Now, even beggars eat KFC

Gone are the days when beggars beg for food, they prefer to snatch it now. I am a witness to the same.

I was waiting for a friend outside KFC at Bandra-Linking Road yesterday, when a little beggar girl came and sat on one of the steps leading up to KFC with a bowl of half eaten ice-cream in her hand. As i watched her, she had a couple of spoons of the ice-cream until her mother who was sitting on the opposite side of the same footpath with another sleeping child in her lap beckoned the little girl to her and, then claimed her share of the remaining ice-cream. I thought this was pretty normal, as I assumed that the person who was eating the ice-cream deliberately gave away her half eaten bowl to the little girl when she must have begged for money. But maybe my assumption was entirely wrong...

Another two minutes passed and I was still standing there, that is when I saw it happen. The beggar girl who had returned to her previous place on the step after handing the ice-cream bowl to her mother was now again being told by her mother (in a language I could not understand but, could make out from the gestures) to go beg the couple who came out from KFC. What I was shocked to see was that, the little girl did not go to the couple and beg for alms, she rather went and snatched the glass of soft drink from the hands of the man. The man though surprised could do nothing. The girl then proceeded with the same ritual, she drank some of the drink and gave the rest to her waiting mother. As I watched in bewilderment, it happened again. This time the girl snatched a glass of cold coffee and some fries from an unsuspecting and rather helpless woman. 

The same process was repeated thrice in the 15 minutes that i stood there. The second the doors to the fast food joint would open, the mother would send her daughter to do the deed. The daughter of course would willingly oblige. I am guessing the duo along with the sleeping child spend the entire day right outside the joint, feasting on whatever food the diners make the mistake of bringing outside with them. Another thing that bothered me was that, there was no security guard outside to stop this from happening.

If this kind of behavior on the part of the beggars is not stopped, then I am afraid that its not long before they develop the guts to snatch money itself from our hands. Frightening thought!!!

>>>> The gutsy duo! Lets see if you can find them on your next visit.

The mother enjoying the the stolen drink.

The daughter's turn to have some.