There is a person in Virar who claims to take care of the children of the surrounding slums. Soon he became a messiah for the welfare of slum children and quickly announced his contribution through various social media options like Twitter and Whatsapp. He has earned a very good reputation for his generous and noble care for the education and concern of the children of the slums.

Please note that on condition of anonymity, we do not mention children’s names or the parents of children’s names here.

One fine day, me and my friend who is the editor of this newspaper went to do some charity work for them assuming he is looking after the children in the slums. We went there and met him and it was all pretty cool as he spoke to us and expressed his genuine concern for these slum kids. There were also slum dwellers there whose children were in his charitable care. Everyone, including the parents of these children, was very happy to meet us and expressed their gratitude to us for our encouragement and support. At that point, everything seemed right to us, because this man seemed deeply committed to the cause. We came out with great esteem for his prospects and supported his cause with our humble donations and gifts for the welfare of the children.

Later on leaving, due to the complex confusion of the tracks, one of the slum dwellers had to escort us in our car to take us back to the main road. We chatted with him on the way and during our interaction with him the person suddenly collapsed and started to cry. We were obviously concerned about his emotional depression, and as we calmed the distraught man with clean drinking water, we encouraged him to speak freely about his worry. He explained that “This man under his purported charity is prima-facie looking after our children there, but unfortunately in return we do all his work. All of us slum dwellers are expected to work at his place for free and be available 24/7 for various tasks ranging from cooking, cleaning, washing, etc. and if we don’t comply, it comes into our homes and destroys our whole home. We are abused by physical and verbal violence. My wife is constantly busy with all of her housework and cannot have a single day off or take a break because to him and his family she is like a slave. She is expected to cook according to their requests at all times and also cook for their guests and all family members. We accept our limits and know that we cannot provide healthy ways for our children. As our children are in his care, they are used to better food, a better lifestyle and we are happy for their good, but unfortunately in return we have lost our freedom and are under constant pressure of abuse. and forced labor. Our life is hell because it is pure blackmail in the name of charity. “

The other side of this story was an eye opener for us and our intentions. Charitable causes for the upliftment of the oppressed are a noble cause, but when done with the expectations and demands of free labor in return, the very motive fails. Our society is full of those people, who know how to lure the needy to their limits and then bring them back for free favors in return. The whole transaction, instead of being motivated by compassion, turns into being motivated by power. Generously providing someone for their needs can give a feeling of kindness, but frankly, when you ask for a favor in return, that very act of generosity is negated. In Hindi there is a saying, “Neki kar aur dariya mein daalWhich simply means “Do good without expectations”.

This experience opened our eyes, because when we saw the other side of the situation, we realized that the charitable cause of reforming the lives of slum children was anything but charitable and instead of a calculating strategy. free work. This matter is unfortunately a cause of the greatest hell and pain of a lifetime for helpless parents. The children are too young to understand things thus leading to the trapping of the parent. We see many such instances where people go out of their way to feed the children of their servants or sponsor education, books, or clothing. But in return, they expect more free work from the family members of these children. If their parents or family do not comply, they are basically abused and blackmailed with the withdrawal of that support. Since these people are poor, they unfortunately give in to bullying and exploitation for the sake of their children.

Somewhere under the guise of being charitable and feeling good about themselves, everyone struggles to fill their own emotional void, but at some point the appalling demand for waiting needs to be questioned and analyzed. As human beings we are empowered to make a difference and uplift people in various strata of life, but that has to be selflessly with nothing in return. My whole reason for expressing that in this article is one; that we are more aware of the scenario because everything may not be as it seems and in the second place; charity should not be wrapped in bartenders, as we have to explore our own intentions and face the facts of the real motive behind this so called “generous” act. Our society is full of stray ‘charity’ people, so it is very important that we contribute to the right places of charity to make sure that our goodwill really does ethically add goodwill.

Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this article are the personal opinions of the author. The facts and opinions appearing in the article do not reflect the views of AFTERNOON VOICE and AFTERNOON VOICE assumes no responsibility in this regard.