I was surprised to see, beggars in the metropolis of Mumbai using mobile service to improve their earning. Until that day, I was under a wrong impression that mobile service is of use only to elite people in the society. However, on that day as I was waiting for a bus I saw a beggar with a mobile in his hand and he was telling somebody at the other end, to come immediately because at a temple nearby a devotee was distributing fruits to beggars sitting outside that temple.

After some time I saw a group of beggars coming brusquely to that temple. The beggar who had called them was waiting for them and as soon as they arrived, they went to that temple premises to collect fruits. That was my first encounter with beggars with a mobile service.

In place like a city of Mumbai, these beggars make a good earning and so they can afford to have a mobile at hand. The other day I approached that beggar and tried to make acquaintance with the intention to know how he began to use a mobile and make use of that to make begging a better profession. After some urging, he became easy and told me that he happened to find a mobile set in a garbage bin. He became curious about that and showed it to the priest of the temple whom he had seen using it. Because of acquaintance, that priest explained to him the usefulness of that instrument and encouraged him to use it to improve his begging profession. The priest also helped him to get a card so that he may be able to use it. Those were the days when it was not very difficult to get a card as it is today. However, that was half part of the business because, that mobile was of no use unless there is, one another with other beggar elsewhere.

To that, he and his fellow beggars found solution. That was possible because these beggars generally sit in the vicinity of some or the other place of worship, it may be a temple or a mosque. People of both faiths believe in giving alms to poor and so that became an advantage to them. A mullah of some nearby mosque was kind enough to give money (they call it zaquat or charity) to buy a mobile set from scrap market; there are enough old models of this instrument available very cheap in these markets. That settles the issue for this team of twenty beggars. Two of them learned how to use it and the communication through these mobile phones began to help them improve their earnings.

He told me looking to the success of this group of beggars other groups also began to use this service for benefit. Later on, I came to know of a racket of beggars, helped by some gangs. These gangs engage these beggars to do begging and they earn out of their income, beggars being helpless have to share their earning with the boss of that gang. These bosses were now supplying these beggars with instruments and would pay for the bills as the income has multiplied many folds due to this service!

I also came to know of some communities who are professional beggars since long and now these professional beggars are using this service to improve their income. How improvement in communication, help people of all walks, even beggars, became clear to me with this.

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