Sometimes, situations are so sudden, odd and novice that it becomes quite difficult to take a decision. What is even more difficult is to justify later whether what one did was really the apt choice..
Towards the end of the first day of this weekend, I was out for an evening walk, which is an inseparable part of almost all my weekends and sometimes, even weekdays. I was walking down the road, observing the things around, lost in my own thoughts. No sun, no rain and a cool breeze, weather in general was really pleasant. So, it made the experience more enjoyable.
Suddenly, I saw a bunch of 4-5 people coming from the opposite side and now walking towards me, no no no, not to hit me.. :)
This incident was so sudden that I could notice only three of them, but I believe there were a few more standing behind them. One of them was a male of around 35-40 years of age, a female of around 30-35 years of age and a small kid, may be 7-8 years old. The female walked a little more towards me followed by the male and I could see that they wanted to ask something. The first thing which clicked to my mind, was may be they wanted to ask some directions, may be they were lost. So I just stopped to help them all.
Both of them asked me the same question with a different set of words, super-imposed to give just one meaning.."Do you know Hindi? "
I said, " Yes, I do." and I looked at them conveying that I could help you with some directions if you are going to inquire for some. [ I know usually I am not very good at this job, but I know this area quite well now.]
Next statement was, something like this...We came from a village and worked for a guy for a month and he ran away, did not even pay the wages to us..
I was perplexed..I mean I did not know how to react, for I did not know them, I did not know where they were coming from, whether what they were saying was truth or not, why were they telling this to me and of course this was none of my business..I never came across such a situation before this one..I did not say anything for a while and was still thinking about all this..
When I could hear another set of words..which meant.."We have no money to go back to our village and have no money to have food, we have not eaten anything since morning. Could you give us some money?"
I was just out for a walk around my house, so was carrying almost no money first of all. Secondly I did not know them, so how could have I trusted them?
I have always been a believer of the fact that "Beggars (or anyone who asks for money without doing any work) are burden to the society", especially if they are physically fit and capable enough of earning their livelihood. For those who are physically or mentally challenged, this is still acceptable. I was stuck with such thoughts but I managed to convey a "No" to them somehow, by nodding my head in disapproval of their behavior..
I could hear a repeated statement, this time they asked for some money in the name of their kid, for he had not eaten anything since morning.
For a moment I thought of helping them out but then again a logical reasoning occupied my mind. I have been a good observer always and did not get a vibration of any sadness from them, nor did I get the feeling as if they did some hard work for sometime and then the money of their hard labor was not paid to them. It seemed to me like a well rehearsed story, framed perfectly with fake emotions, to captivate the listener and exploit them on the emotional front to get some financial aid. So I denied again, moved forward...
From the moment thereon, I have a little in guilt in some corner of my mind for not helping them.What if they were really hit bad by the circumstances. But then the moment is gone and I have no strong evidences of knowing what is right and what's wrong..
Was my decision wrong ? Yes, No, Maybe
What would have been your take in such a situation..??
