My Name Is Rakesh Kumar! And I Am Not A Beggar!

While sitting comfortably in our AC cars, moving from one place to another, when the traffic signal goes off, who do we all meet?

Well, most of us meet some beggars and some haggard person peeping into our car windows trying to sell balloons, flowers, some titbit electronic gadgets or books, expecting people sitting inside the cars to buy at least one product so that he makes a little money!

We often shrug them off or close our windows stating that we don’t have change to buy the item or we don’t need it.

Isn’t it weird how we assume every homeless, needy guy on the road to be a beggar?

I made a similar mistake. I met someone like this on one of the traffic signals and just to wave him off I curled down the window, took out a Rs. 5 coin from my purse and tried to put it on his palm.

To my utter surprise, he refused to take the money and in a firm voice said these words “Madam, I am not a beggar! My name is Rakesh Kumar and I sell balloons! Do You want to buy for your kids?”

I was taken aback and kept looking at his face and don’t really know what was I trying to find in those honest eyes.

This moving video of a roadside balloon seller who is trying to make ends meet will pull at your heart strings with its simplicity and honesty. In the end, all he expects is not to be treated like a beggar, because he is not one. The same guy works hard every single day in the scorching sun or the heavy rains and the shivering winters just trying to sell something so that his kids can get a square meal that day.

This is the story of a man who is not a beggar.

He is trying really hard to earn some money with dignity to meet his family’s basic requirements. All he needs is a little respect.

I hope, next time you will buy his teeny weeny product and help him make a life.