The Beggar and his dogs...

Amitabh Shukla

Life has plenty of surprises in store for us. Every moment of life has a surprise element and no one knows when a new surprise springs up and overwhelms you.

The other day, I was walking to my house after the morning walk in the nearby park. It was quite late for the walk and the clock read 9 am in the morning.

I saw a beggar on his tricycle surrounded by at least half a dozen street dogs. Initially I thought that the street dogs had found a stranger and were about to bark incessantly at what they thought was an intruder in their territory.

But this was not the case. The beggar was feeding the canines biscuits which he had received as alms in the morning. The street dogs were very friendly and this was reflected in their benign looks and wagging of tails. After giving them a biscuit each, the beggar opened his polythene bag and found a packet of bread. Now, he gave all the dogs a bread each to eat. He continued to look at them like a fatherly figure, an image of calm, composure and immense satisfaction.

Curiosity got better of me as I watched the scene, something which I had not witnessed earlier. Someone who was himself helpless, reduced to begging and surviving on alms, was on a giving spree.

I began a conversation with the old man. Pyare was his name and he was a resident of Anand Gram or what is known as the Leper’s colony in Tahirpur, east Delhi. The disease had practically left him without his feet and was reduced to begging to keep his body and soul together.

“I am always there in front of the Shani temple for two hours in the morning and another two hours in the evening. There are noble souls in the city who contribute a lot in alms, more in eatables than money. I cannot eat it all alone and share the surplus with the dogs. Life is so uncertain, why should I or anyone store anything for tomorrow,” Pyare told me.

Continuing, he said the dogs are shooed away by everybody and there was hardly anyone who stopped and thought about them.

“Tomorrow is another day. I will see what design has God got for me for tomorrow. I want to make my present happy and feeding the dogs gives me happiness,” the beggar, who now seemed like a philosopher, said.

Talking to the beggar was a revelation. “It could be my mistakes in my previous birth that I am in this state. I want to improve my karma,” Pyare said, slowly putting pressure on the handle of the tricycle and moving to his house.

The street dogs gave him a silent farewell for the time being. There was a promise in the eyes of the canines and also Pyare to meet again the next day for the same ritual.

(March 2011)

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