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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 2:00:34 GMT
I love paneer -- it is such a rare treat for me! Naturally, your street scenes are great, Deyana, but of course pretty much what I would expect from my own experience. It is always a bit grim but also gripping to watch tiny impoverished children going about their business -- begging, scrounging or just playing with a stick and a bottle cap. I sometimes wonder if they have any idea what it is like to even just feel clean and have clean clothes. I had and have so many questions about kids living on the streets (in particular). I tried asking, getting information, only to be told different stories each time. I guess I would have to live in India (and stay in one area) longer, to get the answers to my questions. Did those kids and mom have a place to live? Or was that really it? The street? Did they really get financial help from the government programs that I know are in place (or am at least pretty sure are in place). And if they are being helped by the government (as I was reassured many times over), then why are they still having to beg? It's hard to know what to believe. I know that I gave food and money to quite a few people on the street that asked for it, and sometimes I saw them throw the food away (I guess they wanted only money), or give it away to someone else. In fact sometimes you knew it was something they 'worked' at, it was like a job. And they were well trained at it. However that doesn't explain why I saw a mother in Goa sitting on the floor one time eating left over rice and feeding her small child with it too. Food that a restaurant owner had given her, obviously left overs. If there is financial help from the government for the very poor in India than maybe it just isn't enough to live on, and in some cases maybe certain people are falling through the loop-holes. I just dunno, I wish I knew more. But mostly I have more questions than I am getting answers for.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 2:06:23 GMT
Hi Deyana I am so glad that you have been able to make time to post more of your experiences in India. As always, I have been intrigued, fascinated and just so enjoyed your descriptions and your photos. Hi Lugg. Thanks for continuing to follow my journey. I'm glad you are finding it of interest. I know this has taken a long time to complete (well it still isn't complete, I am still writing it slowly as I go along). But I'm hoping to have a bit more free time and hopefully will get it all finished soon.
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Post by questa on Sept 15, 2013 3:53:42 GMT
Deyana, I am following your journey and it is great.
Re beggars...I lived in Hindu Bali culture for several years, and had a cafe there. Occasionally a child would come to the back door and put out his hand pathetically. One of the staff would give him a coin and he'd go.
Once a 12 year old boy came and I said if he swept the path (5 minute job) he would get a meal or bigger coin. He shook his head and stayed until my cook gave him the smaller coin.
She explained that it was a duty for Hindus to give to the poor and thus they gain good karma. Without beggars, they miss out on the opportunity to gain this merit. If I employed him...no merit.
The beggars believe that it was due to previous karma that they are in this position in this life.
The actual transaction is quite unlike in the West, where the giver is pitying the receiver. In Bali it is very off-hand between the giver and receiver. Minimal eye contact, coin passed, no 'thank yous' or kind smiles between them.
The beggars there are mainly from other islands in Indonesia. In Bali it is considered shameful to beg as it indicates that your family can't look after you, and disgraces the whole family.
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Post by anshjain97 on Sept 15, 2013 5:30:07 GMT
There are government programs, but it would be hard to imagine that they reach everyone. The Public Distribution System (PDS) is somewhat effective nut notoriously corrupt. The Lower House of Parliament passed the populist Food Security Bill (next year is election year) which will ensure further corruption and loss of taxpayer money (it was arguably one of the reason why the rupee declined heavily).
Many beggars are homeless, some live in slums. Sometimes they are forced to beg, sometimes the kid you see with them may actually not be their own.
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Post by bjd on Sept 15, 2013 6:09:39 GMT
I think Ansh has the main answer -- corruption. When you read about villages not receiving government aid because it goes into the pockets of local chiefs or politicians, it's difficult to believe that very poor people would ever get anything. Except perhaps a one-off payment to vote for a particular candidate at election time.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 16:30:42 GMT
Deyana, I am following your journey and it is great. Re beggars...I lived in Hindu Bali culture for several years, and had a cafe there. Occasionally a child would come to the back door and put out his hand pathetically. One of the staff would give him a coin and he'd go. Once a 12 year old boy came and I said if he swept the path (5 minute job) he would get a meal or bigger coin. He shook his head and stayed until my cook gave him the smaller coin. She explained that it was a duty for Hindus to give to the poor and thus they gain good karma. Without beggars, they miss out on the opportunity to gain this merit. If I employed him...no merit. The beggars believe that it was due to previous karma that they are in this position in this life. The actual transaction is quite unlike in the West, where the giver is pitying the receiver. In Bali it is very off-hand between the giver and receiver. Minimal eye contact, coin passed, no 'thank yous' or kind smiles between them. The beggars there are mainly from other islands in Indonesia. In Bali it is considered shameful to beg as it indicates that your family can't look after you, and disgraces the whole family. Hi questa, So interesting how different cultures view things. It must have been quite the experience to live in Indonesia for those years. We would assume that if a person has nothing and is having to beg, they would be happy to get some work, in order have money to pay for what they need. People did tell me that beggars make more money by begging than they would holding down a normal job. so it makes you think and wonder if giving to beggars is really the right thing to do. By giving are we just allowing them to continue with it, instead of doing something more worthwhile? They usually got me with the kids though. It's hard not give something when they are hold a baby in front of you. But even I became somewhat hardened to this aspect by the end of the trip. It's a hard call, without knowing exactly what is going on, we can't know what to do for the best. How do we know who is really impoverished and who is just playing the game? I found the beggars on the trains were the worst. Adults who wouldn't get out of your face unless and until you handed some money over. I got tired of this very fast and simply started to ignore them after a while, or as a last resort give them a few rupees just to get rid of them. I had no sympathy for these type of 'career' beggars. And felt cheated that they were forcing you to give when you didn't want to. The other passengers on the train told us what to do, which was to say 'Chello' (go away in Hindi) and wave you hand as a gesture to go at them. this seemed to work most of the time. I'm glad you are finding my journey interesting, questa. Feedback from other members is always nice.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 16:40:53 GMT
ansh and bjd, yes that is most likely the best explanation - corruption. What is legalized and put down on paper doesn't always go through to the people, unfortunately.
Reading up about the poverty issue in India, I hear that there is enough food in the country to comfortably feed the whole population. And then you see that mountains of grain is left to rot in warehouses, while people a few villages away stay hungry. Sometimes it's just a case of A not connecting with B or C and so forth. Why this is could be lack or organization and mostly likely corruption.
And that has to be dealt with asap.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 18:58:26 GMT
Regarding giving anything to beggars, I have to confess that I used them to eliminate certain problems. I had read that lots of Indian merchants will not accept any banknote with even the slightest rip in it, and I actually saw that this was true a few times. So I gave my tiny ripped rupees to beggars. As for larger banknotes, I actually brought a glue stick with me and fixed them whenever I saw any sort of tear in the paper.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 15, 2013 22:19:39 GMT
I found that too, K. In that merchants refused to take ripped notes as payment. The 5 rupee note was due to be discontinued, it was being replaced by a coin. And the ones I came across, that were still in circulation, were just about falling apart.
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Post by anshjain97 on Sept 17, 2013 12:14:00 GMT
Actually the 5 rupee coin has existed for a long time. Relatively new and still very rare is the 10 rupee coin which looks a little like a 1 euro coin.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2013 23:32:50 GMT
The 10 rupee coin must be rare indeed, I don't think I ever saw one.
I didn't realize that the 5 rupee coin has been about for a few years now. Even more surprising then, in a way, that the note was still in circulation. No wonder each one I saw was falling apart.
ansh, are pesas still used for anything at all?
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Post by anshjain97 on Sept 19, 2013 12:06:22 GMT
Paises are virtually useless now. 50p coins are still around but gone are the days of the 10p coin. I've seen only a few 10p coins, and don't know if paise come in other denominations apart from 10p and 50p though.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 20, 2013 12:24:56 GMT
I'm not sure either, ansh. I do remember seeing some older Indian coinage in an antique shop in Goa.
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