Few months ago, coming out of the bank, I was approached by a very old man begging for money for a particular medicine. Having been cheated many times by this age-old trick, I decided to buy the medicine myself and not give the money. I didn’t want to deal with a pricking conscience just in case the man was being honest about his need for this meager Rs 20 Medicine. But in my heart I was very sure I was being cheated. I showed that man my house and told him to come to me if he needed anything. The man never turned up and I was convinced he tried to cheat me.
Yesterday, when I answered my door bell. I was surprised and irritated at the same time. I saw the old man staring into my eyes with such pleading eyes that anyone could tell that he wanted money. He told me that he has some severe itching all over his legs and that he needs a tube of the medicine which he had used before and which helped him. He showed me an empty carton of soframycin, an anti fugal cream. I did not want to be fooled twice by the same man, so I asked him to take me to him house. He refused saying that it was very far. I gave him something to eat, half of which he kept aside for his wife. I asked him again to take me to his house and told him firmly that I wont be able to help if he doesn’t show me his house. I told him that it was a matter of trust. With lot of reluctance he finally agreed to take me to his house and we started off with my heart fully convinced that he will somehow trick me out of reaching anywhere near his house.
What I saw when I reached his house , broke me down completely. I couldn’t stop myself from crying. This poor old man was living in a tiny room/shed on another man’s small empty plot of land (The owner of the plot allowed this old man to stay so that land grabbers don’t see the land empty and just start living there, this being a common problem now in Bangalore). Inside the shed, which was not more than 6feet x 6feet, I met this old man’s wife, who was equally old. They had absolutely nothing inside that could sustain life. There was absolutely no food, nothing to sleep on except a single bed sheet, no electricity, no water, no stove to cook. Outside the shed they had a stove made from two stones. The old lady was very sick and was coughing profusely. The old man must have walked atleast 2 hours to reach my house for that single tube of soframycin which might cost less than Rs 30.
When I came back to my big comfortable house that day, a sea of mixed feelings drowned my heart. The first feeling being that of sadness. It was so sad to see such old people trying to live with absolutely nothing that would constitute the basic necessities of life and above all with absolutely no future or hope. The second feeling was the feeling of gratitude to God/fate for giving me so many things ,the values of which I never comprehended. The deepest feeling that I felt and want to share with all my friends and family is that we can make the difference to someone’s life. Often we may feel dejected and saddened by people trying to cheat us when we are genuinely trying to help. But don’t give up. For every 9 people who cheat you, there must be at least one whom you may genuinely save. The cost of the 9 cheaters may be less than the cost of a dinner for most of us. Don’t give up on poor people. In the crowd there will be someone for whom you will be a savior in some ways. In spite all the misery I saw, I am so happy that I can give some joy and peace to some old poor people.
There are reports that PS3 is hacked or rather being hacked. The PS3 based on the IBMs 
