We are Pretty Insensitive Society

Recently I read a sad and pitiable news in a Urdu newspaper, either in Rashtriya Sahara Urdu or in Jadeed Mail. I do not remember the date or the day the news item was carried out. Again, I have forgotten the name of the woman whose plight I intend to narrate. But she is a Muslim woman and lives in some trans-Yamuna Muslim locality. To this extent, I admit, I deserve to be called insensitive. And it’s better to criticize myself as it would not provoke angry reaction from any quarter.

But I am not fully dead; I am alive to the extent of remembering the content of the story. It was about the tragedy of a poor Muslim woman who was forced to live on footpath with her child. She begged on the streets to feed herself and her kid. One day, after making her baby sleep, she also heeded to the call of nature and slept. Sometime in the night the child woke up while her mother was fast asleep, and began wandering. He or she (I am again sorry for forgetting the baby’s gender) fell in one of those deadly holes or ditches that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi has left open as death trap, probably to reduce our growing population.

The poor woman woke up in the morning only to find her child missing. Naturally she searched him/her here and there and found him/her dead in an open hole.

I have not met but heard about some professional beggars who are quite ‘rich’. ‘Rich’ because the society thinks that the beggars should ‘earn’ only as much as required to make ends meet; they should not save as being beggars they need not think about their tomorrow.

Well, the nameless woman had no savings to afford a decent burial of her dead baby. She took her dead baby to the door of her husband and his family. They refused to help the woman they had abandoned.

I wonder why the people around did not notice the poor woman’s plight. No one came to her rescue and she was left with no option but to beg on the streets. And the poor woman kept on begging with her dead baby in her arms till she ‘earned’ enough to give him/her a decent burial.

Beggars normally beg to fill their hungry stomachs. Have you ever seen a beggar buying clothes to put on? Or have you ever seen a beggar trying to ‘earn’ for giving a decent burial to her/his dead baby?

The poor woman whose story I have narrated was a mother. Let us assume that she had begged and ‘earned’ enough the previous day to feed her baby and herself in the evening. Like all human beings she must have been hungry the next morning. Of course, she would not have thought of her breakfast (a beggar’s morning meal if the usage of the term, breakfast appears awkward) when her child was missing. Being a mother that she was, she would not have eaten while she was begging to bury her dead baby. I fail to guess if she would have taken her evening meals even if she had money in her pockets. I do not know if a beggar-mother, hungry since 24 hours, can think of her evening meals, especially when she had begged the whole day to bury her dead baby and there were no relatives, friends or fellow beggars to console her.

I do not know how you have felt about or reacted to the sad story I have narrated above. My eyes had become wet when I had read it first. Beyond that I did not do anything. I have not inquired about the whereabouts of the poor woman nor have tried to find her out to help her. I also do not know if anyone else has come to her rescue or she still continues begging on the streets to make ends meet. If all others have reacted the way I have done, I am right to condemn ourselves as an insensitive society.

The problem of begging--- there are people who call it menace and disgrace--- has not been addressed properly in our country. During the Commonwealth Games they were taken off the Delhi streets to showcase a ‘wealthy, beggar-free’ Indian capital to the world.

But they are back on our streets and are often seen extending their begging hands to the visiting foreigners, showcasing the poor side of Delhi and India.

I have never applied my mind if begging is a sociological or economic problem or a combination of both. Those who subscribe to the sociological approach advance the argument that even those beggars beg who have a house to live in and a strong body to work and earn. They refuse to work even when provided a job and therefore begging in their case is a habit and trait which ought to be studied in sociology and not in economics. The economists, on the other hand, assert that poverty and joblessness basically drive people to beg which probably becomes a habit over a period of time. But begging ultimately reflects the poverty of the beggar and, therefore, it is very much a concern of the economists.

As I have said above, I have never tried to study begging academically. I have a strange behavior or approach towards beggars, not begging. Well, you have got it right. I make a difference between beggar and begging. Beggars generate a feeling of pity and consequent ‘generosity’ in me whereas begging provokes the academic in me. Let me admit frankly that ‘generosity’ here means Rupees five, ten or twenty and fifty or hundred occasionally. There was a time when it was ‘Chawanni’ or ‘Athanni’, quarter or half of a Rupee respectively.

In fact, I cannot stand the sight of a beggar. I give him/her thinking it might solve his/her immediate problems. Many friends would say that these wretched ‘Faqirs’ are professional beggars and by giving them I am encouraging begging. May be, they are right. But how can I know that the man or woman extending his/her hands before me is a genuine or professional beggar. You see their class or category is not written on their faces which you or I can read. Instead, I always see ‘Bechargi’, a sort of helplessness, in their eyes which I cannot describe in words. This ‘Bechargi’ is indeed universal. Let me give two examples.

In 1986 I was in England. I was walking towards the School of Oriental and African Studies popularly known in London’s academic circle as SOAS when a beautiful English rose with two kids on her back and stomach and shopping bags in hands, asked me to give her two Pounds. I saw the ‘Bechargi’ in her eyes I have mentioned above and instantly gave her the money she had asked for. Yes, my behavior was spontaneous, and I began walking away. I had walked a few steps when this thought crossed my mind why this well-dressed and apparently wealthy woman was begging. I turned to inquire about the matter. She was still standing there and looking towards me. Perhaps she was astonished as I had given her more than what she had asked for. I went to her and asked what the problem with her was. Her eyes became wet but she controlled her tears from rolling down her rosy cheeks. She told me that her husband had left her after the twins were born a few months back, and last week she also lost her job. She further said that she was out of money after buying some necessary things and needed the two Pounds she had asked for to reach her home by Metro. I instantly understood her problem, for being jobless in Western societies is a big problem as saving for the future is not a trait of youth there.

I have found the British very generous in saying ‘thank you’. But the lady did not say it and just continued looking at me with the ‘Bechargi’ in her eyes I have spoken about above.

Let me narrate another incident. It was a hot and humid June afternoon in 2009. I was returning to my home in South Delhi after purchasing something from a locality shop when I saw a very old man walking before me. He was very weak and seemed to be collapsing any moment. I felt from within to help him but sadly I had no money in my pocket. I went to the shop keeper and borrowed Rs 10/- from him. I, then, rushed to the old man and gave him the money. He did not utter a word and kept on looking at me with the same ‘Bechargi’ in his eyes that I had seen in the eyes of the English woman.

A week later the face of this man suddenly appeared on the screen of my memory and a thought began teasing me that I should have given him Rs 100/- at least, for he probably needed it. This teasing thought often crosses my mind and I become restless. Once I was driving on Lodhi Road while going to Chanakiya Puri. At every Red Light I saw some beggars and gave them Rupees ten, twenty or more thinking it might compensate for what I had not done to the poor man in June 2009. Once I woke my wife up at midnight to request her to give Rs 100/- to a poor man in Nanpara, Bahaich where she had gone to visit her parents. But all these have been to no avail as the teasing thought is still pursuing me.

Let me confess frankly. Often I get angry, and when I am angry, I feel like destroying the world. I also enjoy defying dictators, small or big and feel that I have enough strength to do so. But I am always and easily overpowered by the ‘Bechargi’ that I see in the eyes of poor people. I promise that I will continue to help such people even if it amounts to promoting begging.

We are passing through the holy month of Ramadan which is marked by extended worship and charity. Most wealthy Muslims distribute their Zakat during this month. Some organizations and NGOs organize and distribute Zakat in a collective manner. And yet tragic incidents like the one I have narrated in the beginning of this article keep on happening. I wonder if something can be done to prevent such tragedies. In fact, something must be done to preserve the dignity of our mothers so that they are not compelled to beg for burying their dead babies. Unless and until such blots are removed from the face of our country, we deserve very much to be condemned as an insensitive society.

Another aspect of the topic under discussion deserves a mention here. It relates to our behavior with beggars which is both good and bad. The beggars sometimes indeed test the depth of our character. Let me recount my own failings here.

A Burqa-clad woman with a baby girl, very innocent and charming, would often be standing at the gate of the complex I am living in and begging loudly some financial favour from everyone who was about to drive to his office. For reasons I have never tried to ascertain, she always irritated me. I always failed to understand why she was begging? She and her small daughter never looked like a beggar and she spoke flawless Urdu. The small kid never spoke but always looked in my eyes with an ‘innocent Bechargi’. I would often give the woman some Rupees though I never felt like giving her.

One day, when I was about to drive my car out of the complex, she appeared and started begging loudly. Being a student of Islamic Studies I must know and be conscious of the fact that beggars should not be treated badly. I have a right to give or not to give them. But it is indeed bad character to misbehave verbally with a beggar. I was this bad person on that particular day when I said in anger to the ‘nameless’ begging woman why she was always here at our office time. She stopped talking, her small kid stood silent and I gave her perhaps ten Rupees with displeasure writ large on my face. The begging woman has not been seen in front of our complex ever since. A feeling pains me that perhaps I hurt her too much. During this holy month of Ramadan I look for her every day when I go to my office because I want to compensate for my bad behavior by giving her more money. But God has unique ways to punish us for our failings and He has chosen a missing beggar to punish me which I really deserve. I am deprived of the prayers that she used to shower on me and my family. Is it not a big punishment?

[July, 2012]