Wednesday, October 11, 2006

Changing Attitude.



As usual, I was waiting at the station to catch a CST local to reach to my college. I missed my regular train and so with a aggravated look on my face, I was waiting for the next train to arrive. I went to the wheeler, bought a newspaper and started going through the headlines. After a 5 minutes wait, my train finally arrived at the station. I boarded it and sat near the window seat, and went back to my half-read newspaper.
Suddenly I heard a feeble voice calling me didi. I turned around in amazement to see a 5-6 year old boy, shabbily dressed, with his right palm stretching towards me, asking me to give him a penny. I looked at him for a few seconds and something about him fascinated me that I started conversing with him. I asked him the reason why he was begging. He said, ‘He was the only son in his family with four sisters and his father used to drink every night and beat his mother. His mother was a laborer in a construction site where she used to work on a temporary basis. So, he had to provide some financial help to his mother and that could be done only by begging.’ I gave him a penny and got up to get down at my station. I got down with a grave feeling in my heart, thinking about the poor kid, who at this tender age of joining school and playing around with kids of his age, had to beg and support his family financially.
The next day I had to catch the same train and I met the same kid again. We started conversing. This time the talk lasted for a long time. I found a smile on his face while he was talking hence I curiously asked him the reason why he was happy. He told me that a person was going to lend him some money and from that money, he was going to start selling litchi in the train. He was happy with the work he was going to do as he had to stop begging after he starts selling litchi. I encouraged him to do so but also advised him to study.
For a few days, I did not meet the boy as I could not board the same train.
After a few days, I saw the same kid on the platform with a basket full of litchi. I walked up to him and bought some litchis from him. Along with the litchi, he gave me a packet of bindis. I was stunned and asked him the reason for giving me a bindi packet. He said, girls look good in bindis and that he addresses me as didi so he would love to see me wearing a bindi. I was astonished and touched by the boy’s gesture. Such a small kid showing such maturity flabbergasted me.
I told some of my friends about the whole incident but they kind of ridiculed me and advised me not to talk to beggars as according to them they are wicked and awful people. And, that higher-class people like us should not talk to such people and lower our standards.
However, for me, such a small incident changed my whole perspective of looking towards people. A shabby looking kid, who had never attained school, had so much respect for his elders. In a society like ours, we discriminate people according to their financial status and their way of living. People are respected on the basis of the bank balance they have and their way of dressing. Nevertheless, we often tend to forget that a person is not judged by the way he dresses or the way he looks. In today’s world a person is evaluated by taking the exteriors of the person into consideration rather than his interior i.e., his heart and his nature. Now a days, even children going to school, where they learn morals and discipline hardly show so much respect towards their elders. However, a small illiterate kid had by his everyday experience of life had learnt to respect elders and talk politely with them.

5 comments:

freemorpheme said...

nicely written girl but the hting to be really noticed here is how can we help in this...ok not every sad person that we cum across we can readily help but if we try a little bit we can make a difference. even i hav cum across kids like this and i make it a point to refrain from givin 'em any money coz at the end many a times they aren't the ones who get to take the moolah home. i rather give em sum food {read Parle-G :)} or help em to get in touch wid an NGO....and our society was always divided based on wealth and other stupid criteria..but u knw i firmly belive that i evry1 does a little sumthing towards our sociey..the world will nt be such a bad place to be...

manzdesai said...

i neva said u have to gve thm money.....i was talkin abt pple perception twds thm....they treat thm v badly n even if ya help thm out pple watchin u pass silly comments....i was talkin abt tht attitude in pple.....

Tarun Nayak said...

his purpose of begging only showed that he is a person with morals ...hard to find an "hungry moral person" ...

Anonymous said...

Hey this 1 was very touching...i hope its a real time exp and if not then god has really given u some creativity...but as far as attitude goes i think its more of what we have already seen and faced in life that gives us the mentality to decide on whether ur story abt the boy being good is believable or not...like once i n one of ma friends lent a watchman close to a big amount...the watchman told us that his daughter was ill, that his wife n daughter were in his native and he wanted some money immediately...once we gave him the money he disappeared for an hour and then he came back drunk and when i questioned him he said that he was sad and so he drank...believe me he was so drunk that i m sure he drank with the money we lent....from that time onwards i have really stopped helping such people.....but this episode also hampers my mind from thinking in a rite way, in helping a proper genuine person...Though since at least we guys r literate i will take the initiative to find out whether the person is genuinely needy in my next endeavour to help others.....Abt the watchman no i didnt argue with him...dunno why !!!

Anonymous said...

really touching...I fully agree with blogger, we need to be empathic irrespective of class..Attitude is important.