Inspirational Short Story of a Beggar

We all work for our family or future, and we get stuck in our work profiles due to our own choices and circumstances.

I reside in New Delhi; a very well know Capital city. However, I work in a secluded area, which is about 75 km away from New Delhi. When I was offered the job, I happily accepted it. I thought it would be a wonderful experience to work in tranquility, away from the crowded home city. This place is a small city in Rajasthan, the state of desert in India. My love and imagination have given the city an artistic name called ‘Harmony.’ The town’s original name is different. Still, for my inner satisfaction, I call it ‘Harmony.’

Really, in my soul and the body, it gives me immense satisfaction to live there. Years back, Harmony was a village but later got changed into an industrial hub. However, the magnificence of the place has remained.

What I like most about the job is my journey to Harmony. I feel intensely touched when I see people and their lives on my way to the office.

It’s marvelous to wake up early and drive. The nice breezy wind and novelty of the air add to my peace. The best element of my journey begins when I am just 5 km away from the destination.

It’s an undersized road, surrounded by vegetation of wheat, with a view of mountains. But there is something unusual in this element. It is scrutiny of a person who is unsighted and is begging on the highway.

This person raises questions in my mind; why does he risk his life for begging? Why is begging so essential for him to and that too on the highway? There are trucks, buses, and cars, but this person is standing, pleading with the people to pay him.

One day, I decided to know the answers to my questions. I stopped around, pulled this person off the road, and sat with him. He was very friendly and humble. I asked him why you beg like this, he smiled and started telling me about his life.

(His life)

God gave me superior life with my wife Lakshmi and two sons. I couldn’t have asked more, as I have got the best family. I was considered a wealthy man in my village. This is because the village norms make a person rich if he owns agricultural land and a home.

--I interrupted him and asked, what’s your name, he replied smiling, ‘Radhey Saini.’

Then he went on further with his story…

I always believed that my wife was the best globally, and I firmly believed that my life would remain wonderful forever. But I committed one mistake in life. This mistake was unforgiving.

To increase my agriculture harvest, I took a loan more than my array and thought that I would invest and do healthy in the next harvest. However, things didn’t go my way. Crops had not wholly matured when the weather went dreadful, and it rained heavily. All my harvest got ruined, and everything was finished. I lost everything that I earned.

I was utterly discouraged, would but my wife Lakshmi stood by me and encouraged me to revive and work hard again. Lakshmi even asked me if she can work and help me, but I told her that I would fight all the world’s ills if she supports me.

Before I could control the circumstances, my agricultural land was sold to pay the partial debts, and my house was sold to take care of my daily needs. But I didn’t give up and kept trying.

One day, I left home to travel to Harmony to try some options. Two people on a motorbike came and stopped near me. They asked, ‘Are you Radhey’? I said, yes, can I help you. They said, ‘Where the hell are you running?’ I asked, ‘Who are you.”

They said, ‘we are hired by your debtor, who lent you money for the crops.’ He has sent us to find you, and we believe you are running? I told them I am not running and just going to Harmony for some work. They asked me to give them all the money that I had. I told them I don’t have much money and requested them to let me go. But they hit me on my head with a brick and left me bleeding on the road. They took my money.

A few hours later, when I was conscious again, it was all dark, and I could not see anything! Yes, I was made blind for few thousand Rupees.

Since then, I have often offered my wife to leave me and get married to someone else. But she has never agreed and always stopped talking to me about my suggestion. She always says that she will live and die with me.

She held my hand and encouraged me, saying, ‘I have full confidence and trust in you. You can still work hard and feed my children and me’.

I was lifeless from within, but thanks to God who has given me Lakshmi, my power and soul. She made me stand again to fight the world. I decided to learn everything that was needed for a blind man, to live without eyes.

I learned all the blind skills to work. It was tough, but I managed to learn all of them. I wanted to work hard and earn for my family.

I requested some work from the cattle feeders and was given the job of feeding the cows. But my fate did not help me. When I started feeding the cows, I fed the cow with rotten bushes despite providing green bushes. This was due to my blindness, as I picked the wrong bushes in miscalculation. Even though I tried to be perfect with the blind skills, I couldn’t get perfect. The possessor of the cows slapped me and said, ‘you stupid blind man, you can’t do anything right. Just get out of here, as you are suitable for nothing. Go and become a beggar. Please don’t show me your face again.

Imagine how one feels when he is beaten for his blindness.

I then tried working in a factory as a peon, where I served water to the guests and the company owner. One day the company owner -my boss removed his shoes at the door and asked for water. My boss never used to remove shoes at the door, but I don’t know why he did it on that day. While bringing water through the door, my foot bumped into his shoes, and I was down on the floor. The glass broke, and water spilled. My boss called the security and told them, ‘Throw- the blind man away. I cried, I apologized, but he didn’t listen, and I was out.

Imagine how one feels when he is thrown on the road for his blindness.

After that, I tried many other options like truck cleaning, home cleaning, shoe polish, tobacco selling, etc., but no one supported me. I was rather beaten up for my blindness and was always suggested to become a beggar.

A few days later, my children were not allowed to enter the school due to non-payment fees. At that time, I was hardly earning one-time food for my family, and this one-time food was made after taking several beatings every day.

I have only one friend in the world, Lakshmi. One day, I shared my grief with her that I am beaten every day. I told her that the beatings are for not being perfect due to my blindness, and everyone suggests that I become a beggar. That day Lakshmi cried a lot and said that she would go out for work. I told her that I can suffer beatings but can’t suffer any mishap to my wife. I told her clearly that I will die but not let her work.

I then decided I will beg. I will beg for my family. I will beg for my livelihood. I was made to believe that begging is the profession defined for the blind man, and no one will beat me for choosing this profession. I asked Lakshmi, ‘Are you with me?’ Lakshmi cried and said I am with you always.

The next day, I started a business that the world designated me, ‘The begging’ business. I tried begging on the streets, at the doors, in the buses. But no way, I was able to feed my family completely. Therefore, I decided to do something different and earn more from the begging business. Today I beg artistically on the highway, and I earn a good amount. Now, I can feed my wife and my children completely. I am also able to make my children study in a charitable school.

(He stopped speaking and went back to the highway)

Today, Radhey stands on the highway to ‘Harmony,’ where I work. He stands bowing, his head and hands stretched. People stop their vehicles from paying him money. I also encouraged him by paying some money, and I don’t regret it. I will not call it begging, but I will call it a forced business that we ‘the world’ have forced him into. I think ‘Radhey Saini’ should be proud of his business.