India 2007 thoughts about poverty and beggars

One of the things I did not mention in much detail was the poverty and quality of life that we observed. We spent most of our time in the north which is the poorest part of India so our view was limited. It was also limited by the fact that much of what we saw was a result of a comparison with the US and Thailand. Virtually every village and town has hand pumped water wells which I assume is the main source of potable water. Compared to having to walk long distances to get what may or may not be clean water vs being able to pump water from a nearby well this is obviously preferable. I do wonder about the potability of the water as there appears to be very few sewage systems. Again, this conclusion was based on seeing people and our experience of the need to just use local fields to "do our business" or as our guide liked to say "take a leak". (on our last night as we were late and rushing to get our flight back to Thailand I had to ask our driver to stop in a dark spot in the middle of Delhi so I could "take a leak" !)

The housing situation also seemed very limited in terms of availability, size, running water and toilets etc. Having said that, the weather is warm year around so needing closed and insulated houses is not an issue. We also saw many workers living in straw huts and tents.

One thing I kept considering is what does this really mean to the people living this life style? If they grow up in this environment is it so unpleasant? Do they have any more frustration or problems in a day or just different ones? I'm sure that life in the US 150 years ago was not so different in regards to water and sewage! As the saying goes "The kings of yesteryear lived like the poor of today" People don't appear to be undernourished or unhappy. When watching people sit around and talk they have lots of laughs just like we do. They might not have a lot of clothes but they appear neat and clean. Do they need cell phones, computers and cars to lead happy lives?


There is one thing that is distressing, and our view is skewed by our experience as "tourists", is the number of beggars. Obviously, tourists and comparatively wealthy tourists are targets for beggars so our exposure is much higher. Still we could observe people begging when there were no tourists. Like any society a certain number of people are just unable, for many reasons, to work and earn a suitable living. However, India seems to have many more beggars than other countries due, most probably, to lack of education, work opportunities and jobs with a living wage.

Finally, there is the question: do we create the problem by giving money to beggars? Still it is unlikely that most tourists - especially Buddhists on a pilgrimage - will stop giving to beggars! There were several scenes when our group threw candy and even money out the bus windows which caused a minor riot with mainly kids fighting over the spoils. To our eyes it was disrespectful.

The question is: how to deal with beggars when visiting India. When you see a young thin mother holding a small baby asking for basically pennies what should one do?
We basically tried to give to some beggars small change. It appeared other Indians did this too. The good news is that the cost of living is very low so that one can get enough to eat with very very little money.