Begging there, loving it here

Alms And The Men: Pucca House, TV & Cellphone — All From Begging Stint In Punjab


Subhro Maitra | TNN



Malda: Beggars can’t be choosers, right? Wrong. For this band of intrepid alms-seekers from Malda, the right to choose is a perk that comes with the job — from TVs and mobile phones to how big their homes will be, they have made all the correct choices.
“The mud houses are vulnerable to floods, you know. So this time I had a pucca house built with concrete,” says Anath Halder. The 60-year-old, originally a fish-net weaver by profession, switched to begging once his eyesight started failing. When it became difficult to sustain his family of wife and four sons with the meagre earnings, Anath decided to try his luck in Punjab. He has never looked back.
“I left two of my sons here in Malda and went to Gurdaspur with my wife and other two sons. In a few months, I had saved up some money,” Anath says. How much? He doesn’t want to elaborate, but enough for him to open a bank account back home in Bulbulchandi, Malda. “The house had become weak after last year’s flood, so I decided to rebuild it,” he says. He has also married off two of his sons. Anath is now preparing to return to Punjab for another stint.
Hundreds like Anath from Malda have taken up begging in the cities of north India. Most of these families are Bangladeshi migrants hailing from Bulbulchandi, Aiho in Habibpur block, Bamangola block and other places near the India-Bangladesh border. They go in groups to pilgrimage cites and temple towns like Mathura, Vrindavan, Benaras and Amritsar in groups to beg. “Many of them never return as they have few family commitments. They take diksha and eventually adopt madhukari (begging as a livelihood). There’s nothing wrong in it,” says Subal Mandal of Aiho.
Dobapara in Bulbulchandi is one such village that houses a number of migrant beggar families. Located just 5 km from the Bangladesh border, most residents crossed over years ago. On this side, life has settled into an easy rhythm. While a few family members go away for months to beg, others tend to the cattle and fields.
Septuagenarian Nirmala Halder first went to Dinanagar in Punjab about 15 years back. “I had some gynaecological problems and needed to have an operation. But my sons were in no position to pay for it. So I decided to earn for myself and went with some villagers to Punjab. Even after paying for rent, food and travel, I managed to save at least Rs 1,000 each month.” After spending five years there, Nirmala had enough money to come back for treatment to Malda.
But once her convalescence was over, Nirmala couldn’t ignore the pull that her life in Punjab exerted on her. She went back to Dinanagar — returning home after a year always meant enough money for the impoverished family of two sons.
Do they ever face problems while begging so far away from their homes? “Sometimes police harass us, especially in Delhi, but we have identity cards,” said Radha Halder. They get quarters on rent and cheap food. Is there a commission to be paid? “No, we don’t have to share our earning with anyone. Rather, travelling by train is free as well. Who will ask beggars for tickets?” quips Radha.
The next generation — the sons and daughters of beggars — see nothing wrong with the profession. “Everybody in our village is doing this. Even I had gone to Punjab for two months. I’ll go there again. is there any work for me here?” asks 16-year-old Achintya Halder.
Asim, a 28-year-old youth, studied up to Class V and went to Dinanagar as a minor. “But once I grew up, it became difficult for me to beg. I switched to collecting plastic and other recyclable waste.” Today, he has enough to keep his family in rented accommodation in Punjab. He even has a TV and mobile phone at home. “I never take my mobile to work. It may attract unnecessary attention,” he says...published in TOI on 7.3.10