way to ascertain who’s really hungry. Many of the beggars here decline my offer of fruit, or, as I’ve said, will ask for the most expensive selling item on the fruit cart. One day I saw a tourist buying an old woman a mango. He handed it to her, only to have her refuse it and want a bigger one! But then, I guess that is what beggars do best - beg.

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robotvoice

lotus blosum,
That is a heartfelt post. I think fruit is a good idea, you should keep at it.

sirensongs

Naa....that requires entirely too much exertion. The whole idea is to do nothing!

Elderly and severely crippled beggars are one thing. But with the kids - don't give them anything at all, not even biscuits. Not even attention! Anything at all you give them encourages them to stay out of work and/or school.

I personally know examples of normal school going kids whose parents, once they saw the $ kids brought home from wellintentioned tourists, overnight became scruffy professional beggars. Hey, they were bringing in 500 Nepali Rs a day - two days' wages! - just for sitting at the tea stall looking cute. Who needs school?

If you really want to help,why not tip the 12 year old kid washing glasses at the tea stall? or sweeping the dhaba floor? he is working hard and it would encourage him to keep doing so. When he sees us hand the do-nothing beggar kid 50Rs and that's what he makes for a day's work, what does that tell him?

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georgt

in my opinium you should give to beggers, just follow your instinct to hand out your change to whoever that comes to you asking for rupies and you think he is worthy.When I had coins on me I never let them to be kept in my pocket and gave it away pretty quickly, sometime I felt sorry that I couldnt prize the one I wanted because out of change, but that how is life for everybody, sometime up, sometime down.

canoeberry

Just back from our trip to South India with our 2 kids. I took along a large supply of yummy children's chewable vitamins to hand out. The children who were begging were of course a bit disappointed not to have some rupees, but in general the vitamins were well received. More expensive than candy, but we felt better that we were giving out something that was good for them. It was really nice to have something like that to share with kids who were just curious and friendly. Fruit is a nice idea but not always practical.

georgt

to hand out things different then money is rather a sensitive matter in india, so I realized while travelling around and sometime offering food that I had bought to taste and not finished it, to young beggers who grabbed the bag swiftly with experience or voracity, letting me understand that my deed was appreciated but left them unsatisfied, for they kept following me quitely maybe hoping for more, also I heard them to complaining about receiving eating goods and not money, the reason it is simple, nobody dies for starvation in india and the beggers are out in the street for money not for dickensian tokens.
I remember a little girl who after I gave her half bag of fried sweeties I had bought at the rail station, first she ate them with joy and pleasure, then she stood near me and start to draw on the floor, with her greasy fingers strange figures which I could not interpret, they could be woo doo, or positive wishes I cant tell, the point is that I was impress also from the fact that this little girl didnt leave me till I got in the train.
This is just one example, however I can say that in general I noticed that everytime I handed out eating stuff the receiver went through an emotional change, maybe happy maybe frustrated.

Nick-H

canoeberry, I appreciate your intentions, but what good is a vitamin boost for one day in the life of a child?.

In my opinion this is a waste of money; it would be good, maybe, if you could repeat it every day for months, but for one day? I don't think anyone should do this.

They probably think you're giving sweets anyway.

You might as well make it easier on your pocket and give locally-bought fruit if you want to give something healthy.

canoeberry

I agree that locally bought fruit is better when practical, but most of the time we can't carry around fruit and the vitamins you can have all the time in your bag. It is just a friendly gesture, that happens to not be bad for them. And yes they think we are giving away sweets! But I do think this is better than giving away sweets.

Maywind

Every time a child came begging at me, I stuck out my hand and cried "come come, chocolate!, give me chocolate!" - they were so confused they always stood still. Just like the touts who shoved goods in my face, I laughed and said "lovely!" - they turned right around, and didn't bug me anymore. Reverse psychology

Please don't think me cruel. I gave plenty to disfigured persons who did not approach me.