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Tiruvannamalai, a town of more than 200,000 individuals, approximately has 10,000 beggars who disguise themselves as holy men,sadhus,mentally retarded,handicapped and other than these beggars there are women and children who make a living by begging to foreign tourists and travelers visiting Tiruvannamalai.
Many are children, female and the old. Most are fakes. Both foreign and Indian tourists encounter these beggars every day and every where. An enormous number of beggars are truly scams.
Tiruvannamalai, being a spiritual and religious town has more beggars as tourists tend to be kind and give money to help these beggars.
Giving money to the beggars can make you feel better. One may feel that you are carrying out something worthy and you are helping. But it is best to avoid them.The reason to avoid these beggars are because in most cases it is a scam or cheating. By giving, you are encouraging their conduct.Towards end of the day the condition is unaltered.
When you do Pradakshina ( also called Girivalam, Parikrama, Circumambulation ) around the holy Arunachala hill you will encounter many fake beggars disguised as sadhus or holy men.Most are cheaters,drunkards,rogues and hooligans who want to make a living by begging.The bring disgrace to real sadhus ( holy men) .
True and real sadhus never beg and they get their free food,medical check ups and clothing from many ashrams ,kind souls and the government of India takes many initiatives to help them,but unfortunately fake and lazy people prefer to beg and make living rather than working and making a living.
You can see many handicapped people,children and women who pretend to be orphans,poor and destitute.But the truth is that they are all fake and pretend to be poor to take money from foreign tourists. Women especially must be careful with these fakes, as many times they are harassed, eve teased and attacked by these fake beggars.
It is better to help in kind by giving garments,food,or multi vitamins to the real needy people rather than giving away money to fake beggars.
Here are other point to justify avoiding beggars in Tiruvannamalai –
It’s Just Not Legal
Begging is illegal in India, but yet begging exists everywhere in India.
Have faith in Your Inner Instinct
In the event that you truly wish to donate to these beggars, keep in mind to donate to a decent NGO or a magnanimous trust or society that honestly works for the welfare of such poor people
Begging Is Certainly Not Destiny In Tiruvannamalai, It’s A Full Fledged Business
Your heart would surely pound, skip a beat and you may even feel overpowered with the sentiment of sympathy when you see the hopeless situation of the homeless people in Tiruvannamalai. You are certainly going to see many types of beggars and old men,handicapped people,women with babies and pregnant ladies. But in actuality, they are mostly fakes !
Pursue the Widely Accepted Mantra of Avoiding Beggars
The number of beggars are increasingly in Tiruvannamalai, for example in Temples,around Ashrams , shopping landmarks, restaurants and around Arunachala mountain path.Never offer anything to these cheaters or else be ready to face a humiliating circumstances and a entire crowd of cheaters will crowd around you and irritate you. Be harsh to these cheaters and pay special attention to your handbag,mobile phones and wallets.
You will see many beggars disguised as sadhus to cheat foreign tourists and earn money by begging or by trying to mislead them into false spirituality and fake rituals.
In real life they play cards,smoke,drink and chat about cinema and politics and spend time lazily as they earn a lot of money from tourists by begging and in many other ways.Tourists can witness these facts when they travel or do pradakshina around Arunachala hill.
Keep in mind, Your Valuables Are Much More Valuable To Others
You may have sympathy at the hopeless situation of the poor people and chances are your liberal side likes to help. Be as it may, ensure your liberal attitude does not get you tricked ! Several cases have been accounted for in the town, where individuals have been tricked of their costly mobile phones,valuables and even money being robbed while assisting the homeless people.
Avoidance is Any Day Better than Cure
When going in a vehicle, ensure you keep your windows moved up, particularly when your vehicle stops at the traffic lights. Each traffic signal in the Tiruvannamalai streets has a set number of homeless people designated to it, who suddenly crowd around every vehicle so as to earn their income! You are required to just overlook them and avoid any kind of eye to eye contact with them as it tends to encourage them.
Why Begging In Tiruvannamalai Is Big Business
Begging in Tiruvannamalai is not real.It is a business.It is a Begging Industry. A true poor person will go out every day to work and earn a living and not by begging.Truly poor people are always taken care of by the government of India and by NGO’s and the local people of Tiruvannamalai.
As A Traveler In Tiruvannamalai What You Can Do To Help
Tiruvanamalai travel must be utilized in spiritual commitments and tourists in Tiruvannamalai must not fall into the traps of the beggars for whom the government of India helps a lot.But the beggars do not want to work and rather keep begging and earning from tourists in Tiruvannamalai. Be strong, say a “NO”, turn your back and leave.
Toward the day’s end as an outsider you’re not liable for fixing Tiruvannamalai’s issues and Tiruvannamalai natives don’t need you are needed to solve their country’s problems. so please don’t ignite their issues and concentrate on your spiritual duty when you travel to Tiruvannamalai.
Foreign tourists in Tiruvannamalai are requested to avoid and discourage beggars.