“Aye babu, ek rupiya de do nah, ba-hut bhook lagi hai”. (Sir give me some money, I am really hungry), While I was busy reading the train schedule at the platform, these words fell into my ears to break my concentration. I turned around to find a lame beggar leaning on a wooden shaft. He seemed to have given his a go by to a bath for months. His unkempt hair, dark and dirty face, torn and tattered clothes spoke volumes about his misfortune and amidst which an innocent smile lit up his face, a complete metaphor. A closer look revealed that he not only was lame but also had lost an arm and that only one which helped him to beg for his existence. As I kept staring at him, he continued tugging my trouser and kept repeating those lines.
For the next few seconds my mind was completely blank, as if my senses had stopped functioning, the hullabaloo around me didn’t seem to affect my existence then and that I had almost forgotten about my next step.
His failure to fish out something from me compelled him to shake me harder and that I got back to this world with a big jolt. Immediately and hurriedly I took out a five-rupee coin and kept it in a small bowl on his lap. Mechanically he smiled at me (that seemed a contended one) and moved ahead to find the next alms giver and was gradually lost amidst the crowd. But my eyes continued to follow him till he disappeared and that several thoughts began to play in my mind while I was walking carelessly in the platform. Why exist an inequality when the creator is the same? We keep cribbing about what we do not posses but fail to thank for what we have but this poor soul who has been denied the basic things in life has smilingly accepted it and that continues to do so.
As my mind was interplaying with such thoughts, I heard a hustle-bustle at a distant corner. Soon my eyes caught upon a pathetic sight ~ the poor, feeble tramp was being beaten black and blue by the policemen on the platform. The helpless creature kept lamenting in pain but no one came to his rescue. Instead some had gathered around them to watch the heinous scene, while the others didn't even bother to take a notice. In the mean while my train had arrived and I was lucky enough to make myself comfortable on one of the seats. I am skeptical about the fate of that vulnerable character but my brain kept hovering over the fact "Are we here just because we have to be? Was he actually leading a life, if at all we can call it a life…"
