Friday, August 12, 2011

A hundred rupees seems too much to give to the beggar, but too less to order a lunch in a restaurant.


Most of the days in TOT Mall near my residence, here at Sector-62 in Noida, I see a different beggar without food. I happily give them 10/- or 20/- rupees. Some people may think I am stupid. But now since I earn my own money I have every right to do so. I don’t think I am wasting my money in alcohol or cigarettes, am I?  Moreover, out of my salary if I can give 500/- per month its not a big deal, is it?

People will say – feeding the hungry, teaching a child, doing this for one day - what difference would it make? Let me tell you one of the many incidences which will answer that question. I was at the juice shop at the Tot Mall when a kid hardly 2-2.5 years came up to me, wearing a dirty dress and a lovely smile. 

He could not even talk! He just gestured to me that he was hungry and wanted the juice I was drinking. I would have given it, had I not started drinking from it. So I ordered a fresh glass for him. The shopkeeper did not know that I ordered for him. He started scolding the boy  and asked him to leave. When I told the shopkeeper that the juice I had ordered was for the boy, he was surprised.

Finally he gave the juice to the boy. The glass was big. I thought I should have ordered a small glass, the boy would not be able to drink it. I then left the scene to buy some other stuff. On my way back I saw the boy. He was so hungry, he finished all the juice in the glass. Suddenly a lady made way to the small kid, saw him, saw the empty glass, lifted it up like a ‘World Cup’, smiled, thanked God, and the unknown person who fed his child. I could see emotions on her face. It had lit up. It had brought her peace and me a feeling that goodness had not died yet. I was moved by that scene.

The juice had hardly cost Rs. 20/- and I had visited a moment of a lifetime. This was not the first time I had experienced such an emotion and I know for sure, it wasn’t the last either. The real happiness - an everlasting one - comes from a life of giving.

This reminds of my friend  Akhil Ranjan. Whenever we traveled together, he used to buy stuff to eat often. He really liked those ‘Thela Wala’ items. But, most of times, some begger or some poor woman carrying a baby would be there. And since he used to get limited pocket-money he could not buy a new plate of fruits/food-items, so every single time, he used to give his own plates. 
  
“A hundred rupees seems too much to give to a beggar, but too less to order a lunch in a restaurant.”  

Think about it, will ya?

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