(Emotional)
Thursday evening my wife informed
me that there was chaos in our area because of a mad dog probably suffering
from rabies. Aunty (my friend Sid’s mom) made her cautious about the event. When
a dog control van came to catch dog, there were few people protesting catcher.
They wanted dog to be left open. In my area there are many animal lovers who give
biscuits, roti and milk to roadside dogs resulted in rise in their number.
There is a small temple in front
of my house. In Sharavna (A holy month of Hindu calendar) many devotees offers milk
and various food items to lord Shiva. All these items are then draw off into sewer.
Being a Hindu I do believe in all rituals. I believe what is offered to an idol reaches to God in heaven.
But in a country where children die due to malnourishment and food scarcity it hurts
to see liters of milk and food being drained out in gutters or fed to animals
in the name of faith and creed. There are some wise men who maintain balance
between faith and fact using a small portion of offerings to fulfill their
rituals.
Indian weddings are fabulously
full of functions and food. But behind the stage you will enormous wastage of
food. Unconcernedly plates full of food
are thrown in dustbin. Some communities have started cautious step towards
thing aspect. Some insist their guests not waste any food while other restrict
number of food items.
Our abundance does not give us any right to misuse resources of our
country. No matter whether we get with our money or freely available, resource must
be used responsibly. I cannot help repeating Gandhiji's famous quotation. "The
earth has enough resources for our need, but not for our greed." At times
due to shyness or hesitation we understand these things but resist taking
steps.
Helping poor is advocated in all religions. I see many kind hearted person giving alms to beggars.
But there is a dark side to this especially in Mumbai. The emotion of
kindheartedness is exploited very brutally. If you are residing in Mumbai and
observe minutely you can see that what is shown in movie “Slum dog millionaire”
and Hindi movie “Signal” though exaggerated but is true.
Earlier when I used to take
rickshaw for my office I noticed that on a particular signal* there are batches
of beggars which changes periodically. Apart from kids and old lady you could
also notice girls with walking sticks, women with an infant and empty milk
bottle etc. At railway station you would see many blinds or handicaps sitting
on bridge.
When I see these people scenes
from the movies flashes in my mind, horrifying me to death realizing that a perfect person is made handicapped for the alms I give, a kid
is tortured to beg, a infant is poisoned with afyun (opium) so that baby is asleep
on her shoulder while lady is asking alms.
It very difficult to be hard on
face while your heart melting with tears to deny any help to a poor kid, an old
lady, a physically challenged person when it is suspected that your money will
do more harm than anything good for the society. Confusion of helping or
denying always overshadows me when I come across anyone of them, but I resist
so that my money will not go in producing more of them. It is very painful.
Now the question I poses is how
to help needy removing smallest possibility of inducing their artificial creation.
One of such way though not prefect I see is helping them in kind like food,
clothes etc. But again there is a possibility because things can be sold in
market to convert it into money. So other option is to give in such manner
which cannot be sold in market for example giving cooked food like roti, open
bread or biscuits packet, a fruit etc. Please suggest if you could think
something else.
For me most touching scene of the
movie “Gandhi” was Gandhiji giving away his cloth for an uncovered woman.
By the way now days I receive
calls from call centers appointed by some NGOs for contribution to their
organization. Looking at all above
pseudo, a question arises why NGOs are appointing marketing agencies. May God
turn my doubt untrue.
