Beggars

I watched Slumdog Millionaire shortly before leaving the U.S., and it certainly rings true in many ways. For one, organized begging is a problem here. Women walk the streets begging with babies over their shoulders, but it's impossible to tell whether the babies are their own. One friend of mine watched a woman making her rounds with a crying baby; when the baby finally stopped crying and seemed to fall asleep, the woman hit the baby until it started crying again.

And so, with this information, I harden my heart to the suffering around me. Even passing observation tells me that it is all theater. The girl who comes up to beg, scrunching up her face as if dying of hunger, I see the next day running and laughing as she plays on the street.

But what if even the laughing and playing are deceiving--just momentary bits of happiness in a world of suffering. The divide between rich and poor is real here. The caste system, although legally abolished, still holds thousands in poverty. What will become of the girl on the street in another ten or twenty years? And if I don't like that answer, is there anything that can stop it? I wish I could write an answer, but on this front I have only questions.