The other day I was travelling in a cab on one of the busier roads of Pune when we had to stop at a traffic signal... I was quite impatient.. already running late for an appointment with the dentist....when my eyes fell on this caricature of misery... a shrivelled up , desolate looking old man lying on the pavement .. lower limbs missing ,begging for alms.........what moved you exactly was not the sight.. but that air of stark helplessness and silent misery around his emaciated frame.... and the equally powerful and contrasting apathy of the pedestrians around....
(The world will go on they say ..no matter what..true true :).. )
I just couldn't do anything but get down and run swiftly to him ..to drop a 5 rupee coin in his rusty ,dirty looking tin bowl ..and come back as swiftly ..and look away..waiting for the lights to turn green quickly... at least he'd be able to manage one meal for the day...beyond that I just couldn't bring myself to think ..lest it made me a tad too uncomfortable with all that I had been blessed with, in comparison...
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In retrospect......what else after all , could I have done... can I do something?? ..can we all do something??.. I really don't know...
More recently, I was just skimming through the Budget ...
Education cess raised from 2 to 3 percent..
Fringe benefit tax on ESOP's ..
MAT'S and VAT's and sundry such taxes ....
For god sake can't we have something for these helpless people ..the genuinely needy beggars
found in most nooks and crannies in most cities...
A "Beggars Aid Tax" .... BAT for short..now that would be something I wouldn't crib , doling out money for... :D..n am sure most people wouldn't... if only it serves the purpose it's meant for...
P.S. : hehe..on second thoughts...sorry if i bored u with my "BAT " chat :)... but I do feel that sumthg oughtta b done bout this!!... wat say.. :)
5 comments:
Hey Madam ... I guess I m the first one to post a comment ... could nt wait ... must say a really innovative BAT...but hum jaise garib company walon par daya kariye
Hello,
This is really heart touching ... but I toady i discovered another face of your life .... which is still very young ... a child still resides within you which is untouched and very innocent.
Hats off! - for you, for your passion and more importantly presenting it to others. This is the first step to bring change.
thought this post wud be on cricket, but its been more amusing :) felt gud reading it .
hey..thats a really nice thought! wrote something about the same topic on my blog sometime back..anyone for BAT!
Interestin thought...but that will encourage beggin!!
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