Begging and working

I met a young man at the waterfront who was selling the hand drums he had hanging round his shoulders. He was walking round and playing them to attract tourists. He said he makes them himself out of maple wood and camel hide. He carves flower patterns into the wood for decoration. He said it is a hard wood and it takes a long time to do.

While we were talking an old woman in a sari came and stood in front of us. She put out her hand and indicated that she was hungry. I smiled at her ad then ignored her and carried on taking to the drum seller.

 He comes from Dehli and has left his family there to come to Cochi to work and sell his drums to the tourists. He hasn’t sold any for days. It’s the end of the season and like all the traders he is finding it hard to make a living – there aren’t enough tourists to go round. He lives  in Ennakalum – the nearby city – sleeping rough in the bus station. It is hard and lonely for him, as his language is different from the locals and he can’t understand or speak Malayam.

Later  I met him again wandering with his drums in a different part of town. We spoke again and this time he asked me if would help him even if I didn’t want to buy his drums. He was hungry. I said I had some fruit in my bag that he could have – bananas and an apple. He didn’t want them; he was asking for money.

He took the apple and put it in his shirt pocket.