begging - a necessary evil

sadhuji

‘Beg your pardon,’ is one of the first lessons we learn very early in life. Begging is not restricted to only the beggars we come across on street corners, on railway platforms and around temples but in every level of society. They have been trained to appeal to your motherly or brotherly or sisterly instincts, arouse your sentiments that influence you to part with a coin. If the coin is of a low denomination, you get a foul look in exchange. Most of these beggars work in an organized environment unlike the days of Oliver Twist and Fagin. Children are lifted, maimed and forced into begging; the ring leaders off load them at strategic locations, picks them up at the end of the day, pocket whatever has been collected and herd them together into a shelter for the night with little or no dinner. These poor kids have to fend for themselves throughout the day.

On a different plane, we are forever begging for favors, forgiveness, and mercy. Local politicians go begging for votes, those in the international arena go around begging for grants and aids of large magnitudes. The criminal begs for leniency and, before going to bed, we beg for forgiveness from God for all the evils we have perpetrated throughout the day. It is strange that we never think about God while we are busy working out strategies of how to pull down our colleague or how to swindle someone out of his dues.

All of us must have, at some time or the other, received e-mails begging for co-operation in unearthing millions of dollars stashed away in a remote part of the globe by a now deposed King of a place you have never heard of. Earlier, there used to be regular letters sent through post begging for charities to build schools or hospitals or old-age homes. These use to be within the country. But, with the advent of the internet, it has become a global phenomenon. Those who draft letters of this nature could make stones cry as they did in ‘geet gaya patharon ney’.

Whether we like it or not, we have to admit that begging has become an accepted way of life in the world of today, a necessary evil. ‘Beggars are no choosers’ has been modified to ‘beggars are choosers’ – they know whom to choose and how best to entice the unwary ones into their nets.

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mooning over a moon journey

PeakXV

...... but I don't Beg to differ on this fine post!

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We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

MeCasa

You're a smart dude, I know because I am too. I read what you write and I do spend time understanding, I have opinions but I won't take the time to type them out, doesn't mean I don't enjoy your posts

MeCasa

mridula

I did two photo posts on the same, people begging or selling trinkets.

http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfr...e-will-go.html

http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfr...te-or-how.html

I say, spend some time and buy food, instead of giving a coin to the begger.

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mridula

http://www.gonomad.com/traveltalesfromindia/

MeCasa

What do you mean, whose time? (then again, obviously yours), but whose the food for?

mridula

The people who beg, instead of giving a coin, I try and buy food sometimes.for them. That way it cannot be taken away at the end of the day. I know this is not much but still, this is what I do.

sadhuji

nice photos and thought provoking writeups. but, my observation has been that the kids who are forced into begging, love coins better than food because, the more coins they can dump in the laps of the fagins, the better dinner they will get.

mridula

Sadhuji, I agree the phenomenon is ugly and has no easy solutions. In fact if you have noticed, in the second post, I said, the kids wanted a Pepsi rather than food, because they knew I would not give money. But I thought, if they wish, I can keep buying food for them, just the little insignificant something that I can do at the moment.

Paagla Dashu

I share the same sentments.

However, I have a strong suspicion that Sadhuji is "spot on " (as usual) in this case.

maybe by giving food instead of money we inflict more cruelty (indirectly) on the children - because their masters do not like it when at the end of the day they are unable to hand over the "target amount".

I am confused.

crvlvr

another interesting read: http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/bhiksha/begging.htm

mridula

Dashu, I am still confused. I try to go by the yardstick that they can always refuse food if they wish to. The first time I tried this, the kids were quite willing to let me buy food. The second time I tried it, the kids were not so willing, and asked for pepsi and chips. So even I feel confused.

Crvlvr, thanks for the link.

bijapuri

I've never understood what the fuss is all about with street beggars, because whatever happens makes no real difference. They'll still be beggars and we'll still have money.

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Focusing your life solely on making a buck shows a certain poverty of ambition. It asks too little of yourself. Because it's only when you hitch your wagon to something larger than yourself that you realize your true potential.
Barack Obama

lookit me!!!: http://www.flickr.com/photos/bijapuri/

Utube fuzzy logic:
http://youtube.com/profile_videos?user=bijapuri&p =r