A lad is caught stealing mangoes & is bashed at.

My mum-in-law shared an unforgettable scene she had witnessed years ago in the streets of Belguam, India.

It was mango season & the markets were filled with nothing but mango sellers all around. Believe me — the aroma of the raw as well as the ripe mangoes will set your mouths to water.

A poor boy was about to thieve a mango when the seller caught him red handed and began showering the poor boy with harsh words & whips. The boy held his hands on his crotch & on close observation my mum-in-law could see he had started to pee out of deep fear & the fact that he was being admonished in the middle of a market. Soon, a crowd gathered. The mix of fear & shame the boy was facing was very evident on his weak & hungry face. A few sympathetic onlookers advised the seller to let go off the poor lad while he was still peeing. As soon as the seller let go, the boy was nowhere to be seen.

Incidents like these are very common in India — the usual — a poverty-stricken child is caught while stealing, is abused by the public, news channels broadcast the same, etc.

Looking at the same from a different angle — who is to blame here? Can we answer any of the following questions:

Whose fault is it?

  1. Is it the child’s poverty?
  2. His hunger?
  3. The unsympathetic people around?
  4. The society we live in?
  5. The bigger question — is it nature’s fault which has embedded the sweet fragrance & taste in those beautiful, juicy mangoes that humans are attracted to such an extent that they steal?

It need not be just the mangoes — can be any food, right?

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Comments (8)
  • Aaron Hanlon on May 13, 2010

    A good article. And for the record i would say it was all the things you mentioned. But most of all it is socities fault, because a starving child cannot be resposible for his own hunger.

  • pmk on May 13, 2010

    Well Poo, there are many reasons for such incidents happening around. We cannot blame nature as nature’s fruits are around here for everyone, it is we who have to chose what we want and how we get it, either we buy it, grow it ourselves, or steal it. If we look at it from a grass root level, everyone should have the opportunity to have it. But now there’s civilization, so people grow it and sell them in the markets and make money, so that they can buy what they dont grow from others. Its all a cycle. What would have made that child to under go this poverty is what we should actually ask, because that’s why he was trying to steal it in the first place. Poverty is beacuse of man himself, the way he has brought up this society, the markets, the shares, the industrialization, food, commodities, etc has all led to one thing, the rich – richer and the poor – poorer. So all this comes to one that we can blame: Man himself!

    I hope i dint confuse you… lolZ

  • MK on May 14, 2010

    Whose fault it is? Its a deep question. The nature is perfectly balanced. We humans have gone so far in the race of so called “survival of the fittest” that we have imbalanced the nautre. No wrong in saying Mr. Nature is punishing us.

  • Vidhyu on May 14, 2010

    Hello poo,
    The question whom to be blamed leads to many other questions. To begin with nature is not to be faulted. But we can raise our concerns for the society where we are part of it and poverty dwells all around playing a major role. Our society is growing rapidly with equal poverty issues.So the poor man nothing in his belly struggles ( from his point of view) and wishes to get by any means ( our point of view will be stealing) his food.

  • M. D. Kotian on Jun 9, 2010

    I would definitely hold the society responsible for the poor boy’s predicament. If we (the society) take care of such people from taking drastic action such as stealing, these kind of things will never repeat. As an individual, I can not do anything alone. If any NGO has any scheme to help these kinds of poor people, I will definitely help to the best of my ability.

  • sara20 on Jun 16, 2010

    Excellent manner and very well-written sentence is doing, with useful information includes a good things you have in your article.

    Thanks and cheers.
    Sara

  • Sharad on Jun 17, 2010

    Poo I think you brushed upon the most integral part of humankind in India. The poor boy is not to be blamed on a whole but the mentality of Indians is unreasonable. A mango lost is equivalent to a war of ego

  • Aiswarya T Anish on Jul 1, 2010

    well written

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