India trip - Part 3

While shopping in Chd, an incident happened which troubles me even today. It was afternoon and I and the kids were sitting outside a shop in Sec 17 while my wife was shopping inside a store. I saw two men walk by - laughing and talking. A small girl (about the same age as my son) was walking in front of them, asking for something - I presumed money. But the men kept walking totally ignoring her. I felt bad for the kid - begging at her age, poverty, no schooling and probably nothing much going on in her life. Poor kid. It appeared that the kid was used to being ignored and had developed some sort of stubborn persistence. I approached the girl and tapped her on her shoulder. I gave her Rs. 100. The two men kept walking totally unaware of what was going on. The girl was a little surprised, took a quick look at the money but I did not see any change in expression on her face. I reasoned that maybe she doesn't recognize what a Rs 100 note look like or whatever - but there was no joy on her face. I felt bad and I came back and sat down next to my kids. The girl came by and asked me if I could buy her some food. I was a little surprised and asked her to go buy it herself now that she had the money. But the girl pleaded with me pointing to a food shop some 100 meters away. She even asked me to take the money back - all she wanted was me to buy her some food.

Now, I was in a dilemma. If I went with the little girl to buy her the food and my wife came out in the meantime, she would be looking for us. So, I told the little girl to wait and I took the kids with me and went into the store. There I got entangled with my wife's shopping. After 10-15 minutes when I rushed out, I saw the girl walking away in a distance. I told my wife what had happened and followed the girl (to help her). By the time I reached the corner, she had disappeared. We all felt very bad and waited some more but she never showed up. Who knows what the girl's problem was - maybe the food shopkeepers shun these poor kids away, maybe they snatch there money away and give pennies for the dollar (so to speak), maybe she has an abusive father/mother/uncle... whatever the situation, it was quite apparent that she wanted food more than the money and I failed to help the poor kid. That incident still bothers me quite a bit. It is very easy to look down on these people and rationalize the reasons why we should not help them (why can't they get a job, they are probably serial beggars etc etc) but the pangs of hunger, poverty and helplessness are known only to those who suffer from them and have nothing much going on in their life.

On this trip, I threw out all my reasoning (well most of it) and helped kids and women who came by asking for money. They are the most vulnerable section of out society (I did help another guy who had no legs). In any case, the reason for this post is not to feel proud of the charity I did but to highlight that there is extreme levels of wealth and poverty in India. Most of us are quick to jump to conclusions about other people and their situation rather than stop judging them and helping them out for a change. It is pretty sad to live a life of poverty and hopelessness and the last thing they need is apathy from people like us.