What a way of pan handling
I was traveling from downtown Toronto to Kennedy station via subway, when I saw a couple 'just wow!'. East Indian pair, nice looking with boiling energy in their skin attracting the sight of every travelers. Everybody's eyes twisting as they see the couple with a mild mysterious smile on their faces. They were the centre of the attraction. When the girl came closer to me, it felt like a drama to me as if I was watching on the theatre. What was special about them? Can anybody guess now? They could be anybody, students, actors, performers.
They were panhandlers. Ragged clothes, worn out body, physically disabled, dirty, smelly images were in my mind as a pan handler. I always saw people asking for a penny or a dollar at the bus station and train station with the misery looks not with the fancy style. Some people play guitar, drums during the time of events at the entrance of subway station. People drop a few coins while passing through. Even if they play and sing, their faces show some kind of story of pain.
Those couple whom I met in the subway were like the people perfect for customer service in the fancy events or the receptionist in the renowned company. The smile of the girl was just sweet with no signs of misery or pain. The guy was playing a guitar standing by the door as if he was promoting his new song. The girl, she should be his girlfriend or the wife, was a perfect candidate for customer service in a reputed organization.
The boy played the music for one minute. Then the girl walked down the alley smiling and greeting, and at the same time stretching her arms towards the passengers. Some of them gave her a dollar or two. Many of them looked at her with the smile of surprise in their faces. I thought what the idea of surviving in the expensive town like Toronto. Their appearance showed that they were from east India might have came to Canada as a student. They had an idea which was very common in their back home hundreds of panhandlers walk in the train with bowl singing and dancing. I remembered a moment of travel by bus in Derhadun India. I was traveling by the bus going to the railway station. A girl came in the bus who was so beautiful like a model. Many people gave her money without hesitation because of her flirting smile. I also gave her five rupees. It was a good value at that time. When she was exiting from the rear door she covered her face with Burka. It shocked me at that time. How people were misusing Burka. I had heard while working in a hotel in Mumbai that some of the Hindu girls go to the hotel room to their clients putting burka so that nobody recognize them. So many girls were doing so to disguise themselves and run the prostitution.
Those couple I saw this morning were very confident and professional. They might have tried first day how their plan of making money works without working hard in the factories and at the same time paying hefty tax to the government. If they were the students, it was a good idea to make little cash after school to pay the rent. This was the situation created by the skyrocketing rent hike in Toronto where one bed room apartment rent reached $1800.00. Those students who came to Canada with the dream of making good future ends up living in a tiny basement apartment being hoarded like the castle. And they adopt any means of survival after a few months when the bank balance drained.
When they got off the train, my head was buzzing for long period of time. I recalled the faces of the students I met last weekend at a very old town home. The house was completely molded and damp. The roof was leaking and renovation was going on. There were two rooms where more them ten people living. Matresses were piled up at the hallway. Two boys with the turban sitting on the mattress and eating some food. There was a pile of noodle on the table. The room was messy like the slums of Danda Mumbai.
International students were the cash cow for the colleges in Ontario. Many private colleges have only the international students. They pay hefty education fee. Their expenditures do not stop right there. They have to go through different stages of hardships. Everything is expensive. Jobs are very hard to find like searching a needle in the haystack. As a result, such professional looking panhandlers appearing in the subway line. It was the byproduct of the society. India was long been criticized as a country of the bigger. If the Canada creating a huge gap between rich and poor, one day this beautiful country of snow and shine can end up worse than today's India.
They were panhandlers. Ragged clothes, worn out body, physically disabled, dirty, smelly images were in my mind as a pan handler. I always saw people asking for a penny or a dollar at the bus station and train station with the misery looks not with the fancy style. Some people play guitar, drums during the time of events at the entrance of subway station. People drop a few coins while passing through. Even if they play and sing, their faces show some kind of story of pain.
Those couple whom I met in the subway were like the people perfect for customer service in the fancy events or the receptionist in the renowned company. The smile of the girl was just sweet with no signs of misery or pain. The guy was playing a guitar standing by the door as if he was promoting his new song. The girl, she should be his girlfriend or the wife, was a perfect candidate for customer service in a reputed organization.
The boy played the music for one minute. Then the girl walked down the alley smiling and greeting, and at the same time stretching her arms towards the passengers. Some of them gave her a dollar or two. Many of them looked at her with the smile of surprise in their faces. I thought what the idea of surviving in the expensive town like Toronto. Their appearance showed that they were from east India might have came to Canada as a student. They had an idea which was very common in their back home hundreds of panhandlers walk in the train with bowl singing and dancing. I remembered a moment of travel by bus in Derhadun India. I was traveling by the bus going to the railway station. A girl came in the bus who was so beautiful like a model. Many people gave her money without hesitation because of her flirting smile. I also gave her five rupees. It was a good value at that time. When she was exiting from the rear door she covered her face with Burka. It shocked me at that time. How people were misusing Burka. I had heard while working in a hotel in Mumbai that some of the Hindu girls go to the hotel room to their clients putting burka so that nobody recognize them. So many girls were doing so to disguise themselves and run the prostitution.
Those couple I saw this morning were very confident and professional. They might have tried first day how their plan of making money works without working hard in the factories and at the same time paying hefty tax to the government. If they were the students, it was a good idea to make little cash after school to pay the rent. This was the situation created by the skyrocketing rent hike in Toronto where one bed room apartment rent reached $1800.00. Those students who came to Canada with the dream of making good future ends up living in a tiny basement apartment being hoarded like the castle. And they adopt any means of survival after a few months when the bank balance drained.
When they got off the train, my head was buzzing for long period of time. I recalled the faces of the students I met last weekend at a very old town home. The house was completely molded and damp. The roof was leaking and renovation was going on. There were two rooms where more them ten people living. Matresses were piled up at the hallway. Two boys with the turban sitting on the mattress and eating some food. There was a pile of noodle on the table. The room was messy like the slums of Danda Mumbai.
International students were the cash cow for the colleges in Ontario. Many private colleges have only the international students. They pay hefty education fee. Their expenditures do not stop right there. They have to go through different stages of hardships. Everything is expensive. Jobs are very hard to find like searching a needle in the haystack. As a result, such professional looking panhandlers appearing in the subway line. It was the byproduct of the society. India was long been criticized as a country of the bigger. If the Canada creating a huge gap between rich and poor, one day this beautiful country of snow and shine can end up worse than today's India.
posted by Dilip Poudyal @ 5:48 PM
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