Beggars' honest confession

I was pacing back and forth on the railway platform anxiously waiting for my train which was running late. Exhausted, I sat down on a bench. After a while, I got up and resumed walking.

There was still no trace of the train. The platform was dotted with scores of people waiting to board a train. The bulk of them, who came from the lower rungs or lower middle class were headed for a centre of pilgrimage.

Like any inquisitive journalist, I thought it would be a good idea to utilise the time by observing the passengers. I might come across some angle to write about them, their ethos or some such thing. Unlike me, most of the people did not seem to be in a hurry. They were rather relaxed and late arrival of the train did not seem to matter much to them.

After surveying the crowd, I noticed that there were an unusually large number of beggars of all shades and varieties at the platform. They included old and young men and women, able-bodied as well as infirm. It is a common feature that beggars abound outside places of worship and at bus and railway stations where they get a cash crop of currency notes and coins without much effort.

The thought of giving out something in charity is predominant in the mind of the devout, particularly when they go out on pilgrimage. That explains the beggars' concentration. Beggars are aware of the fact that the upper class and educated middle class people give little as alms to the able bodied. So, they target the lower middle class and the lower class people. They are sentimental and more religiously inclined and become an easy kill.

At one point, I found myself standing near a beggar who was having an argument with another person of his ilk. I got closer to overhear them to find out the cause of their fighting. Like animals in the wild, beggars also mark their 'territory'. And one of the two had 'trespassed' into the other beggar's 'territory'.

The aggrieved one was asking the other to hand over to him the day's entire earning.

The two freely exchanged invectives and kicked and punched. Interestingly, the twosome took care not to make a big show of their physical fights and abuses. They did not want any third party's intervention and attention for a reason that would become clear in the coming paragraphs.

Just then there was commotion on the long platform. The train that would be carrying many more pilgrims was coming. However, I was to board a train that would be arriving from the opposite direction.

As the two beggars saw the approaching train's engine, they declared a ceasefire. They had a crutch each which they quickly 'fixed' under their arm pit. One of them pulled up his left leg in 'V' shape to give the impression of being a lame person. The other beggar intertwined his legs to become another physically handicapped. They moved from one window to another of the train seeking alms.

I was quietly following them. I was shocked to discover that both had suddenly become 'dumb' as well. The beggars, who were fighting using all their four limbs a minute ago, were now 'physically invalid'. Moments ago they were hurling invectives but now they were dumb.

While cajoling the passengers sitting in the train, the two were now merely squeaking and using sign language to indicate that they were hungry and needed money to buy food. And coins did fall in their bowls.

After a brief halt, the train moved out of the platform. And suddenly, the two beggars became normal. Their physical deformities had vanished. The intertwined lower limbs of one of them had got disentangled. The 'V' shaped leg of the other person had straightened. So, they resumed kicking and punching. Their dumbness having disappeared, the two beggars were hurling invectives once again.

Unable to control my disgust, I chastised them and asked why they were cheating unwary people in this manner. One of the two beggars pointed towards his belly and said, "All for one, if not two, square meals a day."

I had no answer.

Lalit Raizada is a journalist based in India.