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I was feeling the same way when it happened! Had it not been for my mom, who was with me, I would have literally beat the cr@! outta him. After all, it was my first car, bought with my first salary. :deadhorse
But, I just swallowed my anger and moved on. Got the car repainted the very next weekend.:)

Of course it is still prevalent in Delhi and Bombay (no idea about other places). These fellows are then deployed to religious places like temples and mosque, where ppl suddenly become more "humane" and try to show their "solidarity" by giving alms to the "needy".

What they don't realize is that these ppl's needs is something else.
And more than that - the society's need is that all this stops, which is never going to happen as long as one keep giving "alms" and making the gangs believe that the business is still profitable.

there is no right and wrong in this. everything is only someone's point of view. So I suggest live and let live - let each person do as he/ she thinks right at the moment in time when he/she is approached by a beggar/ less privileged person.
lets try and keep our reactions non-judgemental as far as possible, however difficult this may be or seem.

I do not know how many of you must have watched these videos but with this much talent, I dont know why they got to sell stuff on the roads, they could as well as work in call centers.

How many can you speak? 1

How many can you speak? 2

There is a large amount of child labourers also coming into the city in a organised way. I have seen people who don't even understand Hindi.

We need to understand that there is a problem in this country which is leading to poverty and hence the migration.

The bad thing is these beggars look healthier than the urban poor (who actually work but earn little)!

I was waiting at a signal on the Airloi-mulund bridge last week and had a friend along.A transvestite/eunuch approached me on my the driver side and knocked on the glass window.I ignored the person and increased the volume of my stereo a bit so as to not be able to hear the beggar cum extortionist.On seeing this the beggar got angry , plucked out a blade of grass and some dirt from the nearby bushes and sprinkled on my windshield as if to curse my car or something.Quite frankly i was quite annoyed and upset because of this i had already had enough bad luck with my car last month with a accident and a huge bill made out to me courtsey Solitaire Honda.

Call me superstitious if you must but i gave a buck or two to his kind of people today just so that i could have some peace of mind.I know in this modern world all these things are not to be beileved but i simply didn't want any more bad luck.:Frustrati

Something i usually do to aviod such people is not to come up too close to the vehicle in front of me while coming to a stop at a signal and keep atleast 2-3 feet between my car and the vehicle in front.When a beggar etc approach me i very slowly cover up the gap in the front and this usually drives them away.I guess it's diffcult to do this all the time and i just did not had enough space when the mentioned person creeped out on me.

Bumping up this very old thread!

My daily commute from office to home is through WEH and JVLR to Powai from Borivali. I have been doing this route since 3 years now.

Since the last couple of days, I am seing a very old couple, begging on the junction of JVLR and WEH only during the night time. These folks are so old that their words that they speak are also very faint and depend on heavy wooden sticks to walk.

As I said earlier I have been doing this route since the last 3 years and have never seen them, but they have suddenly come up here.

I feel very depressed and sad seing their state and want to do some thing ? I have no idea what, just that the sight makes me very depressed.

Can any body help me out with this please ? Should I try talking to the man ? They look genuine and not fake beggars.

In just 3 days, i have now started dreading seeing them on the junction in their state.

How would you deal with this situation ?

Regards
Dieseltuned

It is very hard to say, Man!! I have encountered many street beggars especially young children on my daily commute. Many times, I felt very depressed and sorry for their state.

If you happen to drive via Thane-Belapur road, at the junction where there is the turn to Mahape, you will find quite a few child beggars. The fact is that these children and forced by their own parents (who were nicely sitting nearby and watching) to beg.

There are rescue centers and other govt. agencies which take of their needs as most of these people are registered by some NGO or other.

But begging is such a lucrative option that most of them escape from there and return to the streets.

I personally don't give them any money. I have seen other people give these beggars stuff like chocolate, biscuits, left over food, old books or clothes etc. But I see that these things usually end up on the street sides eventually dirtying the streets.

Only thing that will stop the beggars and probably improve their situation is when they won't earn from begging. What that means is that we stop giving them alms even if it seems like killing our conscience.

Sumeet, you are fortunate in a sense that it was just a 'soft' retaliation. In Kolkata eunuch gangs have started frequenting several busy crossings (at least in South Kolkata). I have seen one of them thump the boot of a car uncomfortably loudly when the owner made his displeasure known. I heard the sound from 3 vehicles away and it seemed like it could have caused a slight scratch or indentation. Personally I smile at them a lot which keeps their anger at bay.

I also find their practice of tapping on the door metal / glass with their long nails very annoying and I usually keep the windows down when one is approaching. The same for sellers of those sun shades who drag their wares over the windscreen and roof without a care in the world.

I dont usually give any money to beggars. I prefer to buy them food or clothing. But if its people selling pens or books or papers or even flowers at signals i do buy them even if i dont need. I feel its better than begging.

Infact i just bought a pen today at the signal while coming back from office. :)

" unfortunate people who deserve our compassion and support. "

Doesn't mean we should be directly handing over money, but the support can also be that we vote for a better government that'll provide them social security & basic amenities and rehabilitate them.

Majority of these are economically marginalised people, convert them from 'ONLY consumers' to 'also producers/creators' of some kind of economic value.

And the sooner its done the better, because as time passes an increasing number of them (like those who've become casual labourers) have started having an unexplained perception of self-entitlement (& of unreasonable proportions).

I am with mixed opinions on this caption. I have no solution for this situation nor do I know what should human rights activists / government do about this. Some are a menace no doubt ; but sometimes when I seem them extending their arms, I get philosophical; as in we extend our hands in front of GOD asking for many many things. So why not give these people something when they extend their arms at us asking, pleading..

Lemme argue both views-

I sympathize with women with small babies. Some sleeping, some awake. Just keeping that child in mind, I have given some money on few occasions. Don't know what they do with the money collected.

Now the other side. Two months back while seated in my parked car and waiting for my wife to buy something and return, one man knocked on my window. I lowered the window and he said his name is Peter , he doesn't have money to go to mysore and asked me for Rs 50. He pleaded and was almost gonna cry. I took out my wallet and gave him that required money. He didn't look like a beggar one sees on roads.

Last week, similar occasion of waiting in my car and I get a knock on my window. I see that its the same man. He doesn't recognize me and starts his story all over again. With a furious head, i had to remind him about the previous acquaintance and told him to leave immediately to mysore and never to return

Such incidents do make me detest such people who act for seeking sympathies and take advantage of people's good emotions.:mad:

We are the privileged classes. Cant we find it in our hearts to be a little kind?
Sitting in AC comfort in my car, I really can't bear the sadness of poverty I see around.
No harm giving a little of one's good fortune away to someone who needs it more than we do.
We eat at expensive places and buy expensive things. Why not give away a little to someone else who may need it sorely?

But how do you decide on who is worth your compassion and philanthropy and who is not?

Very tough to decide, I agree, but the fact that is that most of the beggars are poor and dependent on alms to feed themselves. Even though there are many fake beggars and begging gangs, the vast majority is destitute.

I think the Islamic concept of Zakat or compulsory charity is excellent. If each one of us contributed 10% of our earnings to the less fortunate, I'm sure the world would be a better place for one and all.