My Earliest Memory of a BEGGAR (and Howrah Station)

No, I am not obsessed with beggars. While posting the previous article on beggars I recalled this great incident.

An incident does not need to be great on its own, the greatness of an incident depends on the observer's experience. And the incidents you remember from your childhood are always the greatest. In childhood every small incident seems so unique, everything fosters your curiosity, everything is so special. But very few of people are lucky enough to recall many of those experiences for long.

I consider myself among those lucky people.

This incident of a beggar is always been a great deal to me, it is one of my earliest memories and the first memory of a beggar. Not only that, this incident is also my first memory of Howrah Station, a beautiful huge station on the bank of Hooghly River near Kolkata. So, obviously, it had to be special.

I love Howrah Station very much (from the outside)

Howrah Station in the bank River Hooghly

Image Source

But the inside of it is a mess, this huge complex is densely crowded.

I know crowded places scare the shit out of many of you, but they are not that bad when you are very young. Even it is very stimulating for a child, as there are lots of things going on to be curious about.

In such a crowded platform of Howrah station, I found this beggar.

He was skinny, hungry, he looked miserable. He was wearing a torn and dirty vest and shorts or something I don't correctly remember. There was partially crumbled bowl on his hand, 2 or 3 puris and a couple of coins on his bowl.

The man was literally on his chest, crawling and dragging himself all over the floor. Staring at everyone with his poor yellow eyes as if he would start crying if the person denied to give him anything. And the children there in the platform had to face even worse, he was giving them much emotional treatment. I have no idea what he was expecting from the children.

I took so pity on him, I was so emotional that I started thinking to lie down on the ground beside him and help him begging more efficiently, as I knew my parents were not gonna help him as they were busy in talking with my uncle.

Fortunately, I did not have to do that and feel embarrassed whole my life.

A policeman arrived immediately, with a cane in his hand, shouting at him. The very next moment he heared the police, he jumped up and stood on his foot so quickly, that I couldn't even see his transition from sleeping position to standing. No, I was not distracted by something else, all the time eyes were stuck at him. Right after his sleeping position, I saw him standing, not a single frame of the transition whatsoever.

He at first were stuck in traffic and started screaming in panic, then managed way and just run away through the traffic.

I was so pissed of by the event! I was more angry at the policeman, I was enjoying being sad but the police made me think meself a stupid.

Even now I remember how he was crawling, and I cringe of thinking that how stupid I was back then to think the man was in so much misery that he can't even walk. Even from my faded memory now I can say he was over acting. Have you ever seen a man so weak that he can't even sit, lies down completely dragging himself all over the floor? It would consume much more energy than even running? And now I am certain that the way he started screaming when he saw the police, he was not actually panicing, the freak was trying make people feel bad about him and angry at the police for driving the poor man.

Anyway I loved the beggar, and still I like to recall the way he was crawling. It gave me some content to think on.

Here are some more beautiful photos of Howrah.