MG Road, Bangalore City
A damp, rainy, traffic-clogged Saturday evening
A youth jaywalks across the road, quite an expert at it by now, and heads for Brigade - to meet a friend, to have a party, to shop a bit if time permits; another typical IT-bachelor evening beckons.
A woman, penniless and pitiful, her child wailing in her arms, approaches. She extends her arm - for a thought to spare, a rupee to share.
He avoids the eye and moves on without a sigh; scratches the flab at the side of his tummy, scratches it that has grown over the last couple of months.
A youth jaywalks across the road, quite an expert at it by now, and heads for Brigade - to meet a friend, to have a party, to shop a bit if time permits; another typical IT-bachelor evening beckons.
A woman, penniless and pitiful, her child wailing in her arms, approaches. She extends her arm - for a thought to spare, a rupee to share.
He avoids the eye and moves on without a sigh; scratches the flab at the side of his tummy, scratches it that has grown over the last couple of months.
A thought is lost somewhere.
PS: The youth suddenly realises that what has passed, a good journal entry he could be proud of.
10 comments:
:( ... :)
this post is a kick in the plexus mate. :(
Mridul & NY: Thanks
That which has grown immensely... LOL...
It's hard to believe that every single poor person you see is a mafia worker.
I don't know about this specific person referred to in this post. However, to use the mafia argument to silence your conscience again and again is tantamount to killing it.
I think the act of giving money in charity has more benefit to the giver than the receiver. Teaches her that there are people less fortunate than her. After all, if the person you give your money to uses it for something dishonourable, that's beyond your control anyway.
The mafia argument is fine if you actually take the the time and energy to find genuinely poor people to give your money to. Otherwise, it's destructive.
When was the last time you actually talked to one of these mafia victims to check the validity of your claims? When was the last time you did any investigations into the matter? Most people shy away from doing something about it and merely use it as a way of saying "I'm a socially responsible and an aware person so I'm not going to give money to this poor person".
Anon: Thanks for taking time off for posting the comment. Try self-deprecating humour once in a while. It would be nice to know more about you, than the fact that you are a girl.
Hi AK,
This post hit me hard.
I know of some people who would rather blog about things than try to make a difference.
Going through your posts. This is my fav so fat.
My fav too..
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