26 February 2015
This is one of my lengthiest post about one of the social issue we are currently facing..So kindly spare a few minutes to read it and do pass it on!!!
Experienced one of the most embarrassing situation in my life today!!
While coming to office by MRTS train, for the past two days i have been observing a middle aged lady with three girl children may be around 8,6 and 4 yrs of age (not sure whether they r her kids though) and two little monkeys travelling in that train.Today once the train started off,those kids came near people asking for alms while that lady was sitting seeming to be unmindful of what was happening.Out of concern many of us gave few pennies to those kids(though my mind said not to encourage kids begging the mom's heart inside me forced me to do it)..Those three kids split among themselves while asking for alms..Each one chose one side..After they collected the money they handed it over to that middle aged lady..The girl who came to the side i was sitting was the eldest among the three kids..It so happened that i took my handbag,when i was about to get up to get down in the next station,..That 4 year old girl on watching this came towards me and started begging..I tried to tell her both in Tamil and in Hindi that i have already given it to her sister..But she didn't understand(or may be she didn't want to listen to what i was telling),she was constantly pestering me..She went to the extent of falling at my feet 3 or 4 times,held my hands and did all sorts of actions to persuade me to give her money..Though i felt heartbroken at this i was equally angry at the way this little girl has been trained..But this time i made myself as strong as iron(but trust me it was too difficult)not to yield to her request..She too was determined in her own way..It was really embarrassing but i didn't want to give up..Ultimately the lady next to me who just got into the train gave her money..She went away happily to that middle aged woman with a feeling of accomplishment!!!
While coming to office by MRTS train, for the past two days i have been observing a middle aged lady with three girl children may be around 8,6 and 4 yrs of age (not sure whether they r her kids though) and two little monkeys travelling in that train.Today once the train started off,those kids came near people asking for alms while that lady was sitting seeming to be unmindful of what was happening.Out of concern many of us gave few pennies to those kids(though my mind said not to encourage kids begging the mom's heart inside me forced me to do it)..Those three kids split among themselves while asking for alms..Each one chose one side..After they collected the money they handed it over to that middle aged lady..The girl who came to the side i was sitting was the eldest among the three kids..It so happened that i took my handbag,when i was about to get up to get down in the next station,..That 4 year old girl on watching this came towards me and started begging..I tried to tell her both in Tamil and in Hindi that i have already given it to her sister..But she didn't understand(or may be she didn't want to listen to what i was telling),she was constantly pestering me..She went to the extent of falling at my feet 3 or 4 times,held my hands and did all sorts of actions to persuade me to give her money..Though i felt heartbroken at this i was equally angry at the way this little girl has been trained..But this time i made myself as strong as iron(but trust me it was too difficult)not to yield to her request..She too was determined in her own way..It was really embarrassing but i didn't want to give up..Ultimately the lady next to me who just got into the train gave her money..She went away happily to that middle aged woman with a feeling of accomplishment!!!
Its really pathetic to see these little children being misused in these ways..We say "Today's children are tomorrow's citizens" but are we providing such atmosphere to kids today????..I do agree "begging" has occurred even in the earlier generations and is common around the world..But its high time we did something about it..Previously there was news headlines saying"NGO's are going to adopt beggars so that there will not be a single beggar in India"..did that ever happen???
Its really time for us to THINK about it..I have immediately posted about this situation to Shri Narendra Modi's page in Facebook..Not sure what will the response be..Anyway lets put a word to people about this and try not to encourage begging in India!!!!!
Thanks for reading my post with patience!!! smile emoticon
