The educated pauper!

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“Sir, can you please lend me some money so that I could take the bus to koramangala? I don’t have any money on me.”

Imagine the shock as you listen to those words coming out of a mendicant ( for the want of a better word ), verbatim! That was a true incident that happened to me while I was waiting for my cab a few months ago.

This ragamuffin looking guy was inching closer towards me, and I obviously knew he was gonna ask me for money, but what happened next was something I didn’t foresee. He came over to me and said those words in impeccable and fluent English! I swear I know quite a few educated people(count me one among them) who still have trouble with their grammar, but to hear such flawless english from someone like him was just un-freakin-believable! To paint you a picture, Imagine the surprise on Ron and Hermoine’s face when they first learn Harry can speak parseltongue? Yeah, you could imagine my reaction somewhere along those lines. I ended up giving him some money, but guess what? The ragged rascal ran(Triple alliteration!!) away with the money in the exact opposite direction of his destination. But listening to that guy just made my day! I wish I could’ve got a picture taken with him, but since it’s not an everyday occurrence, I was just too dumbstruck to think on my feet and ask him to pose for a snap.!!!!!!

This entry was posted in It happened to me.

7 thoughts on “The educated pauper!”

    Puja said:
    October 4, 2013 at 12:18 am

    I have had a similar experience on ORR. We gave Rs 50 to the guy, went a little ahead and turned back to see what he does with it. And there he was, stopping someone else for money! We laughed it off, but unfortunately such incidents make you lose faith at times.

    Reply
      Praveen Chandrasekaran responded:
      October 4, 2013 at 3:19 am

      I just think you expect a little too much out of a guy like him! I only wish I could’ve known more abt his life! Even I gave him rs.50 I guess, but that might just do him good barely for the next course of his meal! Just consider it a donation and let it go..

      Reply
    Giri said:
    October 5, 2013 at 5:47 am

    The bigger question you might want to tackle sometime future in the blog is “is it right in giving money to beggars?”

    Reply
      Praveen Chandrasekaran responded:
      October 5, 2013 at 6:02 am

      Debatable da! But you never know what they’re going through.. So it’s better not to judge and do whatever little you can..

      Reply
        Giri said:
        October 6, 2013 at 4:36 pm

        Yes da. One never knows if there is a valid reason for them to be begging. And that is exactly why it is a difficult question to tackle 🙂

    Sudhir said:
    October 8, 2013 at 4:45 am

    I would love to read a post on the incident that happened next to the Chennai central subway 😛 !

    Reply
      Praveen Chandrasekaran responded:
      October 8, 2013 at 7:00 am

      Yeah, that was an even better experience 🙂 Unfortunately can’t share it in public! Restricted only for ears!

      Reply

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