Malvika’s Ramblings

Yesterday I went to Cannought Place after a long time at night. It was morbid. Everywhere there were beggars. When we parked, an emaciated young woman walked up to our window, looking too tired to even hold her hand up to beg. She was supporting an old, naked bent man with a back that was sticky and sore with some kind of infection.

As we walked towards KFC, beggars ran from around the pillars, appeared from nowhere asking for money. Positively unsafe and chilling.

A boy of 14 or so was following us as we carried burgers and snacks to the car. It’s horrible when you have food and beggars around you. Ronny, a friend, dropped a glass of soft drink (KFC fix soft-drinks in really lousy trays for take-away) that began spilling contents on the road. In an instant, the beggars swooped and grabbed the glasses and desperately sipped the last few drops in the glass. How terrible could their situation be, living right in the centre of India’s capital? It was all out of ‘I am legend’. Highly disturbing – the disparity. Economic inequality makes such unequal human beings in every respect.

Foreigners come from countries where the Government pays you if you are unemployed. At first they are shocked, and then they begin to share the Indian view of fate and destiny. Some ugly things have to be overlooked. Either you spend all evenings in CP mulling over the sad state of affairs or get on with life and have the fun you are entitled to. But still it doesn’t feel OK. A friend explained “They are all smack addicts; dead stoned; give them money and they’ll puff it away.” Another friend countered “But that doesn’t mean they don’t need the money…”

And then we hit home and guess what was on TV –

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cdrCalO5BDs

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 4th, 2008 at 2:37 am and is filed under Anecdote, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.