Question

Write how a beggar changed meena attitude towards life ?

Answer 1

It was a day like any other. Meena was returning home from school with her friend Arushi. They bid goodbye when it was time to part ways and on the walk home,Meena constantly kept thinking about what she could do with the money she had in her pocket. Her parents were not available at home because they were working at their offices and would come around dinner time and Meena, being the only child of her parents, would have to buy food on her way home in order to fill her stomach. Her parents would give her an allowance of a thousand rupees per week and Meena would always buy junk like chips, soft drinks and burgers. She would often fall ill and her parents would be concerned about the dilemma. In fact, her father was ready to quit his job and find a new one in order to adjust his timings and monitor her, but it would be a while before that happened. As Meena was walking through her usual path, she noticed that the path were she was leading onto was under construction for fixing a drainage system leaving her no option but to commute from the other side. She carefully crossed the road and continued her way but soon stopped upon seeing the image of a beggar. Sure, Meena had seen plenty of beggars before but seeing this one, the way her shoulders drooped,her shriveled body signifying that she hadn’t eaten in days, her shabby and torn clothes that retired from providing warmth to her body and her twinkling eyes in hope that someone of give her some money so that she could atleast buy a small portion of food rekindled humanity in the young girl. She stood there staring at the sign the beggar was holding. It read ‘does anyone still believe in helping and humanity?’ Being a minor, Meena did not know what she could do, but on seeing that people were mercilessly passing across the poor woman, she knew she wanted to help in any way possible. She timidly approached the woman, who was probably in her late forties. Meena begun the conversation by asking her what she was doing on the sidewalk in Hindi, the national language, as she knew that any illiterate could not understand English. The woman could not understand what Meena was trying to say. She tried her bet to understand and could evidently see that she wanted to help but due to lack of communication it was in vain. The rest of the way home via supermarket, multiple thoughts arose in her mind. She was more than just concerned. She spent some money in buying some snacks for the beggar while keeping herself in mind too and returned to the same spot where she found her. With a smile, she handed over the food she purchased. The poor lady was lost in tears. She blessed Meena with all her might, but giving snacks wasn’t enough kindness for our hero. On reaching home, she rapidly finished her homework and started thinking of ways to help. Upon thinking and thinking alas! She knew exactly what to do. Later that day, when her parents arrived home, Meena explained the whole scenario and pleaded her parents with all her might to hire the old woman as a caretaker. Her parents were reluctant for they did not know how this woman would turn out, but the spark that was in their daughters eyes forbid them from denying her request. That night, Meena and her dad stepped out of their house and went in search of the old woman. She was nowhere to be seen. On searching and searching for an hour straight, they found her beneath a tree, substituting a large piece of cardboard as a blanket. She was sound asleep, but ecstatic Meena could not resist from waking her up. The woman was more then just confused on seeing the same girl she had seen in the afternoon, this time with her father. Her father started communicating with her in Kannada, which was their state language and the only one which she seemed to understand. Her father explained to her that they wanted her to work as a full time maid, where she would be given food and shelter in turn of taking care of their daughter. The woman was rejoyced as she couldn’t have expected more. That night was undoubtedly the best night of her entire life.