Why we in Tamil Nadu are still unable to eradicate begging in public places?

I was returning from Madurai by train, a couple of days ago. At Thiruthangal station, an adolescent boy, his hands crippled somewhat, came begging window after window, with very little success. When he knew that I was about to take out my wallet to offer him some money, he made a request to give him ten rupees so that he could eat something for the day. I was upset by his demand and offered him the customary two-rupee coin from my wallet. Just then, the train started leaving the station and his demand for a ten rupee note kept pounding me for quite some time. My initial irritation about his demand vanished and I regretted not giving him what he wanted. He must have been helpless in making an outrageous demand while begging. What worse thing one can do in life than begging, giving up one’s self-dignity and respect?

Either the same day or sometime around the same day, I read the news in the papers that the government of Tamil Nadu was proposing to start selling many grocery items at half the price under the AMMA scheme. After all, how many selling outlets the government can open? Can they meet the demand of the entire State and its poor? What has the government done to help the real poor who beg on the streets? Tamil Nadu is a unique State where one finds begging still going on strong in many public places even while there is a tall claim of all round progress.

The sight of begging in public places by pathetic people had touched and altered my own conscience over the time. A decade or so back, I was repelled by such sights, but not anymore. Now I offer whatever change I keep in my pocket to whosoever begs me. I don’t know whether it is right to encourage beggars or not, but this is the best I am able to do.

Seeing begging in public places had pricked me time and again that I chose eradicating begging as an important theme for one of the episodes in my novel: WHAT IF OUR DREAMS COME TRUE! AN UNCOMMON MEETING WITH LORD SIVA. This novel was self-published on Amazon.com last year. I thought I would reproduce some excerpts from this Episode in my blog during the next couple of weeks for the avid readers’ benefit.

Here, you go….

Before that, to tell readers briefly, what this novel is about….. Poorna Chandran, or, in short Poornan, gets cured of his acute stomach pain after he had a dream in which Lord Siva appears and ordains his meeting HIM in seven of HIS places. Not wanting to antagonize Lord Siva, he starts with Courtallam, a river town, where he meets with an incredible mystical experience and from there he goes to six more places along the banks of the river Tamirabarani, the perennial river of southern Tamil Nadu. In each of these places, he meets with some unique challenges. How he meets these challenges is the crux of the novel. There are thus seven episodes in the novel.

Here, you really go….. 

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EPISODE 4

My days with Sri Ammanathar at Cheranmahadevi

Chapter 34

“Don’t you feel bad about begging?”I asked bluntly, looking at the middle aged man sitting outside the Siva temple at Cheranmahadevi. He looked well built, tall and healthy. He wore a small piece of saffron cloth below his waist, exposing his large belly. His whole body was painted with ‘vibhuthi’ and had turned white. His forehead bore a large sized round mark of ‘kumkum’. He had wound around his neck a thick ‘rudraksha mala’ that didn’t appear original. He had fully tonsured his head and shaved his face. 

“No, Ayya. Rather, I feel good!” He too replied swiftly. (‘Ayya’ is a Tamil word to denote ‘sir’)

“But why? Is anything wrong with you? You seem to be physically alright.” I didn’t want to give up on him.

“Why not, Ayya? Life is easy this way. When I was willing to work, they cheated me and browbeat me. Now my life is very comfortable. I make here more than what I need for a day. Besides, you know, I help a lot of people earn punya (good deeds) and attain moksha (salvation) by receiving alms from them. But for people like me, many would be dangling above the boiling oil in the hell.” He laughed aloud and continued, “Which one do you want Ayya?  Heaven or hell? Please offer me something.” His tone was full of sarcasm.

I scrounged my inner shirt pocket, found a one rupee coin and offered it to him. That was the only treasure I had with me at that time.

“But would you come with me if you were offered a place to stay, food to eat, and good clothes to wear?” I was a nomad myself, with no place of my own and with no belongings other than a small shoulder bag. I must be crazy to make an offer to him.

“No! No! You seem to be no different from a few other haughty people who had given me a similar offer before. You ask me to do a lot of menial work and pay me peanuts. Why would I need to be working if I can make a living doing nothing?” He turned his head away from me and looked at a young couple coming out of the temple, “Ayya, Amma please offer me something. Be it punya to you both. May it bring luck to you, O Amma!”

It was obvious that he was not keen to pursue the conversation with me anymore.

I was stubborn, still didn’t want to give up on him and told him sternly, ‘Look, you are going to come with me one day!’ I didn’t wait for his response and left the place.

It was a Pradhosham day. People considered it an auspicious day, to visit Siva temples for the special poojas done to Lord Siva. On these days, a large number of saffron clad people waited outside the temple, near the entrance, carrying a small wooden bowl, expecting people to offer them alms. The temple was crowded and many put coins into their begging bowls. After all, everyone wanted to earn punya and no one desired to go to hell. I noticed that many among those who begged were quite able, but a few were old, disabled, sick or some even lepers. There were many small children too, among them, pestering visitors to the temple for alms. It was very pathetic to see even young children begging. ‘Can I do anything at all to help these children stop begging? I ruminated as I left. An idea was forming in my mind.

*****

“Ayya is calling you inside”, the dawali (the peon) outside the District Collector’s office, beckoned me.

I entered the large spacious office of Govind Singh, the District Collector at Tirunelveli. He was short in stature and looked miniscule, behind his oversized rosewood table.

“Please come! What new issues have you brought to me? I am sure you have something interesting.” He welcomed me with a broad smile.

Govind Singh, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) Officer, belonged to Kapurthala in Punjab and was quite young for his official position. When he passed his IAS exams, he was pleasantly surprised to learn that he was allotted to Madras Cadre, by the Central Government. He had spent his school days in Madras when his father ran a small shop for automobile spare parts. His father died in a scooter accident and the family was forced to move back to Kapurthala. When he joined the government services in Madras, he still remembered bits of Tamil he had learnt during his early school days and that helped him a lot in his job. Linguistic chauvinism was the order of the day and the government expected all officers to use Tamil in all their official communication. Govind Singh’s Tamil was funny, but he managed. He was very simple, bold, tough and upright - called a spade a spade. But behind his tough postures, he had a kind heart that only few understood.

Govind Singh had joined the district administration only a couple of months ago, but he had heard about me and we became friends from our very first acquaintance. Thanks to Lord Siva and his projects, a nomad and the District Collector became friends.

Govind waited for a response from me and I was never good at being circumspect. “Can you please identify and allot some vacant land in Cheranmahadevi, for a good cause?”

He smiled wickedly. He knew my next project had already begun. Still, he asked, “What for?”

I explained. In less than seven minutes I was out of his room, feeling confident, looking forward to challenging years ahead. Lord Siva always had people working for Him.

*****