Pens as Gifts?

So very well put..

Hi!
I will travel to India for the first time next week. I am quite bothered with the begging issue. I would LOVE to give them something if asked. But when reading this thread it seems most of you are absolutely against it. I wanted to take some small toys with me and marbels. I would not give the kids money. Do you think this will hurt so much? I also don't want to seem like I am the good Samaritan, it is just that I think that they are begging anyways and it is just nice to give something away. And what about the adult beggars? Am I not supposed to give them money? And what about the invalids? No money either???
Thank you for your advice!

PS: This is just a great site, great forum - thank you for doing this. It was so helpful with planning my travel.

'Gifts' of pens, sweets or whatever are tokenism at its worst. It takes the immediate pressure of begging off the donor; probably makes them feel better - but does very little indeed to improve the lot of poor Indians generally.

The best thing tourists can do to improve the general lot of people of India - they have already done in coming to India. The money they spend goes into the general Indian economy. Sure! I understand that much of the benefit flows to the 'corporates' - but the people generally benefit too - wages, tax paid etc

'Presents' simply make the country less attractive to tourists in that they encourage touting - that's irritating and counter-productive imho.

ok, I see...

Thanks for the answer.

Says it all, an elegant, appropriate and economical comment.

Kids don`t use pens in school in India.It`s either pencils or chalk and a board.The rascals sell them.Same goes for milk powder for little sister/brother.It gets sold back to the shop you bought it from for half price.Buy the kids some sweets if you want to give something.Or just give them some money.At least that way only they benefit.

Best way to deal with beggars is to just ignore them.It`s very rare that you`ll see a beggar ask an Indian for anything,other than at temples or Varanasi.It`s a fact of life that we can`t help everyone.If you let them get to you you`ll end up either very cynical or flat broke.Use your head and do what feels right at the time.Good luck.

No, they are not begging anyway; they are begging because begging is yielding results.

I can see you are a well-meaning person, but it is often people with good intentions who make things worse.

No one who has put himself/herself on display on the street is a genuine case. It is certainly a measure of their poverty that this is a better choice for them than any alternative activity, but it is still street theater, and giving them money/gifts makes things worse for everyone.

There are millions of genuine cases of unimaginable suffering in India, but giving to beggars on the street is just masturbation. (It is the same for Indians, who give because it makes them feel good. We are thereby able to block out the terrible scale of the country's problems, thinking about which would cause us to go mad.)

A few years ago, an Indian friend of mine spent several months in Dharamsala and would see the same beggar, an old woman, almost every day, sitting in the same place. I think he did give her a few rupies now and then. In August of that same year, my friend went to Ladakh for the summer months. And guess what? He was more than just a little surprised when he saw that same beggar in the streets of Leh. When he struck up a conversation, expressing his surprise, she actually admitted having come to Ladakh (BY AIR !!!) because there were more tourists there between June and September...

I don't think all beggars are like this, but I'm sure that this happens more often than we like to believe.

And I see the same man (who is mentally challenged) here in the winter months, and up in Mussoorie in the summer, when it is too hot here. I don't know how he travels, certainly at the least it would be 3rd class train, his clothes seem to be changed after every 2 months or so, when I guess someone gives them to him. He lives on the street.

Begging can be lucrative. There was an expose done of a woman in Toronto who would beg all day, then get picked up by her children in a back alley. They'd take her home in a Mercedes.

Ronald Reagan used to tell stories of people who were on welfare but drove Cadillacs. Unfortunately, he (like some others of his party) preferred belief-based thinking over reality-based thinking.

I don't know about N. America, but I do think that adult Indians are proud by nature and don't beg by free choice, but only because they are poor and don't have other good choices. Indian beggars are not people who could have gotten salaried jobs except that begging pays more. The existence of beggars is shameful and an indictment of Indian society.

I still don't think one should give money to beggars on the street. That just perpetuates the problem.

Every time I`ve been in Pahar Ganj for about the past 15 years I`ve seen a couple of Indian women in blue "uniform(?)",complete with clipboard,etc.,giving out a hard luck stories about poor Indian orphans.I`ve also seen these same women laughing together as they count out large wads of Rs100 notes.There are no charities in India who work the streets that way.Bear that in mind next time you are approached.

Well, not only India but every other 3rd world country. Come to think of it, I was hassled for money in London, Melbourne, Sydney, Paris, Lisbon etc etc as well......

Very true, ryler78. Also foreigners are begging in Paharganj - I have been hassled a few times on the few occasions I have been in that area. Sydney, particularly around the Railway Square area, is a place where begging will go on. I have no doubt in Melbourne as well.