Dumbfounded? In a country where the average per capita income has been estimated to be 38,000 INR in 2008-2009, with almost 27% of population is living below the poverty line of $1.25 a day!! A pan handler is clearly at the bottom of the pyramid.

So begging in the street is not as bad as you think (even in small cities).

But the best is yet to come!

So why was the person hoarding the cash and what did he plan to do with this money collected painstakingly on the street, braving nature's elements and withering looks from everyone?

The guy could not have spent the money easily. Any change in his lifestyle would have hurt his "business".

Instead it was found that he was lending money to tiny businesses - steet hawkers, cart pushers, peddlers on bikes, cobblers, betel shop owners and those who had no other recourse to structured fiancing or micro lending to run their business!!!

What does this make the poor begger to be? Someone who attempts to appeal to your sympathy to wrangle a few coins and mostly despised by passers-by who try to avoid him! He does not quit after "earning" his bread, but cycles the money back into his "community" to support micro enterprises!

You never stop wondering....