I am a computer science engineer. I graduated this summer from MIT, Manipal and have been working at Hewlett Packard, Bangalore since June, 2010. Bangalore… is a very interesting city. When I came to Bangalore I saw the youthful enthusiasm of a young emerging country that is India. Everywhere I looked, I saw young, affluent professionals, with an ID card around the neck and a laptop bag on the sho
ulder. India’s Silicon Valley is brimming with numerous Technology parks, public sector industries, renowned colleges and premiere research centers. And then I looked a little harder. Bangalore is also a city of contrasts. Every traffic signal I stopped at, had at least three beggars waiting for alms - little fingers tapping the car windows, old, disabled figures and impoverished mothers with crying babies in their arms. Most of them were shooed away. Some received a few coins for their efforts. The beggars patiently waited for the next red light at the traffic signal. I was aghast at the sheer painfulness and wastefulness of their life – the endless waiting and pleading for a few rupees, coupled with angry words from people who were bothered. I wondered where these beggars came from. What made them beg, and how many coins they needed to collect before they didn’t need to beg anymore. And then the answer came to me. I realized that, that’s how things are currently, and are most probably going to remain if nothing is done to change it. I realized the futility of me blaming the government and the system or putting my hands up in resignation and saying “Kuchh nahi ho sakta!” I realized that I had never considered it my responsibility or had the courage to admit that I could do more than being a side-commentator. I decided to take up the initiative myself. This is Swabhimaan, a thought to empower beggars and help them return to a life of dignity. The ideology is that ignoring this issue is not the solution, nor is giving alms to beggars. The poor do not need charity; they need inspiration. Charity only gives them a loaf of bread to keep them alive in their wretchedness, or gives them temporary joy to make them forget their miserable condition for an hour or two; but inspiration will cause them to rise out of their misery. They need your support more than your sympathy and money. Stop and think - Are you really helping them or pushing them further into this marsh called begging? I believe that we can find a solution to this problem. It is possible. What will we exactly do? Support from other NGO’s, counseling beggars, spreading our ideology through fliers, vocational training, finding jobs for them - You tell me! I don’t pretend to be an expert at this. But I have commitment. And that’s all you need to be part of Swabhimaan. Swabhimaan is incomplete without you. I need your help and your ideas to make it grow. After all it’s a community project - One community being the beggars and the other being you and me, working towards empowering them. I personally invite you to join me in this endeavor and I promise you that together, we will cause a perceivable change in the lives of these people. PS: There are no constraints on how far you live and how much time you can’t give. If you’d like to help at all, there’s work to be done. PPS : Swabhimaan was born on 15th Nov, 2010.
