Two Argumentative Indians

I and my friend, while riding back after shopping windows picked up an argument. First it was about pollution on diwali. He opined that crackers shouldn’t be burst. My take was that there are very few things of entertainment for Indians and so I see no big deal with bursting crackers if it can bring cheer to our people though it's unacceptable to use child labour for making crackers. Well, I may be wrong but one thing is for sure. The celebrities who come on tv and advise against crackers to avoid pollution should first be ready to drive a Reva instead of a BMW or a Hummer or any other fast car that emits so much smoke. Their social service is often limited to closing their taps while brushing teeth. :P

We then shifted to a more interesting topic. On giving money to beggars at traffic signals. He felt only deserving people should be given money and not anyone. For instance, if the person genuinely handicapped, he was fine. He echoed stuff like—“most of them cheat, they earn a comfortable sum by begging, they are lazy, they do this for generations, they are not handicapped, they can work hard to earn money etc etc”. I totally respect his thoughts and it’s good that people have opinion on things. However, my perspective is different as I generally don’t really see if a beggar is genuine or otherwise. I just feel that I have money and the person seeking doesn’t. In my defense, I quoted Mother Theresa—“If you start judging people, you have no time to love them”. It really turned out to be a very healthy debate with none winning the argument which was never the purpose. The incident left in me an open question i.e., how would the greats have reacted when their ideologies are put to severe test. For eg,. In this case would Mother Theresa also have helped people irrespective of whether they are cheating her or not? Or how would Gandhiji have reacted to the view espoused by Kamal Hassan (Nasseruddin Shah) in Unnaipol Oruvan (A Wednesday)? Would he still say “an eye for an eye would turn the world blind” when it comes to punishing modern day terrorists? My humble view is that, they would have stuck to their stand even when their values are litmus tested. After all, people are not immortalised without a reason.