THE GOAN CRAZY
BEGGAR
Philosophy
The hydrogen sun slowly went off. The sodium vapor lamps slowly became “on”. And the city
undertook its night journey well. People who bore the nocturnal signature of
the city life came out of their homes for jollification.
Amidst the
relaxing people and the relaxed people scattered over the popular “Goan Crazy”
area was a beggar sitting on a platform. The beggar like all other beggars gave
a dirty appearance and irregular coarse hair. His enormous black beard had not
yet changed its color though he had completed half his life time. With a
peculiar body posture, he was slowly stiching small pieces of clothes with a
needle and a thread in an attempt to combine them into one. Few days back he
managed to get a thread bundle from a
dust bin. Just few minutes back, he found the needle somewhere near a tailor
shop.
Behind the platform,
a garment shop camaflouged with rich interiors boasted the presence of
expensive, good-looking clothes of all kinds. A family of four got down from a
bus and went inside the shop. After few minutes, their purchase was completed
and the family left the place. The beggar was still found stiching the small
pieces of clothes. After sometime, he stopped the sewing work and examined the
jointed rag clothes for their strength. The small thread bundle lifted from the
dustbin has been finished and with it diminished the chances for additional
strengthening of the clothes.
A Posh Cinema
hall in front of the platform began to draw its high class circle crowd. People
kept going inside the compound in small groups. Boys and girls went past the
beggar in a hurried manner and filled his nostrills with perfume smell every
now and then. Inside the compound, the boys were busy in chatting and smoking
and the girls were engaged in conversation and can drinks.
The beggar
slowly slipped the newly stiched ‘dirty clothes’ on his body and checked the fit of it. With little
satisfaction, he picked up his huge dirty bag and started to move somewhere.
About a
hundred yards away from the cinema hall was located the “Dog and Dux” shopping
plaza which was regarded as one of the best in the city. A young man went inside a colorful neon-lit
electronics shop and gleefully bought a music system worth several thousands of
rupees.
Outside the
plaza, on its eastern far end, the beggar was searching a dustbin for food left
overs. It seemed that the search proved futile for him for he left the place
with nothing. Inside the shop, the music system was carefully kept inside a
van. In few seconds, the van gently rolled out of the shopping plaza.
With a hope
of finding food leftovers, the beggar walked down the road towards a fast food
shop. To his dismay there were only empty paper plates in its dustbin. Due to
the fact that wasting food is a small sin, most of the people have dumped it
into their stomachs. It has been almost three days since he last had his food.
His stomach began to brutally indicate its presence.
Three men
walked out a restaurant with big bellies. Unable to walk freely, one man
signalled the car driver to come near them. In few seconds, a car lifted them
off and sped up without much noise. The beggar gave an empty look at the car
and resumed his search.
The beggar
unlike other beggars did not beg. He only picked up from the dustbins. He never
cried. Nobody would respond his tears. And he never laughed and smiled. Laughs
and smiles were already owned by the rich and the beautiful.
The beggar
ignored his hunger and walked down the road upto the Sea Beach.
The Beach as usual was dancy and musical. The beggar dropped his bag and lied
down on the sand. The music of the Beach soothed his ears. Up in the dark sky,
the Stars were gently twinkling and the Moon was very radiant. When hands do
not have money, the eyes and the ears seem to find their alternate sources of
sensual enjoyments.
In short
time, the Sky and the Sea was completely owned by him. Other audiences of the
beach did not bother much to enjoy the twinkling of the Stars and the dancing
of white waves on the beach. The Sky and the Beach together helped him in
forgetting his hunger. Thirst was never a problem for him. There were plenty of
public taps in the area.
Something happened in the political
circle. Human bodies went rolling on metal objects with flashing lights and
sounding sirens on top of them. The beggar gave a vacant look at the metal
objects and rolled his eyes back at the sky. Had he been admitted in a school
when he was a small child, he would have fired more neurons in his brain and he
too would have taken baths, worn clean clothes and rolled on metal objects just
like others do. But nobody admitted him in a school. These Gods seem to be
crazy. They put some babies on VolksWagon cars and some on huts near gutter.
A horse
galloped and went past the beggar. It then suddenly stopped at about a hundred
yards. A trained horse rider helped a crying boy to get down. The horse riding
perhaps frightened the boy. His parents consoled him and paid the horse rider.
Thenafter in an attempt to reduce the tears of their son, they bought two
balloons from a balloon man and gave them to him. The balloons stopped the
tears and made the boy to smile too.
The forgotten
hunger of the beggar returned back with a vengeance and made him very
uncomfortable. The beggar slowly picked up his huge dirty bag and started to
move. After a long and tiresome walk, he came near a marriage hall which has
been made busy by a wedding. Few audiences present outside the marriage hall,
happenend to glance at the beggar and threw a mysterious look at him. The
beggar brutally reminded them of their “excess” belongings and made them little
bit frightened too. But immediately their minds convinced them of their better
financial position and comfort in comparison to him and made them feel good.
Much to the beggar’s delight, food had been
thrown outside the marriage hall’s compound as leftovers. A dog was consuming
some of the left overs in a greedy manner. The beggar went near the little
mound of leftovers and started to eat. After his eating, he took out a big
vessel from his huge dirty bag and started to fill it. Meanwhile the dog
finished its dinner and looked at the beggar. It then wagged its tail.
The beggar
began his move. After going back to the platform, he sat down and started to
look at the passing vehicles on the busy road. As for the people on the road,
the sight of the beggar to some extent changed their line of desirous thinking.
Most of them have been thinking in terms of acquisition of possessions which
were too high in comparison to the belongings of the beggar.
As everyone
has a tendency to compare himself/herself with others, the sight of the beggar
made them to compare themselves with the beggar too. This was detested by their
minds because they wanted to become bigger with more objects, more power and
more freedom. And this beggar had started playing the ‘spoilsport’. The beggar
like all other beggars applied a “harsh brake” and simultaneously reversed their
vehicle of thinking.
Before
sighting the beggar, all of their desires had proper justification because they
had compared themselves with somebody better than them. But now, they were
constrained to accept the betterment of their own position with reference to
the beggar.
An owner of a
small house had desired a big bungalow. A man sitting inside a car wanted a big
one. A woman with bare neck had desired jewellery. A young man had desired an
expensive cell phone. A boy on foot had desired a bicycle. Almost all of their
desires appeared “too much” at the visual interception of the beggar. Later on,
their frightened desirous minds made them to feel that comparison to the dirty
and stinking beggar should not be done for prosperous living. Their minds also forced them to think that
the beggar is paying the price for his laziness. And that Gods created hunger
in stomach so that people and other species won’t be idle and lazy.
As people of
different nature passed in the vicinity of the beggar, different kinds of
thoughts were generated by them.
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“I might be born just like him in the next life …….” thought
a guilty man.
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“This human race is very selfish” observed a lady dressed in
white.
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“I don’t mind being in his place but clean clothes will be
better” thought a student with extreme exam pressure on a moving bus.
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“Thank God! I have been born in a rich family. Or else I too
would have sat like him” reciprocated a young man moving on an air conditioned
car.
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“A dirty and stinking beggar “ detested a beautiful woman
sitting inside a Mercedes Benz.
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“ Everybody is a beggar. Business people beg for money.
Employees beg for promotion. Writers beg for popularity. Politicians beg for
power. Bachelors beg for physical pleasure. Students beg for marks. Cine Actors
beg for fame. Children beg for toys. Old people beg for life. Only their
clothes and methods are different.” observed a Communist man.
…………………………….
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“Becoming a somebody is difficult and becoming an absolute
nobody like him is equally difficult” pondered a philosopher.
………………………..
“This beggar might be a God in disguise” thought a religious
man and thrust a one rupee coin into the beggar’s hand.
……………………….
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“You don’t know these days beggars have accounts in Swiss
Banks” seriously informed a young man to his friend.
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“A relaxed life” observed a very tense business man.
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“Even if this dirty and stinking beggar wants to work who
will give him job” muttered an unemployed graduate.
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“A man suffering his Karma” thought a Hindu brahmin.
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“A non workaholic” condemned a Japanese tourist.
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The beggar
unaware of the public opinions regarding him sat looking at the people and the
moving vehicles on the road. The dog which had its food along with the beggar
came near him and wagged its tail in a friendly manner. The beggar gave an
empty look at it. The dog went closer to him and gently licked his dirty hand.
The beggar patted it softly. The dog wagged its tail again !!!
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