You Have Not Seen Begging

In India the begging is intense and quite often most of the money you give will actually do harm. It is actually against the law to give to beggars, but the same is true in the United States, but I have yet to see someone stopping a toruist from giving money. My "avorite hustle"that I have seen is called Baby's Milk. This involves a little child or a woman with a child convincing you that the baby needs milk. Anyone with any sense of compassion would immediately walk over to the drug store and buy them their Nestle's baby's milk. I was in the process of doing just that and then I thought. Why would anyone want this crappy skim powdered milk? She looks reasonablely healthy why doesn't she just give the child her breast milk. Something did not seem quite right and I pulled away and bought them a bag of rice instead.

Basically what happens is that they keep reselling the same Baby's milk and they get paid by the store to guilt you into buying Baby's milk. In some cases the only two words of english they know is Baby's milk and in certain places the beggars make more money then the workers. India has an intense street grift and everyone has something to sell you around every corner. Being a person that does not desire more possessions I did get convinced to buy one flute and the salesman actually had reasonable musical talent though buying the flute did not seem to mean I would possess his talent as well. But even the sales people here beg and plead with you to buy there stuff in way that I have never seen. Take the most incessant and desperate beggar and that is par for the course when it comes to begging in India. Yet India is not a country of beggars, but when they do beg it can be a bit overwhelming at times. It is much worse in large cities. I hAVE NOT been to the country though Goa is my next stop on this adventure. Miss you guys much. I was thinking of a Jay-Z song "i'm a hustler baby" and Baby's milk is certainly my "favorite" hustle that I have seen though there is one hustle around every corner. In many cases this money will go towards things that do not benefit the family or towards helping the men get drunk. I am learning about things first hand which is one of the best ways to learn and it will force you to see the Heaven and Hell. One does not exist without the other.