Of what value are blessings?

Even in the undignified, lowly act of begging, the beggars in Mumbai bring in the dignified act of applying thought. They constantly invent creative strategies to maximize earnings. Some of them are pure artists. And when a tactic completely loses impact they re-invent.

In the matter of giving alms, I am like almost everyone else. I sometime bother to dig into my coin pouch and pull out a coin to place in their bowl or hand. I don't bother at other times. It is totally random. I think it depends on my moods. When i am irritated, I nod my head. When I am in a good mood, I become generous. There are times when I am really hoping for something good to happen, then too I get generous - hoping, that in some cosmic way, my generosity to the beggar would convert into a generosity towards me by the forces.

One school of thought says that giving money to beggars encourages begging and that it prevents these people from looking for jobs. I never got that honestly. I don't think beggars choose begging as a career option. The people who actually partake in the act of begging are doing it out of compulsion. The compulsion of circumstances or the compulsion put on them by mafia (who have made a career out of making others beg money for them)

So, why am I thinking of beggars and begging today? Well, an unusual incident that happened to me this morning at Bandra station is the culprit. As my autorikshaw halted in front of Bandra station, a respectable looking but frail, old lady came up to the auto.She was about 5 foot tall. Thin. Her head was framed by a thick mop of grey hair parted in the center. She had a longish face and greying eyes. She had a good set of teeth. There was a quiver in her voice, the kind that comes into your voice when you have crossed a a certain age. The auto-driver looked at her and pointed to an empty auto nearby and asked her to take that one as he did not want to accept any passengers at the moment. But, it turned out, she was not really interested in boarding an auto. She was actually interested in me. She caught my eye and said "beta, thode paison se meri madad kar denge..ek chai peene ke liye paison se meri madad karengi?" (see translation below)

Don't ask me why but I wanted to give her Rs.10. even though a cup of tea on the street costs only Rs.2. But I did not have a Rs.10 note. So, I gave her a Rs. 5 coin. She took it closer to her eyes to look at the coin when I began to walk away. As I walked away, I had flashes of curiosity about who she was and if this was just a fantastic begging strategy. In any case, I couldn't help feeling an unbearable pang of feeling sorry for her state, especially considering how much she had aged. I turned to look at her. She stood there blessing me. Even as I walked away she spent some time to shower blessings on me.

It made me think why do beggars who are not children, always shower blessings on you when you give them something? Whether you are looking for it or not, they make it a point to shower blessings on you. It is because that is all they can give you in return for the money. It shows that even if you don't expect anything in return, they do want to pay you back.

Translation: daugther, (well, its common in India, to refer to strangers by a relationship that suits the age difference) could you please help me with a bit of money? could you help me with some money so that i could have a cup of tea?)