I for one always believed people should
earn their money and not beg for it. But, a lot of my friend my friends think
otherwise, one of them even said that I never had to sleep empty stomach and
hence I do not know what a down trodden person goes through. True, probably.
I’ve been living in this so called city of dreams for a long
time now. I know a lot of people throng this city in their hope to survive.
People who have been uprooted from villages mostly due to lack of
infrastructure or deeply rooted social structure. I’ve seen them make living under
the flyovers and footpath, selling books, toys and often felt helpless for
being unable to do anything for their economical elevation. But, I’ve always
stood against begging or giving money to children, especially. And then,
I met a transgender woman, who would meet me
at Goregaon traffic signal daily and ask for money, every week. This went on
for months. She was tall, broad, and dusky in features. She wasn’t the most stylish or beautiful person
in their lot as but she would come, twice a week, ask in same tone and extend her palm for money. I
would say,
‘No,’ in an angry tone or sometimes I might
just smile, or be indifferent to her existence. It would be any range of
emotions carried from home.
And then one day I was happy, very
happy. I can’t recollect why but I was exuding happiness after a long time and
it was visible. That day she came again,
‘de’
My hands went in my purse brought out a
10 Rupee note and I handed it over to her. She as usual without showing any
emotion moved on to next person. I felt,
I rewarded her efforts of all these months. Frankly, I do not know why I gave
her the money that day because next day — I didn’t.
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