Beggars on a Train
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A boy crawls along the aisle sweeping the floor with a his sweater, a paralyzed man drags himself through the dirty path as people move their legs avoiding eye contact. A mother carries a baby on her arm as she sings to the drum beat of a young boy and a Eunuch or transvestite (I am not sure which one) walks through and simply demands money.
I refuse.
How quickly I have turned off the switch of empathy. You must here in India. The sorrow and guilt would tear you apart. For every cruel hand of fate dealt out to one person, a thousand others have a sadder story.
The boy comes back again and sweeps into my berth. It is too close to my bag for my comfort. I grab his arm in accusation. His thin frame feels soft to my touch. If I grabbed any harder I may have broken it. He has taken nothing. I apologize. He ignores my apology and begs for food and money.
I give nothing.
Nobody gives our exchange a second glance. He moves on sweeping the floor with his dirty rag and I feel compelled to write.
He is the same boy that slept in front of the ticket booth where I bought my general seating car to Hampi, India this morning.
A giant crowd pushed their way through the queue trying to make it to their trains on time. People rushed to the front of the line begging others to buy them their ticket. They hand them money. “ My train leave in five minutes” a woman says. Everyone refused to let her in or add her ticket to their order. The line is at least 50 people deep. She will not be making her train today.
Children of the Train
All this time in the mayhem and chaos, three boys sleep on the floor with serene faces containing slight smiles. Everyone steps over them like they are mounds of garbage.
They are the children of the trains and for some inexplicable reason, the ticket booth agents allow them to lay in the aisles of the queue. The also allow them on the trains. They stick around the entire 6 our ride and nobody says a word.
As I finish writing down my thoughts, the same boy, tall thin and filthy to the bone, walks by with what looks like his younger brother. They munch on an apple as they walk to the back of the train to start all over again.
At that moment, he seems innocent and happy.
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