Muhammad Albar, bottlewala's son

We always thought that Sikkim is a beggar free state. We boosted saying that 'you will never find a single beggar in our state'. But this time, we were proven wrong. On a recent trip to Gangtok, we were completely shocked and sad at the same time when we encountered some beggars across the state.

Out of those beggars, we were very much surprised with one young lad whom we found begging on the way to Deorali Gumpa, Gangtok. We walked passed him unknown of the fact that he was there asking money to the passerby. 'Daju, 2 rupee dinuhos na!! [Brother give me 2 rupees]' a voice so innocent that we were compelled to have some talk with him.

He was around 12 years old and his name was Muhammad Albar*[as he said]. He narrated his story as, he studies in Bihar and has come to Sikkim to his parents. His parents collect bottles and earns a living. He also collects bottle sometimes.

'Hijo ta 12 ota bottle bhete hai! anta tesko 22 rupiya paye hai! [I collected 12 bottle yesterday and earned 22 rupees]', he said.
'Anta k garcha tyo paisa ko?[What do you do with that money?]' we asked.
'Chamal kincha!! [I buy rice]'.
'Anta aama-baba le kindaina? [Your parents dont buy rice?]'
'koi bela unarle kincha hai, koi bela mo kinchu hai [sometime they buy and sometime I buy]'.

We tried to make him understand that it is not good to beg, what more could we do.
'aja chai kati paisa bhayo? [How much did you earn today]'
And he replied '6 rupiya!'
'mo tala thiye hai, euta lama daju le prasad dinchu bhanera lyayo hai, anta ek jhola prasad diyo hai [I was begging down there in the market, a monk said he will give me prasad and brought me here and gave a one bag of fruits]' and he showed his bag which had apples and bananas in it.

Though people say that beggars should not be encouraged but those innocent talks..... we gave some amount to him and asked him not to stay there as many tourists were visiting the place. When we returned from the gumpa, he had left.

The intention in writing this article was just to make you feel the mentality of the poor boy. What will Muhammad Albar become when he'll grow up? For him, life is all about earning two meals a day. Hope he will not take the profession of his parents!!

SSG wishes him best of luck for his future.

Admin, SSG