Beggars normally won't get a chance to be choosers, but they can be effective sellers at times! That's what I had witnessed last week at Mahim and made me stand awestruck for a minute.

As I was already late to start off for Mahim church last Wednesday, I thought I should not park my bike, which would eat up at least 15 minutes to park, and five rupees. Instead, I chose to stand beside the church, on the main road itself, while our 3G, ('the Sreejith'), who was with me, had gone to offer his prayers. It was then I saw the 'beggar business' around me.

Like bees surrounding a hive, there were hundreds of beggars around the premise and sadly, a large number of them begged not for their stomach's yearnings, but for their nerves' cravings (by consuming drugs and alcohols). I could also see a lot of donators, who (rather than giving monies in the wrong hands), lavishly gave eatables like biscuit packets, bread-packs and sandwiches to these beggars.

The business started soon after each donor left. As I closely watched the entire scene, I saw many 'collectors' coming and buying these ready-made food packets from 'selected' beggars and going back (I guess to the shops again). They gave some money to the beggars per packet, which was seemingly a half of the actual price. This means, for a 10 Rupees Buiscuit he received, a beggar could get 5 Rupees from the collector. Look again, 10 biscuits = 50 Rupees.

A mini-political style right?

Why shouldn't we nominate these 'begsinessmen' to parliament? They could play a Financial Advisor role!