This
is a narration of an incident which took place with me about 2-3 days
back. I live in a 2BHK apartment with my friends and so we have hired a
cook for us. On Monday I went with Vikas and Ankita to the foundry where
we are doing our project and when I came back I saw that there was no
food left as unexpected guests had arrived on flat, so I went out to
find something to eat. There is a small shop just behind my college,
rather exactly in front of my college's back gate where we get a food
item named 'Machurian Paav'. It is a unique item in the whole area and
it's quite good. I decided that I'll have this one and have a cold
coffee. I ate my order and was waiting for my cold coffee just then a
little kid came to me. He had shabby hair, dirty clothes and held a dirty Aluminium plate, ofcourse he was the kid of a beggar. He
came to me and in a very cute voice said, "KAAPI!" I didn't get what he
said at first and so asked him again that what he said and he replied
with a grin. I understood that he wanted to say coffee. I asked him
whether he will drink it himself and here only, and he agreed to it. I
told the uncle that prepare one more cold coffee, just then my eyes fell
on a cute little girl wearing a cute little white frock. She was his
sister and she was going past us with their mother. I called that little
girl and told her to sit and told the uncle to prepare one more in the
first two cold coffees. They both sat quietly smiling. I checked in my
wallet to see if I could find some more money so that I could add one more
for their mother but to my sadness I only had Rs.50 with me and also
there was no balance in my bank account that day. What happened next
brought tears in my eyes. The order was ready, and the uncle kept 3
glasses on the counter. Both the kids tried to grab the glasses from the
counter as soon as they were kept but the kids couldn't reach the
counter so I asked them to wait and I served them myself. I finished my
glass and then got up to remove my wallet to pay the uncle for the
snack and drinks.
Just then I saw that both the kids drank about 3/4th of glasses and gave the remaining of the coffee to their mother.
I felt ashamed for not ordering a drink for her just due to lack of
money. I could have given her my own but I don't know why I didn't do
so. Even now tears roll down to my eyes whenever I think about that event. Even though the uncle thanked me for being kind and avoiding
giving money as by giving money I would have only given Rs.10 (Yes, I
give Rs.10 or Rs.20 to beggars and not Rs.1 or 2) to them and that would
not have been enough for them to fill their stomachs or quench their
thirst but still I feel bad for being a little bit selfish.
Every afternoon I roam the area to find those kids again so that I could correct my mistake and may be even take them for a lunch.
Through
this post I want to tell you all that instead of giving money to
beggars especially when they are kids or old people buy them something
to eat or drink. They don't have the capacity to work hard to earn money
for living. They didn't choose that life by their own will, it were the
conditions which made them turn towards begging. But if there is a
woman perfectly healthy standing near and asking her little kid to beg
GO AND SCOLD THE MOTHER and tell her not to ruin her child's life by
forcing him/her to do this. Instead find some work where she can earn
proper money everyday, which she can use it to feed her kids.
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