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Bihar
A village lane. Bihar is India’s poorest state, and there is no evidence, anywhere yet, that it is participating in the current development of the Indian economy. There are no international advertisements, no signs of globalisation: not a single Nokia or Vodaphone advertisement. I discount the fact that there is a little more asphalt on the roads, more western dress, less evidence of malnutrition, more clean water, than there were thirty years ago. Thankfully this is the case, but much of the rest of India has gone much, much further towards modernisation.
The foreign temples have erected a countable number of Buddha images. There is even one in the Gaya International airport, which also plays continuously a tape-loop of the Buddhist
Going for Refuge Mantra. Hearing this on arrival is an intensely moving experience for overseas pilgrims, but it is also an indication that the state government recognises tourist potential. And there are uncountable numbers of Hindu gods depicted under village trees and in urban shrines. Hinduism is the religion of embrace, which recognises the Buddha as the ninth incarnation of Vishnu and is thus able to extend a genuine welcome to Buddhist tourists.
* * * India is know as
Bihar
The best dinner these girls could get was to finish my restaurant plate in the street outside. a land of beggars. One of my Indian colleagues at work believes it is a developmental stage. He reminded me of the London that Charles Dickens wrote about, and said that Indian towns are at the same stage nowadays.
Some of the beggars we met were obviously deformed, old, malnourished, or suffering from leprosy. None were fat, but others had firm skin, sparkling eyes, and the energy to chase tourists. Clearly begging can pay well. The social scientists tell us that in India begging is a profession, that beats are defined and lucrative ones can change hands as inheritance or as part of a dowry. In Hinduism and Buddhism, worshippers and pilgrims gain merit for themselves by giving to others. Thus a symbiotic relationship develops between givers and receivers: everybody benefits from the exchange.
We encountered two groups of people who cashed in on this balanced arrangement. Some kids and students whiled away their out-of-class hours practicing their English on the tourists and seeing if they could pick up anything from a biscuit to some sponsorship of school expenses, to friendship. They varied from the obsequious and irritating to the entertaining and engaging. Another group were self-appointed middlemen.
Bihar
Their mothers have nowhere private to brush their teeth. These men stood near groups of beggars and they offered out-of-date and double-the-price biscuits for sale to potential donors, or bags of small coins at a high commission. If things got clamorous they controlled the beggars roughly with the sticks they carried. It was easy to despise these men. But, obviously uneducated, they deserved to scratch a living too.
Poverty is a complex problem and begging is a complex profession. Knowing how to give is also a complex matter. The Lonely Planet Guide says, “Don’t give to adult beggars” and recommends making donations to high profile NGOs instead; but it does recommend biscuits for children.
I do think a donation to Oxfam can help. I don’t think that a poor quality biscuit for an adequately nourished child does anything other than teach it bad habits. It’s better to give surplus rice and veggies to the few who look genuinely hungry.
I hate the notion of throwing small change at leprous adults. It demeans the suffers and demeans oneself. If the giving of a small coin is accompanied by an eye-to-eye smile, a light touch, or a gesture of respect, then the shared humanity of giver and receiver
Bihar
This boy too has to wash at the pump. is recognised for a short moment. The material exchange is small, but the interpersonal exchange can touch both.
One of my companions said, “There is no right way of responding to this.” He was right. But because the situation exists I think there are better ways, and worse ways.
* * * I wrote the above two months after I returned from my December 2007 trip and during that time I was struggling continuously with how to respond to my experiences in Bihar. They are so different from those I had twelve months before in thriving Rajasthan, with its busy tourist trade.
The chief thing I brought back from India this year is a sense of the importance of giving, of giving unconditionally. The first Vietnamese temple built in Bodh Gaya wasn’t in the town: it was in a poor village where it could offer help. How wonderful to find that it’s source community is in Australia, in Brisbane.
Did they choose the poorest village in Bihar? I don’t know and it doesn’t matter. Tourists give help wherever they can. Often to pushy students who have the wit and the flare to know how to
Uttar Pradesh
We saw not a single mobile phone advertisement in Bihar ... but in neighbouring Uttar Pradesh there were plenty. ask appealingly. Are they the most needy, the most deserving? Probably not. Who knows, and does that matter? They are still able to benefit from the gift. And when somebody who is able to give gives in love it is a win-win situation.
The receiver benefits, and the donor does too.
Video:
Pataniya Babu
non-member comment
Fairly off the mark
Yours must be a particularly jaundiced eye as Bihar has a cell phone penetration at par with the rest of India and is at 35% of the population. Patna, the state capital, has over 100%. Before you make such patronising comment that your used plates are the only full dinner those poor women would have, please note, there are no starvation deaths in Bihar; nor are there suicides due to indebtedness as in several other parts. But why should I bother to counter you when even cows (or is that a buffalo) appear emaciated to you if from Bihar? Just for your info, Patna Dairy Project which is working at several districts of Bihar, is one of the most successful co operative movements of India and sells milk and milk product under the name Sudha which you can buy at several places including Varanasi.