~清心看世界~

Photo taken@ Kolkata, India

早上走在街頭，光是沙德街已有不少露宿者。大部分都只是加一張蓆便睡在路邊，稍為好一點的會有一個自己搭建的簡陋帳篷，擋一下風雨，不用每天都把東西收起來，一家人連小孩子就住在裡面。

生活所需，一切都在路邊解決。比如說，上洗手街就用街邊那些非常臭、連門都沒有的廁所；要洗澡洗衣服洗面刷牙，就用街邊的水喉；要煮東西吃，就在路邊架一個燒炭的爐，吃東西也在路邊吃......

這些人有些是乞丐、是無業遊民，也有人力車伕。還記得有個滿臉皺紋的婆婆，總是會拍一拍路經的遊客的背部，然後帶著微笑伸手問人拿點錢，問不到便會安然離去，再找別的機會。這樣的窮人，在加爾各答有很多很多。心裡想幫他們，但光是給錢也不能解決問題，也害怕引來更多乞丐，那就麻煩。

一條街，是遊客聚居的地方，同時也是窮人生活的地方。兩個世界的人對望著對方，我看到他們眼中善良而卑微的渴求，他們從我的眼中又看到什麼呢?

“a majority of them have no hope of ever getting out of the hole. "These people are caught in a vicious trap. Since they are either homeless or reside in unregistered slums, they don't have identity proofs like voter's ID or ration card. As most of them have never voted, they don't form a vote bank to interest political parties. The marginalization becomes absolute as they cannot avail of poverty alleviation schemes," said Action Aid regional manager Chittaranjan Mondal.”

Reference:  http://articles.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/2012-09-12/kolkata/33788485_1_poverty-line-beautification-drive-bpl