The begging Bugs

                                                               

“What should be done?” I mumbled to myself, my tone aberrant. All of the sudden a voice answers me back “slap him tight”. The fear of the man shooed him off, but the urchin’s eyes begging for a penny hovered over me all day long. This happened while I was heading towards my college, the kid in tatters, pale and blue with enough filth, came and clung to my legs tight pleading with all his might for a coin and while I was aghast with the heartlessness of it all, he was hushed and I saw him running back to others for same. . .

Courtesy: shutterstock

Sordid incidents like these even in our daily lives, shows the growing frailties of our society. These humans leading inhuman lives are decently named beggars and more precisely bhikhari in common tongue. These bhikharis, you find them everywhere, on signals, bus stand, sitting in continuous rows outside temples, almost at every visible public spots. Some at their dotage, some young, some differently abled and some capable to work but find pleasure as vagabonds. Begging is the profession in its own, a profession, where only pleas for money and mercy work. These beggars are ready to follow you wherever you go whether you scold them or thrash them, they will not leave you until they extract a penny from your pocket. Being a ruffian to them may seem an extreme example of inhuman behavior but that affects them hard. Their plight may trigger your emotional being and sometimes insulation to these won’t help and you will not decline to give them a coin. But what if this repeats itself every day?

It’s not the quest of a penny, neither it’s for charity nor for their betterment but this question is far beyond that. That dole, that penny emboldens them to ask for more and more and more. . .

Begging is unique to Indian society, with beggars living their life on roads, quite content with what they get and are ready to carry on. A number of them are so called the victims of circumstances while others just squander their chances to work and carry a normal life.

And more recently, bigwig events like national games and commonwealth games have given a new turn to their lives but their conditions have remained constant. How can we forget the massive relocation of these people during these events in the process of beautifying the prestige of the host cities? Their nondescript presence was shifted to a place that would hardly be located on the maps of these cities. After all, nobody notices the dirt beneath that carpet of gold??  For the entire event, they were non –existent. Will, that solve a thing? Does this insensitivity counts on the solution to this issue? The answer is in a flat simple big NO.

 These people don’t need attention and solutions in the form of their escape from the mainstream but their conditions must find an escape from their lives.

If we opt to keep our blinkers on and dream of a self -reliant and secure nation then blaming this sarkar won’t help. Things need to get sorted with a local approach. Just by being generous and extending your ultimate penny won’t be enough. Initiatives must be implied.

The appalling condition of these people gives a call-which emotional buttons must be pressed next inside us?  They need an answer-should moral generosity be replaced? If yes, what should replace it? Can goodwill be the name of the game? How about …errr…Responsibility?