Friday, September 16, 2011

Beg to differ

A lot of my friends are very compassionate.

They give to alms to every other beggar they see on the street. Here, in Chennai, the subways are besieged by beggars of all age groups and my friends insist on giving alms to at least someone each day.

Call me a miser but I don’t give alms. And I request everyone to stop giving alms and thereby stop promoting the begging rackets.

Listen carefully: that old cripple you know who drags himself from compartment to compartment tugging at your feet for a few paise? He always has a stash of ganja with him, for that is what he uses the money for. He even peddles to other beggars to earn extra. You can see him by the bathroom door smoking his hash.

Please don’t soothe your conscience by helping him.

Why are you so guilty? Come on, admit it. You are not helping him to save humanity and out of your love and compassion for the universal downtrodden. You just hope he paves your path to heaven. Or perhaps you are doing a penance, eh?

Social equality will not come from begging.

Beggar rackets are one of the biggest underground mafias operating in this country. They steal and maim children to create more sympathy. If you promote them you only encourage them to kidnap more children. Think prostitution, criminalization and illegal human trafficking.

During festivals in temples, mosques and churches the hordes of beggars you see are driven there by handlers and their ‘loot’ goes not to the hungry starved children but to the middlemen behind them. Buy them food. Give them clothes. Don’t give them money.

Didn’t you watch 'Slumdog Millionaire'? The operation of these rackets are portrayed somewhat truthfully (not forgetting the other controversies surrounding the movie and its commercial exploitation of the very same slum children).

Say no to beggars. The moment you say no to a beggar, there is a chance someone ceases being a beggar. The moment you give a rupee, a hundred more beggars are born.

So stop riding your high horse of morality. All you philanthropists killed Soumya. Don’t forget that.

.

1 comment:

  1. You said it. I don't ever give alms to professional beggars for theirs is a racket. I try to help the needy and the very poor whenever I can, but a beggar's rantings do not move me.

    ReplyDelete