Bus stopped in front of Laxmi temple. I had two checkpoints to clear. Laxmi temple and then Haji Ali Dargah.
I first
queued up in Laxmi temple and after that I rushed toward Dargah.
On my way
toward Dargah, peoples with physical disabilities were there. One steel pot was
placed in front of them.
I saw a man,
both legs absent. Only two hands, there were cuts on those hands too. He was
sleeping, facing sky.
I dropped
one coin in his steel pot and about to move forward.
He lightly
pulled by leg, very light contact. I turned back and asked.
“What
happened?”
He placed
his hands on the weighting machine in front of him. I was surprised, I didn't notice
that machine.
He picked up
the same coin from the pot which I had dropped.
He was
tapping on that machine and said “Wajan to check karlo?”(Check your weight
first)
“Ok” I
replied and checked my weight.
As soon as I
removed my leg from the machine, he dropped the same coin in his pot.
I was
stunned, that was a real shock for me. It took me minutes, to figure out what
exactly happened.
He wasn't
having his legs, he was sliding on the floor, struggling for survival.
But, He
wasn't a begger.
He earned that coin, that wasn't a beg out of sympathy. It was a fees for checking your weight. I witnessed this first time in my life.
That small incident
changed my whole perception, that's what I call self-respect.
Everyone
might hold different opinion about this incident. I picked up the good thing
from it.
Story by Ayush Bhandarkar
B.E. from
Shri Ramdeobaba College of Engineering and Management, Nagpur
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