Suddenly, this guy dressed in a lungi, came out of nowhere and stood at attention near my window. He then lifted his hand to salute to me. And asked me for money.
Under normal circumstances a hungry kid or a handicapped person manages to get money out of me, by doing absolutely nothing. I'm a sucker for people in distress.
Anyway, the soldier didn't appear to be handicapped or in need of clothes or food. So, on my sister's advice I tried to ignore looking at him. It's all in the eyes, like Ruskin Bond says. The minute I look into those puppy dog soulful eyes, I'm a goner. My sis is more resistant and smart that way.
Ignore,we did.
While this soldier went on trying to get our attention. From the corner of my eye I could see he had loads to tell. And no one to listen to. A guy walking past, laughed and mocked at this guy. I was still trying to muster up the courage to "ignore" in the truest sense. When I asked my sis if we could just give him a buck she very maturely warned me about the fact that the guy looked healthy and in no dire state. I demurely nodded and continued working on my ignoring skills.
And then all of a sudden, when I felt the absence of vigorous hand movements, I looked up and saw him. He had tears in his eyes. He nodded sadly at me, waved his hands indicating that he didn't want me to give him anything, and started to walk away. And that's when I felt my world shift.
That was it. I searched my wallet for some change, and was going to give it to him, when my sister stopped me by telling me it wasn't SAFE. I turned and watched him limp his way to another person who had more sense than me and gave him some change.
Hand or no hand. Sister or no sister. Safe or not safe. I took a five rupee coin and walked up to him and gave it to him.
You know what he did?
He smiled.
I made the soldier smile. I made a lonely soldier smile. And soldier he was/is. What I learnt today? Not for the first time.. I guess I'd forgotten... That everyone needs someone to talk to. And most of all, the elderly. I mean, what exactly would I have lost if I had just given him a warm smile and handed over some change? I did make the man cry by NOT doing it. He'd said so much. And yet, nothing. Because he was dumb.
... I don't know. I guess it might sound lame to you. I don't know why I'm telling you this. I just had to. But for obviously some simple reason, my world was back on track. My sis and me were both smiling. And all was right in the world.
That's it for me... lv ya!
yaay me first here :D
i know how that feels like for someone who wants to do no harm to ANYONE at all.
it's just that the sheer magnitude of the (by choice)beggars makes you lose patience when you see another one, no matter how needy he/she may be.
secondly, there is defintely a puacity of kind souls in this world...
great job gal...i am proud :)
well it isnt exactly lame as you think it is, but yeah the money we give isnt going to improve his/her life drastically. Things like social security etal are some of the ways that can help better the standard of unfortunate souls. However, as with all other noble ideas, this to has the possbility of being misused. Our system of governance should change, and mutual respect should be cultivated, only then can we expect a decent standard of living to all our people.
-Jagadish
It feels good to make someone smile, right? Hmm. It's a good thing there are kind souls like you around to counter-balance people like me.. Sigh.
And no, this post was not lame.
ya know what,
i like what you did.
you don't care bout convention. and we need brave people like you.
all hail PK!!
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Sure it feels gud to help sum1...but ur sis...???knock sum sense into her...
u have made me sound like a villain in this
and trust me it was scary sitting in the car...with that guy outside..!!
i hate u for this sis!
it was good to c the soldier smile but it was scary to sit in da car with him there crying and not knowing wat he cud do next second!!
found U thru ur comment in my blog....
trying for an emotional connect heh....good 1...
@navneet: you cudnt knw how much that means to me. thank you.
@jagadish: very true. but i dnt see it happening any time soon. :(
@triya: what do you mean, "people like me"?? idiot. thanks for the "its not lame" though.
@vikram: yes, it does. it wudave been better if i wasnt the person who brought tears to his eyes in the first place. my sis? oh she's the sensible one. I didn't mean to make her sound like a villian.
@sis: sweetie, im sorry. all that your mention was supposed to do was make me sound highly gulliable and crazy ;)
@amelie: you do?? wow. there's a first ;) me and brave? you're crazier than i thought...
@krishna: im nt sure if that was a compliment or an insult. And i'm jst telling it like it was.
Thanks so much for visiting guys... and for taking out the time to read and tell me what you think...
God bless!
Refer chapter 12 of Class X CBSE Social Science Textbook. "The Govt. ain't doing f***ing shit about poverty" is written all over the damn thing.
@rahul: madhoo??
@aash: aah... i hear frustration. hope the papers are going gud?
Thanks for visiting guys. God bless.
Very thoughtful of you!
Even if he wasn't in need, the intentations are most important, and all you had were the good ones..
@_tarek: thank you. i did visit your blog, but u dnt allow comments on any of them!!!
Anyhow, thanks for visitng. 'hope to see you again..
God bless.
There are always two sides of the coin. Its true, begging has become a habit for some, and we see young men and women who are physically okay, choosing to beg as its easy money. But then, there are some, who choose begging as their last resort. Sometimes, we find it difficult to differentiate between such people, or we choose not to give them anything. We can't be right all the time...
We need to ask ourselves what is more important to us... To make sure that we don't end up giving money to someone who is physically fit but is begging coz its easy money? Or that smile on the face of a solider or any other person like him who actually is in need? Each of us has a different approach towards this dilemma. I just choose to help the elderly and the physically handicapped with money. And would rather share something to eat than give money to the kids and the youngsters.
You need to pat yourself on your back lady. You are quite mature for your age. I'm sure your parents and your sister must be proud of you. :)
@anand: thanks a million. and i'll make sure my mom reads this ;)
@rahul: its ok baba!
thanks for visiting..
God bless!
Some how providing people on street monetory help is something I restrain from. most of the time I prefer to buy food or a bottle of water instead of giving money.
We havea lot of people in mumbai coming up and saysing that they need to money t go back to their village and how they are stuck in the citry with out and money to buy tickets and all but the moment i offer to buy the tickets for them they decline the offer and press they be givin the money.
But u r right because of experinces we fail to help the real needy people.
@viewer: yes, what you do does go to help them in a better way.. In Delhi and Mumbai tto if u give them anything less than Rs.10 they hand it back to you...And no, i dnt give it to people, who i think are begging 'cuz its the easy way about.. as much as I feel for the state they are in.. my heart bleeds more and i feel pity.
Thanks for dropping by!
God bless.
nice one.. good on u..have had that experience before.. makes u feel like uve actually done a heckuva lot.. very very pleasing..
@vishal: GOOD of you, to have said so. i jst shudnt have made him cry first :(
thanks for coming by!
Its true that so many people who neg on the streets when they don't have to give the really needy ones a bad name. And while you can't give them all money, its nice that you keep your heart open for someone in need
@nandini: true. thankus.