The value of liberty

Its those moments when you least expect it that truth uncannily creeps from somewhere and suddenly hits you........and then becomes integrated....becomes a part of you......

Its this breezy afternoon at Marine Drive....the cloud cover dilutes its effect almost making it eveninglike....

Prerna, Sharnya and I ..... we're sitting on the parapet having one of those fun conversations..... I catch a sudden glimpse of a pair of hollow eyes......dragging her feet, its a little kid who comes to beg....and another one following it....two tiny gals....flashing that look they know will work on a senti cash rich mba like me..... :)

I ask Prerna to shoo the them in her own style.....watching to find out how she does it......and she got into this cute thing with the girls....

The girls very soon figured that we aren't gonna pay a penny....reading body language and non verbal cues comes as well to corporate trainers like me as it does to those girls....survival skills those.....

So this girl points at some trinket hanging on Prerna's bag.....one of those million things a college girl manages to hang on her shoulder bag.....she wants it.....she now flashes the cute girl smile....

I look into her eyes and tell her...."Iske badle mein tum didi ko kya do-ge?" (what will you give me in return)

I get a few moments of a confused stare from the little girl as well as Sharanya and Prerna.....

I suddenly spot bangles in the little girl's hands.....

I say - "Is mein se 2 bangles do aur yeh le lo" (gimme 2 bangles and take this trinket)

Unexpected, the girl, without even saying "DEAL" accepts it.....

I feel I've been taken for a ride so like a smart customer i say "Both bangles of the same colour"

She struggles to remove the first bangle.....and breaks it in the process

"Tuta hua nai chalega" I say, really into this trading with the beggar thing.........

She looks at me sweetly...Prerna helps her pull the bangle out.....the second one....

Meanwhile the second girl is shying away with her piece of the trinket....I call her back - she has metal bangles....I ask her for it...one of them....and she willingly gives....

So here I am with two tiny bangles in my hand - neither of which I can wear (or have any intentions of wearing).....

The girls are walking away....

Truth hits suddenly...uncannily....when I least expect it....

Its the first time those girls have TRADED, not begged......

They feel equal.....they dont have to feel below me to get what they want......the spontenous jump on the deal.....EXCHANGE.......

Yes I respected the begging girls.... I did not belittle them by my charity.....instead I acknowledged their self esteem by engaging them in trade.....

They were happy with the trinkets......I was happy with two bangles and a story.....Prerna promptly claimed the bangles....sharanya flashed her saintly smile......

As I looked at the girls they looked back it me surprised.....by my simple act of exchange I had liberated them, even if for a moment, from the status they lived with to survive...... a little part of the beggar had died.....a trader was perhaps born.....


Abhishek Thakore

P.S : What would happen if, for example we would train all the beggars in Mumbai to be entertainers - with various instruments and singing....suddenly train travel would not be a nuisence with some great live music playing....I'd not mind paying for it and many others too.....we would have transmuted another nuicense....