Beggars belief ___
But Akash ,the polio stricken craggy boy of about twenty years dragging his body on his both hands along the labrynth of serpentine rows of vehicles is not something I bump into occasionally, he is an everyday acquaintance, come rain or shine.Be it scorching sun,arctic cold , rains lashing down or howling winds--- Akash is always there , and unwittingly a kind of camraderie has developed over a period of almost a decade,his changing voice and scruffy stubble shows he has done some growing up over the years, donning a shoddy cap to prevent from harsh sun and wisps of dull hair peeking out, a black thread with a talisman slung around his short thin neck( in a hope for some miraculous and magical effect) ,slender lifeless legs clobbered in shoddy trousers with deformed feet nestled in an oversized sports shoe-.
Today as he spotted my car, his listless black eyes lit up he came crawling fast ahead flashing a broad smile and gave me an invitation for his sister's wedding after Diwali at his native village in UP--I was touched to the bone, a daily handout of few rupees has gotten me a warm invite from a child of a lesser God.
A gaunt body lugging the tooth pick legs on his wrists ,dull sunken small eyes gazing ruefully at the passerbys ,he weaves through the mammoth queues of cars,raps at my window , waiting for me to roll down the glass , outstretched calloused hands awaiting for some money and parting with ''thank you aunty" and a languid smile he hauls his body to another commuter. Some being generous,others condescending and dismissive,few indifferent and at a loss how to react but the melancholy is unmistakably visible in this young boy ,whose family of six staying under a flyover is bludgeoned by such poverty to force the handicapped only son to beg like an animal crawling through ___he wriggles and squirms his withered body with swiftness so as to make the fastest buck in that short red light of 90 seconds,
We Indians are quite adept at putting up a facade and a veneer over unsightly and hideous things and are adept at hiding the imperfections,and so did we put our best face forward in G20 summit. The unsightly beggars, mangy hovels,shrieking hawkers,screaming dogs were kept out of sight during those days of summit ,infact roads were ridden of every ugly sight ,sound or smell.
But now they hit back the roads to make a beeline for their livelihood.Poverty ,disease and untimely deaths have always been a bete- noire, wish the talisman around Akash s gangly neck shows some miraculous effect and policy makers provide a decent living for Akash and his ilk of lesser mortals. Let there be a real paradise on streets not Beggars Belief ....
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