A friend narrated to me an incident he happened to witness. He was approaching a red-light on his bike, and the signal had just turned yellow. When it did, a small boy, with crutches in his hands(mind it, he carried the crutches, and not the other way round…), ran as fast as he could towards the signal, and as he neared it, he slouched and leaned on the crutches, and limped away into the stopped traffic, begging and gathering sympathy!!
What would you call this situation? Funny or sad?
How would you feel for this boy? Sympathetic or disgusted?
The answer, my friends, is very difficult!
When I heard this story, I misunderstood it first. I thought the boy was actually limping hard on his crutches to reach upto the signal by the time it turned red. And I was almost filled with pity…
Then my friend retold the story, and I found it somewhat amusing, but I mulled over it for quite some time. Later when I told it to my sister, both of us actually laughed!!
It is funny, but at the same time it’s sad because it’s so un-natural for children to let go of their innocence and play such tricks for begging. Or is it just an improvization of the tricks normal kids play, without understanding the seriousness of it? yeah, isn’t what this boy did, something like a kid falling and not getting so hurt; but when his mom sees it, crying away to get the attention and care??
Is life totally circumstantial? Is the way we look at things purely subjective?
Writer's Block! 
Kids just learn from adults. I had seen once a beggar on crutches and begging on the platform I was standing while waiting for train. Then after sometime he removed his crutches and went to opposite platform by crossing the track. All of us watching were shocked.
A kid crying to get attention is natural but to bluff to earn money cant be called a trick.
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Hi Reema,
First of all, welcome to the blog! 🙂
Yeah, its true that kids learn from adults. Who knows, may be that kid’s parents themselves taught him this trick!
Din’t understand the last line you wrote, though! 😦
btw, went thru ur blog as well! Must say u have a very good blog!! 🙂
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I think Life is Circumstantial. It is subjective and also relative. I also think we dont have the wisdom to understand the absolute truth because there may simply not be one! Nyways we can only ponder about these big questions. But my friend says that the best help we can do to others is to help them help themselves. May be we could do some thing in this direction.
Destination Infinity.
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🙂 Hmm, that’s his job i guess and he did it in a smart way. However, it’s a very sad situation. World bank says 33% of beggars, nearly 400 million live in India! It’s a shame for the country. You expressed it extremely well.. I liked it all the way because you didn’t bring the sadness upfront.
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Hi I came across many kinds of beggars..a lady of 25-28 was caring a 5 to 9 months old kid with head fully injured its was looking very genuine but then I realize how can that small kid would survive so came to know that it fake … and one pragnent lady who was 8 months pregnant showing her big tummy to people whe she begs…….Its all very disgusting yet pity as well funny..
Amruta: Hi Fardeen, welcome to the blog and thanks for your comment. Yes, it indeed is very sad to see such situation that appear funny on the outside.
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