A Repudiation of Philanthropy

i dedicate this essay to my mom. who never stopped teaching me the value of fighting of ur rights and how to respect others.

it was 45 deg c. it had been 45 deg for weeks. the hot wind was burning and reminding us that monsoon was still months away.

i dont know where we had gone. we walked. mom loved walking. but it was 15 min from the house and we agreed we did not have it in us to cross the road. she waived a rikshaw and the man heard where we wanted to go and said

“beebiji 5 rupee de dena”

my mom got huffy. mom always did this huffy fake fight thing to get the bargaining started. i was always impressed with her skills. but i thought 5 rupees was reasonable. it was nothing.

“sirf 5!”

“abh kuch to dena hoga”

i started to get embarrassed. i was maybe 10 and i was thinking omg- we can walk.

“5 mein kya hoga- 10 to mango!”

she fought him to give him more money. she was mad he didnt ask for enough. we never gave the beggars money because they were hired. and we never cheated someone who was trying to earn it honestly.

mom was clear about one thing- we dont have to live like them to respect them. we always packed the left over food nicely and gave it to the dhobi in his shack next door. if we had sweets that we could not eat- we shared them.