scribblings

One hot afternoon, about 30 years ago, I was walking back home after the daily darshan of Parthasarathy Swami. A particular pregnant woman was walking in the area and seeking alms. She came towards me and asked me give some money. 

As a 10 year old kid who was walking alone, I had a only a 25 paise coin and gave to her. She got wild and asked me why I was giving such a small sum and asked for atleast 1 rupee. I got angry. I asked her to return the coin, took it back and walked home, plainly ignoring all the choicest abuses that were rolling out from her. 

Since that incident, I had a policy of never giving any money or help to beggars. It hurt me that much.

Back to earlier this evening. We were waiting for a vehicle in front of Madhya Kailash temple. An old man walked up to us and asked for money. I gave him a 5 rupees coin. Some coins had dropped from my wallet. As I was picking them up, he claimed they were his and he had only 1 rupee in his hand. When we reminded him that he had 5 rupees in his hand and whatever was on the floor were not his. He started to abuse and demanded atleast 20 rupees or more. 

Me being myself, I was going to take back the 5 rupees and get into the vehicle. I was pulled away from doing that. My brother had to physically pull me away and shove me into the cab that had arrived for us to leave. The choicest abuses were going on today as well.

Times change. Quantity changes. Behaviour and incidents do not change.

# posted by bharath : 10:45 PM  0 comments