One fine day on my way home

I had just finished my breakfast at Woody's ( a diner on the BTM road) and was walking back to my guesthouse about 3 kms away, when I passed by a temple on the road. To call it a temple would probably be an exaggeration; it was more of a large shrine. I could not recognize the god / goddess inside for everything was written in Kannada and the shrine itself was closed (quite late in the morning).

Anyways, as I was passing by, I saw a man prostrating before the shrine and praying feverishly. He was a simple looking man, wearing a dark shirt and black trousers, and seemed quite old. As I walked nearer, he saw me and came towards me.

"Excuse me sir, but do you know the directions to the Electronic City?" he asked in reasonably good English.

I told him.

He asked me if he could walk all the way there. I told him that it was more than 20 kms from where we stood. He was immediately disappointed and looked totally defeated. As I was about to move away, he told me that he was a poor brahmin whose mother was seriously ill and had to be taken to the hospital. He told me that he had no one else to help him, and had almost exhausted all his money - just enough to see that she could be admitted and receive treatment.

However, he did not have money to take her to the hospital which was quite some distance away and wanted to know if I could help.

"Sir, I am an old man and yet I'm begging you for help. As a brahmin, I would not lie to you before the altar of God. Please don't mistake me or think that I am trying to cheat you. I swear that what I'm saying is the truth," he pleaded.

Then, he actually started weeping. I could see tears glistening in his eyes, his lips were trembling and he was breathing very deeply. Also, he was completely toothless and I couldn't fully understand what he was saying. But I realized that he was asking for monetary help.

I did not know what to do. Standing in the middle of the road were the both of us - one crying and the other trying to make sense of what was happening. I tried to look into his eyes to see if he was genuine and that his tears were not the result of glycerin. Satisfying myself, I reached for my wallet.

Suddenly, he grabbed my hands and said in Hindi "Beta, if you give me the money, you will be saving my mother and myself. I will be eternally grateful to you. But please don't curse me or mouth bad words at me, or do this because I'm forcing you."

At that point, I was more or less convinced that he was really in trouble and decided to help him. I asked him how much money he needed for transportation and other expenses and he replied two hundred rupees! This was not the amount I was expecting. As if he could sense my hesitation and inner dilemma, he took my hands with his, and then tried to touch my feet. I was really disturbed now and I stopped him from going further. I took out my wallet, counted the notes and gave him the money. He took them with trembling hands, looked at me and heartily blessed me. After I shook his hands and wished him luck, he pocketed the money and proceeded in the direction of Electronic City.

I don't know if I've been ripped by an old, toothless and highly skilled conman, or if I've helped someone genuinely in need. However, I'm sure that the cost of not helping him would have had far more serious consequences (if he told the truth) than the cost of helping him (if he lied). After all, I told myself, I could spare a few hundred rupees for a good cause.