Charity With Brains not Heart

We are travelling in a car. A lady with an empty milk bottle and a child or a kid with torn clothes, dirty hand, running nose or a man with some disability knocks at the window asking for money. Someone or the other hands over some change. I ask them not to do that and i get a reply on my rude behaviour.
We are walking along a road/traffic junction/mall and a kid/lady follows us asking for something to eat. I take out that apple or chocolate or packed parantah and had it over to the person.
People agree that it's a business these days, but some of them might actually be needy. My point is always the same - Adults have absolutely no chance of being needy. They can do anything to earn that buck. I have seen a labour working at construction site despite he did not had a leg. During my college days, I daily used to take a rishkaw run by very old uncle. Why? Because i was impressed that at this age, he has chosen to earn his bread rather than begging for it. Al-tough he used to pull if off quite slow, but i was okay with it. Contrary to these examples, i have seen ladies knocking at my door step asking for bread or money. When i ask them do some chore in return of it, they refuse to do so and move to next door. I would even grant a change to those guys who board the public buses and sing some song in the worst voice ever. I can do that because i consider that at-least they are doing something. Singing at the top of your voice for whole day without proper food and water is not at all easy. But i would never ever give a penny to that useless horrifying looking baba ji with a snake in his end and blessing me while i see a demon/molester in those eyes. Also, poor snake is also deprived of it's poison and teeth. What a torture on protector of lord Shiva!

Now, remember the Uttarakhand tragedy, NGO's and government received tons of charity. So much that a big chunk of it never reached the needy or was rotten before reaching them. Of course people had good intention while donating them, but the problem was donating with out acknowledging the type of donations needed. I read at some NGO, the editor said  people have donated cooked rice/vegetables  etc.. for the needy. I mean, have some basic sense people. How in this world we expect cooked food to reach a place where even choppers had difficulty flying. He said a very valid point. Some areas during that time had rice/daal with them, but they had no utensils (pressure cooker, pan, spoons etc.) to make the items edible. Ladies had sarees to drape, but were deprived of blouse and inner skirt to tie them and cover their body properly. Not to hurt intentions of genuine donors, but some people had donated torn clothes which were of no use and NGO's had no option but to discard them forming huge piles of items not sent for the needy.

I see absolutely no point in donating huge chunks of currency, gold and other precious items at the door of God. Those houses of God do need quite a amount to maintain themselves, but the amount being dropped in those drop boxes and idols is way far more than what's needed. I absolutely loved the dialogue from the movie 'Oh My God' about comparing the state of mind of God/man when it sees hair lying everywhere the moment door is opened in the morning (referring to hair donation at Titupathi Bala Ji). The other killer dialogue was about a beggar standing helpless in front of sewage line full of milk coming from 'Shiv Ling'. I totally believe in God and have also fasted may times, but still!
I would not lie and say I have not dropped and envelope full of money at some holly place. even I have done it once and believe me, I so regret that. I wish I could have used that money to get some needed items in that orphanage near my home. I have tried to correct my mistake by doing so next time when I had to distribute bananas to complete my Monday fasts. I went to the place and asked them if I could distribute bananas among children. They agreed and said yes in no time. While I was about to leave, they asked me to have a look at the notice board and see if could help in getting some of those items to kids. I was surprised at the list - Pen, Bournvita (quite impressed that they were trying to get that luxury item as-well), shoes/slippers and there were few more I cannot recall. The fact that they did not asked me to donate money and displayed items required touched my heart. I along with my brother went to the market, brought my bananas, 2 packets of bournvita, 2 sets of pen and 5 slipper with sizes from small to medium. While we were distributing them to kids, they had that twinkle in those little eyes. Each kid did not forget to say "Thank you didi". Those who could not speak yet, someone elder to them said so on their behalf. That was one of the best days of my life.

'Charity' and 'Empowerment' are completely different terms and both have their own space in my heart. While I totally support empowerment, I am truly ashamed and sad to say that I have not done anything in relation to that.

Someone very well said, "The true charity is not by giving bread or money, but providing employment."

I hope I give that credit to myself soon:)

This post was written in response to IndiSpire  - Topic#31

What does charity mean to you? Do you donate from heart or from brains? Do write your answers in comments section.